Dynamic brake & slack.

Nice writing.  You had me right in the cab with you.

The Texas bound BN coal trains rolled over challenging terrain most all the way...the hog-backed Fort Worth & Denver was basically built right on top of the ground.

Nice write-up, Wyhog.  I would personally have enjoyed working with you.

I have always advocated running the head-end and remote Distributed Power consists separately in anything other than really flat territory.

Rob Leese posted:

The Texas bound BN coal trains rolled over challenging terrain most all the way...the hog-backed Fort Worth & Denver was basically built right on top of the ground.

That's no exaggeration, Rob!  You and I have seen plenty of undulating territory, and have I can't imagine any humps and sags that are worse than the FW&D.  It's almost as though they could only afford two mules when they built the line.

I agree. Read like I was on board. You have a talent Wyhog.

645- Wyhog could describe it in better detail, but I know that at least some, possibly all, DPU systems allow for either "mirror" control- where the DPU does exactly what the head-end units do- or independent control.  The engineer can select either mode on his display in the cab.

Great replies and thank you.   ( There's an expression on the railway...You can lean something new every day)

At  the initial terminal where the train is made up. I wonder what special  instructions  are issued?  Does the Yard master just decide to stick a DPU at his discretion or are there rules?  EX . So many cars or tons from the leading units ?  Whether  empties or loads must come into the decision. Do crews have this info or special instructions?   Do we have any  Yardmasters on board? 

Gregg posted:

Great replies and thank you.   ( There's an expression on the railway...You can lean something new every day)

At  the initial terminal where the train is made up. I wonder what special  instructions  are issued?  Does the Yard master just decide to stick a DPU at his discretion or are there rules?  EX . So many cars or tons from the leading units ?  Whether  empties or loads must come into the decision. Do crews have this info or special instructions?   Do we have any  Yardmasters on board? 

 

 

Well, Yardmaster don't really have anything do with assigning motive power in the modern age. That is generally handled by the motive power desk, depending on the type and tonnage of the train. Unit coal trains historically had the DPU "helper" unit on the rear end, since mid-train DPUs are not allowed thru the coal loading silos nor the rotary dumpers at power plants. Grain movements might be set-up differently, and intermodal trains rarely have DPUs.

Hot Water posted:

Gregg posted:

Great replies and thank you.   ( There's an expression on the railway...You can lean something new every day)

At  the initial terminal where the train is made up. I wonder what special  instructions  are issued?  Does the Yard master just decide to stick a DPU at his discretion or are there rules?  EX . So many cars or tons from the leading units ?  Whether  empties or loads must come into the decision. Do crews have this info or special instructions?   Do we have any  Yardmasters on board? 

 

 

Well, Yardmaster don't really have anything do with assigning motive power in the modern age. That is generally handled by the motive power desk, depending on the type and tonnage of the train. Unit coal trains historically had the DPU "helper" unit on the rear end, since mid-train DPUs are not allowed thru the coal loading silos nor the rotary dumpers at power plants. Grain movements might be set-up differently, and intermodal trains rarely have DPUs.

The Yardmaster's crews make up the train. How do they know where & when  to put the DPUs...?? Or put a different way...Who makes this decision?   GYM ?  .  Every intermodal  here  (CP)  almost always has DPUs.

WYHOG,

Once the SD70MAC units began arriving, especially those equipped with the Harris Electronics radio control DPU operating system, and one of the Powder River Basin coal loading facilities deposited a small amount of fine Wyoming coal on top of the mid-train DPU, some of the coal obviously going into the radial dynamic brake grids. As soon as the crew went into dynamic brake, and those 54" diameter DB radial grids heated up, the spectacular 54" diameter flame that exited from the top of that unit, was truly a BIG EVENT. Naturally warranty was denied, and use of mid-train DPUs were discontinued, out of the entire Powder River area. 

I assume that the engineer can set the fence based on past experience for train make up and terrain or does he/she run it as set up (dictated) by a power desk or servicing personnel?

That's the question . At the Initial terminal who sets up the fence as you call it... I doubt very much it's the engineman, That would have been  already   set up before the crew reported for duty..

Gregg posted:

I assume that the engineer can set the fence based on past experience for train make up and terrain or does he/she run it as set up (dictated) by a power desk or servicing personnel?

That's the question . At the Initial terminal who sets up the fence as you call it... I doubt very much it's the engineman,

Then you would be incorrect.

That would have been  already   set up before the crew reported for duty..

No. The only thing that the initial terminal Mechanical Sept. personnel perform is the "link-up" between the lead unit, and the respective trailing DPUs. During the trip, the Engineer has the capability on his screen to "put up the fence" or not, depending on how he wants to control his train, based on his experience over his district.

When I was training Engineers and Road Forman of Engines on the DPU operations with BN/BNSF SD70MAC units, in the Powder River coal basin, it was not uncommon to have the lead units in dynamic brake while going down a grade, with the reared DPU in power, when negotiating the roller-coster Oran Line south of Gillette, WY. The headend would be going downgrade, while the rear of the 130 car loaded coal train was still climbing the previous grade. 

As the Engineers became more experienced, the cases of broken knuckles dropped over 90% within the first two years of SD70MAC operations.

 

I'm  interested in what" special instructions"   are available to crews either on the road, or crews who make up these types of  trains at the initial terminal.. I'll eventually find the answer. The yard master is definitely involved since his or her crews make up the train.

Ex. how many cars or tons  can we put between the  lead and middle units?   Something along those lines.

Gregg posted:

I'm  interested in what" special instructions"   are available to crews either on the road,

Once the operating crews are trains, why would they need "special instructions"?

or crews who make up these types of  trains at the initial terminal.

The Mechanical Department Electricians perform the DPU set-up and "link-up" between the various units in a DPU consist.

 I'll eventually find the answer. The yard master is definitely involved since his or her crews make up the train.

Maybe in your country, but here the "Yardmaster", now probably called an MTO, i.e. Manager of Terminal Operations, is just doing what he is told/directed by the Motive Power Desk.

Ex. how many cars or tons  can we put between the  lead and middle units?   Something along those lines.

Gregg posted:

Great replies and thank you.   ( There's an expression on the railway...You can lean something new every day)

At  the initial terminal where the train is made up. I wonder what special  instructions  are issued?

 

This is where optimal train handling comes into conflict with other realities and a deal must be made.  The considerations are:

• In a unit train,* the very best placement of a single remote consist is ahead of the 25% of tonnage at the rear of the train if  the remote and the head-end locomotive consists are equivalent in horsepower and tractive effort. In modern times, this would usually be a mixture of EMD and GE 4300 horsepower units, 2 in front and 2 in remote.
• However, it requires time and track to bury a remote consist in the train at the originating terminal and dig the remote consist out at the final terminal, except at the small number of yards designed for this.  With the length of crew districts today, the road crew could easily go dead on Hours of Service if they have to perform this work.  If a separate crew (some times two - a switcher crew to pull the rear of the train back, and then re-couple it after the hostling crew brings the remote consist out from the storage track or engine service track and places it in the train) performs the work, there is additional cost, and, because of the uncertainty of availability of additional track space to do the switching, can make it very hard to get the road crew called on duty at a time that will allow them to review their Track Warrants and Track Bulletins, check the train list, and get out to their train which is ready for them.  As Wyhog pointed out, many coal unloading facilities will not clear the remote locomotive consist in the loader or dumper, if this is a coal train being delivered to a power plant.  If this is a stack train, there has to be more switching at the final terminal as opposed to pulling into one intermodal track and, when the rear end is into the track, cutting off the head portion of the train and doubling it over to an adjacent intermodal track.  This kind of delay is generally intolerable today, and is dictated by policy, instead of by rules.
• In a conventional freight train, things can get complicated.  Each railroad has its own rules, but they are similar.  The remote consist is ideally placed in the train using a formula for how much train length and tonnage should be behind the remotes.  However it is necessary that the remotes not be placed behind groups of very light cars, groups of long and short mixed cars, to avoid shoving them off the track on curves and in undulating territory.  It is more difficult than you might imagine, to apply each of the rules and get the remote engine placed properly.  Also, if the train picks up or sets out cars en route, the formula has to be re-checked to avoid violating helper placement rules in the newly revised train.  This is why you do not see as much use of DP in conventional freight service.
• Therefore, remotes are most commonly placed at the rear of unit trains for avoidance of delay where the remotes are added and removed, and for ease of unloading the train.
• In the case of Kansas City Southern, which was mentioned in a previous post, this is a special situation in which the layout of their yard tracks allows the train to easily be placed on two tracks and the mid-train remotes added to one portion, and then the road crew could come on duty, double the head portion over to the rear, condition the Distributed Power (which also performs an initial terminal air brake test), and depart.  KCS has what could only be described as an inexpensively-constructed line that goes straight from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico and goes over and through anything in the way.  Therefore it has hogbacks, many curves, and some mountain grades to contend with, making the mid-train remote much more useful to KCS than to most railroads.  
• BNSF also adds mid-train remotes into westward heavy unit trains destined for northern California and therefore required to operate via trackage rights on the former Southern Pacific line over the Tehachapi mountains.  (The consideration here is lateral buff and draft forces due to the many, many curves in 2.2% mountain grades on the SP.  There's not much straight track on Tehachapi.)  It's easy to do at Barstow because the train can pull into an Inspection Track, double the front half over and a hostler crew can have the remote consist coupled to one portion while the inbound and outbound crews are exchanging information. The outbound crew doubles over, conditions the Distributed Power with yard help, and they're gone.  At Bakersfield the reverse occurs, and the Valley crew doubles over and scoots up the flat San Joaquin Valley with only one remote consist at the rear.

Distributed Power is a wonderful tool.  It almost always works as intended -- much more reliably than Locotrol II -- and allows long, heavy trains to operate at up to 70 MPH.  Every day there are stack trains over 2 miles in length, parting the breeze at 70 MPH across the prairie here, using 4 units on the point and another 4 on the rear.**  You just have to make the necessary compromises to get full advantage from it without letting it be a handicap.

* Any heavy unit train -- coal. potash, grain, tank cars, intermodal.

** 4 and 4 are used instead of 2 and 2 to get enough horsepower to sustain high speed running.  Tractive effort is mostly determined by the weight on drivers, while speed requires horsepower.  Thus, the difference.  The Joseph City coal trains used 4 and 4 also, because they had to run "in the pack" with the dozens of 70 MPH intermodal trains.

I find these train handling discussion fascinating. Tom and Wyhog, you guys are both GREAT writers and I enjoy every word of your commentary. I also learn something from you guys almost every time you post.

While I had a rewarding career in the railroading industry, it was not in this kind of heavy train railroading. Four GP10 units and 40 loads on 2.2% was the toughest situation I typically faced. We were fortunate that the empties always went DOWN that hill...with no dynamics and careful handling of the air and slack.

OGR Webmaster posted:

While I had a rewarding career in the railroading industry, it was not in this kind of heavy train railroading. Four GP10 units and 40 loads on 2.2% was the toughest situation I typically faced.

Don't sell yourself short, Rich.  Big locomotives and extended range dynamic brake can compensate, to degree, for a mediocre Engineer.  I'd call four GP10's and 40 trailing loads on a 2.2% grade "real man's railroading."  

One summer I worked the second San Jac Local, which used 4 well-worn geeps to haul about 40 ice bunker and mechanical reefers over the 90 pound jointed rail and light ballast, up a 2.2% grade loaded with 10 degree curves, from Highgrove to Box Spring, went out to San Jacinto to get them all loaded with potatoes or onions, and then hauled them back down the hill.  That was no job for a beginner, in either direction. It required the Engineer to "know the air" to get down the hill without looking like a rolling forest fire, as well as some tricks to keep from stalling or breaking in two going up the canyon. Oh . . . and just to make things more interesting, there was an automatic interlocking at the bottom of the hill, and still on the grade, where an orange grove and a curve created a short sighting distance for the signal.  

That kind of railroading made me a better Engineer, just as it did for you.  You get a tip of the hat and a fist bump, for being a veteran of "real man 's railroading."

"extended range dynamic brake can compensate for a mediocre Engineer"

An interesting and timely statement.
I just finished listening to a podcast by Frank Dernie about Formula One racing and his take on the cars and drivers of today. Where today's drivers have a fly-by-wire throttle and computer assisted gear changing and how much easier it is for the drivers of today than those of say only a decade ago. 

In comparison, there are different air and dynamic brake skill sets that an engineer had to learn in order to properly handle a train. If a young engineer has only been trained using extended range or AC dynamic brakes and has never had to handle a train with only conventional dynamic braking, Tom's statement rings true.

However, to one who has grown up using the different combinations of dynamic braking, it can also make one a better engineer. Gee whiz, AC units can almost, if not, stop a train (depending on grade and tonnage). Makes things a lot easier, especially after recovering from an undesired brake application and staring a red board in the face.

All the more reason to learn everything you can about your job. And, more importantly, for the RR company officials to allow their engineers to be properly trained for ANY situation! To quote the Top Gun School motto..."Train like you fight, Fight like you train".

"If you don't get out of DB (and release any airbrake you had to use) and get into full power quickly the train speed will rapidly decrease going up the next hump."

Impossible to do with GE units! 

Wyhog posted:

And if we are keeping score, I do believe your King Air beats my Cherokee ;-)

LOL!

However, it's not "my" King Air. I'm just the hired airborne bus driver for the owner...you know...the guy who has the real money. 

I question your being able to swipe the throttle on an EMD from idle to 8th notch. Five is all I could get them to take. Try six and they would kick the governor.

Big Jim posted:

I question your being able to swipe the throttle on an EMD from idle to 8th notch. Five is all I could get them to take. Try six and they would kick the governor.

What kind of units? I can't tell you how many times I've seen the throttle "wiped" to 8, on the EMD test track, from GP35 units, all the way to SD70MAC units. Never had the governor "kick".

Hot Water posted:

Big Jim posted:

I question your being able to swipe the throttle on an EMD from idle to 8th notch. Five is all I could get them to take. Try six and they would kick the governor.

What kind of units? I can't tell you how many times I've seen the throttle "wiped" to 8, on the EMD test track, from GP35 units, all the way to SD70MAC units. Never had the governor "kick".

Road power SD40 and up. This was at track speed coming out of DB and going to power. Darn things would trip every time if I went higher than five. I got to where I'd go to five, let it catch up then on up through the notches.

Big Jim posted:

Hot Water posted:

Big Jim posted:

I question your being able to swipe the throttle on an EMD from idle to 8th notch. Five is all I could get them to take. Try six and they would kick the governor.

What kind of units? I can't tell you how many times I've seen the throttle "wiped" to 8, on the EMD test track, from GP35 units, all the way to SD70MAC units. Never had the governor "kick".

Road power SD40 and up. This was at track speed coming out of DB and going to power. Darn things would trip every time if I went higher than five. I got to where I'd go to five, let it catch up then on up through the notches.

Definitely someone fishy there, as they sure wouldn't have been delivered doing that. I'm also curious by your term "trip", i.e. what exactly "tripped"? The low water button? The crankcase overpressure button? The low oil button? The engine overspeed trip mechanism?

The low oil button on the governor. And, actually all of the EMD's we used on the road would do this, GP 38's and all. I never ran the switcher units, so, I can't say about them. Nothing fishy about it. It was just one of those idiosyncrasies about EMD's that you learned to deal with.  

You didn't have to worry much about an all GE consist doing that, but, there were a rare number of times that they would. Didn't matter much, if you were moving the things weren't going to load any faster than they wanted to anyway and that took forever. I must say in their defense that they would pull like crazy from a dead stop.

Wyhog posted:

For short heavy trains on rolling terrain the best combo in my opinion was 2 GEs and an EMD. You could wipe the throttle from idle to #8, the single EMD would rev up, make transition, and dig in to stretch the train coming thru the sag. About the time the EMD got most of the train stretched the GE's would finally be loading and take the train up the next hump. Worked great.

 

Wyhog, that's a perfect example of the difference between a "trained" Engineer and a "made" Engineer.  The railroad does not train you to do things like this; it is seat-of-the-pants common sense train handling that is now fading away as more Engineers who have been very well trained to run the train in a standardized manner replace older Engineers who learned how to use feel and logic from working with the generation of Engineers who started in the years from the 1920's through the Korean War years.  I can't say it used to be better, but it was different, and the Engineer could make a real difference.

Big Jim, I understand your comment perfectly.  We leased a lot of N&W EMD's, mostly SD45 and SD40, but also some GP38 varieties, during the long N&W Mechanical Department strike in the 1970's.  I found them to be very well-maintained and definitely products of their home road as well as their builders.  It would not surprise me at all if they had different rack settings, and other equipment, and could easily have been more unfriendly to rapid throttle advancement than BN's engines of the same type.  Both railroads had modified their engines to suit their preferences.  I have previously mentioned a few times, my fondness for running the 307L, a passenger F7 built in 1952.  I had a regular assignment as Fireman on San Diegan Trains 76-77 between Los Angeles and San Diego.  At that time, Santa Fe kept some rednoses captive on the San Diegans for a couple of weeks at a time, trading them out, on and off of the Grand Canyon and the Super Chief-El Capitan, as needed.  So, for almost a whole month, we had the 300L, 306L and 307L rotating on San diego passenger trains.  The track along the coast from San Onofre to Del Mar consists of broad undulations, with sags a mile or more in length.  To make the schedule, it was necessary to come over the top of each hump at about 88 MPH and shut off straight to Run-1*.  As the train went down into the sag, it would pick up 2 or 3 MPH.  At the bottom the throttle came straight out to Run-8, to go up the next hump.  Most of the F7's, including the 300 and 306, would choke up as they revved up to full RPM, but not the 307L -- it revved right up smoothly.  Many of the Santa Fe second generation EMD freight units could not take rapid throttle advancement smoothly, though a few could respond like the 307 did.  I can only recall one time that an SD45 died from loading the alternator too fast for the engine RPM's, but a lot of the ATSF engines struggled to rev up if the throttle was quickly advanced.

* The reason for stopping at Run-1 instead of going to IDLE is that, by staying in Run-1 at high speed, the engines would stay in series-parallel and be ready to instantly pull hard on the up-hill side of the sag.  If the throttle had gone to IDLE, when it was opened straight to Run-8, it would be several seconds before the F7's produced any amperage, and then they would have had to go through transition.  By the time the train got to the top of the hump, the engines would have barely arrived at series-parallel and the train speed would have fallen to the low 80's or high 70's and the train slack would have been a fruit basket turnover.  When you're running on single track against opposing passenger trains, you have to stay on time, or a meeting point will be changed by the Dispatcher, and then both trains will be late for the rest of the trip.  Seconds lost here and there can turn into a minute, which, combined with the possibility of a  lot of slow old ladies causing a long passenger stop (bless their hearts, we love them), can be enough to cause the Dispatcher to cause the Dispatcher to call calf rope and change the meeting point.  Staying in series-parallel helps you stay on time, but caused the diesel engine to struggle more when revving up.  

And, yes, this stuff is not in the training program for Engineers. 

Hmmmmmm, I wonder what the N&W/NS was using for lube oil in their governors? 

Hot Water posted:

Hmmmmmm, I wonder what the N&W/NS was using for lube oil in their governors? 

It wasn't the oil!

 I 've handled 272 car loaded coal trains before with only head end power. I've never handled a DPU train at all so I can't explain those.

 On the 272car trains I've had one with (3) SD-40's and one with (3) four axles of mixed power. I've also run to many to count 200+ car trains over 25 years.

 But on the route I have ran them all on is a pretty level one,with a few changeling  grades,but nothing extreme.

 I have found that you tend to use the terrain to control the speed of the train,because of the length. I mean were talking loaded coal trains over 10,000 feet long. And believe it or not the longer trains are much easier to control than the shorter trains.The shorter trains will push you around and in my opinion are much harder stopping in a better controlled manner.

 Of course getting some of these "Pokey Monsters" as I refer them,are hard to get to speed ,if you ever do. And backing one of them into a terminal or siding takes patience and nerve,oh and a good set of eyes watching the shove.

 Main thing on a big train is to always think ahead,more so than you already do. Thank goodness over the last 25 years the blocks (distance from signal to signal) have become longer by the elimination of signals on each end of siding tracks. It has been a big help in train handling. 

 Also the vast improvements in locomotives have been tremendous in the safer handling of these BIG trains.

 As far as slack,you can gather slack on the BIG trains with the newer locos if you know your territory. Run-in's will occur if you get on the dynamic brake too hard in the wrong place,then wham !! ,the slack runs out (or backwards) and  you might get a busted knuckle or even a draw-bar    .

 The older units like the SD-40's didn't seem to do this a much because some of them lacked the extended range dynamic and were there for more manageable sized trains.

Saluda grade training video. The trip down the grade starts about half way though the video.

mackb4 posted:

 I 've handled 272 car loaded coal trains before with only head end power. I've never handled a DPU train at all so I can't explain those.

 On the 272car trains I've had one with (3) SD-40's and one with (3) four axles of mixed power. I've also run to many to count 200+ car trains over 25 years.

 But on the route I have ran them all on is a pretty level one,with a few changeling  grades,but nothing extreme.

 I have found that you tend to use the terrain to control the speed of the train,because of the length. I mean were talking loaded coal trains over 10,000 feet long. And believe it or not the longer trains are much easier to control than the shorter trains.The shorter trains will push you around and in my opinion are much harder stopping in a better controlled manner.

 Of course getting some of these "Pokey Monsters" as I refer them,are hard to get to speed ,if you ever do. And backing one of them into a terminal or siding takes patience and nerve,oh and a good set of eyes watching the shove.

 Main thing on a big train is to always think ahead,more so than you already do. Thank goodness over the last 25 years the blocks (distance from signal to signal) have become longer by the elimination of signals on each end of siding tracks. It has been a big help in train handling. 

 Also the vast improvements in locomotives have been tremendous in the safer handling of these BIG trains.

 As far as slack,you can gather slack on the BIG trains with the newer locos if you know your territory. Run-in's will occur if you get on the dynamic brake too hard in the wrong place,then wham !! ,the slack runs out (or backwards) and  you might get a busted knuckle or even a draw-bar    .

 The older units like the SD-40's didn't seem to do this a much because some of them lacked the extended range dynamic and were there for more manageable sized trains.

Hey there Collin Mac, how you doin?...........................Brandy here!

Just watched a great training video of your Railroad, and was very interesting!

 Thanks for asking,going alright here,hope all is good your way !

Hot Water posted:

Gregg posted:

I'm  interested in what" special instructions"   are available to crews either on the road,

Once the operating crews are trains, why would they need "special instructions"?

or crews who make up these types of  trains at the initial terminal.

The Mechanical Department Electricians perform the DPU set-up and "link-up" between the various units in a DPU consist.

 I'll eventually find the answer. The yard master is definitely involved since his or her crews make up the train.

Maybe in your country, but here the "Yardmaster", now probably called an MTO, i.e. Manager of Terminal Operations, is just doing what he is told/directed by the Motive Power Desk.

Ex. how many cars or tons  can we put between the  lead and middle units?   Something along those lines.

 

Rubbish HW.  The Yardmaster is the guy that controls the yard .  He's the guys that  decides where to yard   trains   entering the yard   and making up trains for departure.   The GYM (General Yardmaster) may have  additional  Yardmasters under his control in a very large yard .  He certainly isn't told / directed by the Motive Power desk how to do his/her job.   Most have come up  through the ranks as trainman.  

Yes there may new names for the some of the jobs '

RTC. rail traffic controller     is still a train dispatcher

Administration Building   is still a Yard office/

 Locomotive  Rehabilitation Center is still the shop.

Number  90  Thanks for  your post   quote   This is what I was trying to find out,

In a unit train,* the very best placement of a single remote consist is ahead of the 25% of tonnage at the rear of the train if  the remote and the head-end locomotive consists are equivalent in horsepower and tractive effort. In modern times, this would usually be a mixture of EMD and GE 4300 horsepower units, 2 in front and 2 in remote

Anyway  I'm not sure I'm a big fan Of DPUs. I suppose it saves wear and tear on the equipment  and rail.

I found the Dynamic brake feature very informative, Thanks to all.

Question: If your 10k ton coal train, and your asked by the dispatcher to shove your train back 10 miles to get in the clear... over severe undulating territory.. dpu'd on the rear..... can the engineer place the fence up, dyno's on the rear and shoving from the HE in order to bunch slack? The reason I as... Im representing an engineer in investigation, and he swore this is exactly how he did it, But I need to find somewhere online in writing I can refer to in his defense. 

Sorry I can't help but this a very interesting scenario... Braking  backing  up using  dynamic braking. Everything changes I would think. Looking forward to the replies.

Old school... Have the conductor ride the DP unit on the rear with a radio and back up. you still have the air brake.

Kelly Anderson posted:

otek320 posted:

Question: If your 10k ton coal train, and your asked by the dispatcher to shove your train back 10 miles to get in the clear... over severe undulating territory.. dpu'd on the rear..... can the engineer place the fence up, dyno's on the rear and shoving from the HE in order to bunch slack? The reason I as... Im representing an engineer in investigation, and he swore this is exactly how he did it, But I need to find somewhere online in writing I can refer to in his defense. 

It would seem to me that such a train has two front ends.  Running it one way wouldn't be any different than running it the other.  It would take some serious abstract thinking if he had to control it from the rear end with the conductor calling signals, much easier if he could walk or ride to the other end.  Perhaps the biggest challenge might be that on a devoted coal line, its possible that no engineer would have any experience running a loaded train in the opposite direction, and therefore would have to be running it more by feel and less by rote.

So long as there is someone qualified on the rearend, to protect the reverse movement, it is NOT a problem, and can easily be accomplished with DPU.

 can the engineer place the fence up, dyno's on the rear and shoving from the HE in order to bunch slack?

What does that mean?  fence up? 

I was not really sure on this, as it would not be the same in forward movement.  Apparently the software is programmed to compensate for running it in reverse.

However . . . If I were the Engineer and were asked to back such a heavy train ten miles in severe undulating territory, I would have taken my coffee thermos, and braved the chiggers and rattlesnakes to walk to the rear of the train and changed ends for this movement.  It is pretty important to see exactly where the leading end of the train is, and not depend on another crew member to give back up signals via radio.  The signals to back the train cannot be given for a distance exceeding the distance of vision, so it would be very. very, slow, and always ready to stop within what (for a 10,000 ton coal train) is a short distance.  I would be worn slick after ten miles of that!

If you email me off Forum (see my profile) with your phone number, I'll try to give you a few tips on representing him.  Right now, you have not said what rules the Engineer is charged with violating, how his (her?) past record is, etc.  So, if you want to, email me your phone number and I'll call you and talk.

Well, I was not going to answer this technical question from an attorney, until I heard from Rich Melvin. However, since Tom has also responded, I'll point out a few pieces of information relating to DPU operations:

1) It would be more helpful to know just what territory and railroad we are talking about here.

2) In DPU operations, is is extremely difficult to simply "changes ends" and thus have the trailing DPU suddenly become the "leader" or "controlling" unit. Such "link up and un-link" processes were generally performed by qualified members of the Mechanical Department.

3) The process of operating the rear "remote" unit independently (putting the fence up on the Engineer's DPU computer screen), is VERY common on the Oran Line (joint BNSF & UP) in the Powder River Coal Basin, because of the "roller-coaster" terrain. There are many locations where loaded, southbound, coal trains would have the leading units in dynamic braking, going down a "hump", while the rear DPU is pushing in full throttle. The Engineer has direct, independent control of his/her lead units, and with the "fence up", as well as the rearend DPU. For obvious safety, the rearend DPU can NOT be placed in dynamic brake, while the lead unit/units are still in power, and pulling.

4) I know of no written procedures, or "book" that fully describes every different operation of using DPU, at least the BN/BNSF did not have such a "book" prior to my retirement from EMD in 1998. I was responsible for assisting in training BN/BNSF Engineers, out of Gillette, WY, throughout the Powder River Coal Basin, on the PROPER operating procedures of EMD SD70MAC units, as well as DPU operations, when that system began showing up there.

Why would you be backing up a heavy train for 10 miles?  A sight glass is mounted on the governor on older EMD units.   The oil level should be between the two lines on the sightglass.  I have used engine lube oil to fill them and keep from tripping the low oil button.  LOCOMOTION