A long while back Rich Melvin told a story on the ORG forum about the 765 making a hard climb out of a yard. It involved going slow (30 seconds between chuffs) and exhaust so loud that it could be heard at the passenger station two miles away. I would like to read the story to my 5th grade Literature class, but cannot find it. Any help would be appreciated.
Nathan Muenks
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@neuefruhling posted:A long while back Rich Melvin told a story on the ORG forum about the 765 making a hard climb out of a yard. It involved going slow (30 seconds between chuffs) and exhaust so loud that it could be heard at the passenger station two miles away. I would like to read the story to my 5th grade Literature class, but cannot find it. Any help would be appreciated.
Nathan Muenks
This may be a good place to start…
or you can ask Rich himself
Thanks for the help.
Actually, I didn't put that story in my book because I had no photos to illustrate it. So, I'll re-tell it here.
In September of 1993 we ran a number of trips with NKP 765 on CSX. They included a trip on the former B&O out of Akron, Ohio to Pittsburgh. The place where we stored the train in Akron was a spot called "The hole" by the CSX crews. Situated about 50 feet below the main line, which is up on a high fill in this location, it's nothing more than a very small yard with a wye at the east end. On the Saturday trip, after the passengers had gotten off the train, we backed the train down the steep grade into the hole, where a CSX diesel tied onto the rear. We cut away and they dragged the train back far enough so we could turn the 765 on the wye and duck into a siding for the night. The diesel then shoved the train forward and the CSX yard crew used it to spot the train for watering the air conditioners from a fire hydrant near the wye. This is typically a very slow process and it was approaching midnight, so we headed off to the motel for a nights rest.
When we showed up around 6:30am the next morning, the first car of the train was spotted right near the fire hydrant in a perfect spot for us to couple on and pump up the air. I was running the eastbound trip this morning and Kim Besecker was firing. We pulled out of the siding, backed up to the train, tied on and got the air pumped up. We did the terminal air test and were all set to go. All this time I assumed that the diesel was still on the rear to help us out, because there was a short but very steep grade to get out of "The hole" and up to the main line. When Ken Griffin, the CSX Trainmaster, said we were all set to go, I asked him if the crew on the diesel was ready to shove. He said, "What crew? There ain't nobody back there. That crew went home around 4am."
So...here we were with a "cold" engine, arch bricks cold, superheaters cold and a thin fire because Kim had just cleaned it. But the 765 was going to have to go all out to get this train out of the hole and up this "ramp" to the main line! Complicating things was the fact that we had a 29 car train behind the 765! I called Kim over to my side of the cab and told him what we were going to have to do. He said, "Give me about 5 minutes to get the fire in shape for this." He proceeded to take the shovel and build a good heel of coal in the back corners of the firebox. He then ran the stoker for a few moments to put another layer of coal on the fire bed, to thicken the entire fire just a bit. In five minutes the pops were sizzling and he gave me the high sign that he was ready to go.
We were literally 4 car lengths from where this grade started. There was no chance at all to run for the hill. I dropped the Alco Power Reverse down in the forward corner, opened the cylinder cocks, turned the sanders on full, released the brakes and carefully opened the throttle. We had moved only a couple feet when we got the word from the rear that we were "All movin!'" That meant that all the slack was stretched and I could open the throttle a bit more without yanking the train in two. By the time we had moved one full engine length and I had the 765's throttle wide open! The sound was deafening! Each exhaust was like a cannon shot going off! The 765 leaned into the grade without so much as a quarter slip, accelerating as best she could with a 29 car train behind her. We got up to about 6 or 7 mph, but with each turn of the drivers we pulled more of the train onto the grade. Slowly but surely the speed dropped until we reached a point where there was more than a second between each exhaust! The column of smoke from the stack was blasting over a hundred feet into the air. We were going so slowly that I could actually feel engine gently lunge forward as the steam admission port opened on each stroke!
Operating this slowly, with maximum throttle and cutoff, full boiler pressure was being used in the cylinders. I had the throttle wide open, the sanders on and the reverse down in the corner...I couldn't do any more than that. In a situation like this, it's actually in the fireman's hands as to whether you make it or not. If Kim let the steam drop back just a couple of pounds, we would stall. But he's one of the best fireman I've ever seen, and it looked like he had the steam gauge welded on 245!
Wham......wham.......wham......that sharp, Baker-timed cannon-shot exhaust kept blasting to the beat of a very slow drummer. Ever so slowly we dragged that big 29 car train up and out of the hole. All the while I was ready with both hands on the throttle in case we slipped, because if we so much as quarter slipped, we would have stalled. But the 765 hung in there and never slipped once! We made it, but this was the hardest pull I've ever seen with the 765. They made 'em good in Lima.
When we got to the switch to the main line, the CSX conductor was standing on the ground at the switch stand. His eyes were the size of pie plates and you could have put a football in his mouth! No diesel had ever put on this kind of show!
After getting the train up on to the main line, we had to back up about 2 miles to the boarding site at Quaker Square in Akron. When we spotted the train for boarding, I got down from the cab to say hello to my friend Terry Ludban. Terry was the local CSX Operation Lifesaver representative and we had worked on many Operations Lifesaver videos together. As we shook hands, Terry said, "You guys had to yank that train up out of the hole, didn't you?" I replied, "Yeah! how did you know that?" Terry said, "We could hear you!"
Believe it or not, the CSX conductor manning the switch at the top of the hill was the only person to see this show. There was no one else there! No railfans, no still pictures, no videos - nothing but this wonderful memory, plus the pictures and sounds in my mind.
There ya go!
Excellent story Rich!!!!!
There is something very special about a steam engine working hard, and doing exactly what it was designed to do, in the hands of experienced operators.
WELL DONE RICH!!!!!
Peter....Buco Australia.
@Rich Melvin this is a great story! With great writing!
I have never had the fortune of hearing steam engines work hard in person. Hopefully one day!
@BillYo414 posted:@Rich Melvin this is a great story! With great writing!
I have never had the fortune of hearing steam engines work hard in person. Hopefully one day!
Three places to visit:
1) Cass Scenic RR.
2) Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR (narrow gauge RR).
3) Durango and Silverton (narrow gauge RR).
You're right about the Durango to Silverton run Hot Water.
Sue and I rode the steamer up to Silverton some years ago (before they set the mountain on fire) on one of our road trips across the States. The sound of that engine working on the grades was something to behold!!
Stopped part the way up to replenish the water in the tender....sourced the water directly from a flowing stream!! Incredible.
Peter....Buco Australia.
Wow Rich! I wonder if we could work backward from the known grade and estimated tonnage to figure out how much drawbar pull and horsepower the loco was making? Perhaps more than 25% factor of adhesion under ideal conditions? Good thing the rails were dry!!
Thanks for posting this. I am late to the game but my copy of your book should arrive this week!
The 1880 train that runs between Keystone and Hill City in the Black Hills South Dakota will provide a similar experience. There is a short section just outside of Hill City that presents a 6% grade, we rode it a couple years ago with a 2-6-6-2 doing the work and she didn't disappoint, that sound is deafening!
Rich,
Thank you very much! One boy is already a builder and inventor, at ten years old, this should delight him.
Nathan Muenks
Rich, great story! Thanks for posting! 
I saved that story when it was originally posted because it painted such a vivid picture that I could almost see, hear, and feel this event in my mind's eye. I wish all stories were written this well!
Steam, when being really worked, is really impressive. I treated myself to a cab ride in the 734 for my birthday back in 2006, and since it was early in the season, they were running without a diesel helper. It took two firemen shoveling coal (each would monitor the steam and water between shovel loads), in addition to the stoker to make it up that grade to Frostburg. It probably helped me better envision the events of this 765 story. 
Now the only thing left on my steam bucket list is to experience the cab of a mainline steamer at track speed, but that one may go unfulfilled unless I win the lottery some day...
Andy
@BillYo414 posted:@Rich Melvin this is a great story! With great writing!
I have never had the fortune of hearing steam engines work hard in person. Hopefully one day!
Billy, somewhere on the forum under real trains there is a post talking about "shotgun blasts" which Rich popped a video on to. Hot Water also described this in detail as well because we railroad enthusiasts don't know nothing about what the crews deal with besides us on a daily basis. If I can find it, I'll pop back here and link it.
@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 Is that this post?
Here's the "shotgun" video you were referring to. I am starting the 765 from a passenger stop in Charleston, West Virginia. There are 32 cars behind the locomotive - a HUGE passenger train...and no diesel.
Watch and listen to this video. Turn the volume up. It's only 37 seconds long, and I actually did it for video illustration purposes. However, listen to the "shotgun" exhaust as the engine accelerates. Now picture yourself in the cab as those blasts resonate off the hillside to the right and come back into the cab. And imagine listening to this almost constantly for two hours or more.
This is why I can't hear very well today without hearing aids.
@BillYo414 posted:@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 Is that this post?
Yes it is and Rich posted it here as well.
@Rich Melvin, Thanks Rich, my phone was giving me trouble when I was searching for it at lunch. Dang thing wasn't loading my GMail properly, so it was giving me the most recent topics from this year.
That "shot gun" sound of the exhaust is pretty typical of Lima Locomotives, especially those NKP 700 class locomotives. SP 4449 tends to sound the same, but even louder what with 300 psi working boiler pressure. After the 1984 New Orleans Worlds Fair Daylight trip, I had difficulty with hearing in my left ear (Fireman's side). Add that to being in the Headquarters, Division Artillery, 2nd Armored Division, in Fort Hood Texas, constantly visiting 155 mm and 8" howitzers, I still sort of hear funny sounds.
@Rich Melvin posted:Here's the "shotgun" video you were referring to. I am starting the 765 from a passenger stop in Charleston, West Virginia. There are 32 cars behind the locomotive - a HUGE passenger train...and no diesel.
Watch and listen to this video. Turn the volume up. It's only 37 seconds long, and I actually did it for video illustration purposes. However, listen to the "shotgun" exhaust as the engine accelerates. Now picture yourself in the cab as those blasts resonate off the hillside to the right and come back into the cab. And imagine listening to this almost constantly for two hours or more.
This is why I can't hear very well today without hearing aids.
Man, not sure I’ve ever heard a more square exhaust.
As Hot Water said, that sharp, square, shotgun exhaust was typical of Lima-built locomotives. The combination of their precise design specs and craftsmanship, and the Fort Wayne mechanical team led by Steve Winicker, made for a very square, smooth-running engine.
Here’s a different kind of exhaust sound from the 765, also typical of Lima Berkshires. After the whistle stops, at about 15 seconds into the clip, you’ll hear what that exhaust sounds like when set at a very short cutoff, running at 70 mph. The slight rhythmic “beat” you hear was typical of a Baker valve gear equipped locomotive at high speed.
I'll have to listen to it again Rich on the laptop when I get home. It sounded like it was extremely quick like those bill counting machines except a whole heck of a lot louder.
@Ted S posted:Wow Rich! I wonder if we could work backward from the known grade and estimated tonnage to figure out how much drawbar pull and horsepower the loco was making? Perhaps more than 25% factor of adhesion under ideal conditions? Good thing the rails were dry!!
The tractive effort number would be pretty high, but the horsepower number would be low, because of the very slow speed.
Here are some stats if you want to try something...
I remember when you first posted the story, Rich. I tip my hat to you and do the same with a deep bow to the Fireman.
Some people are "naturals" at running an engine, and I would include you in that elite group.
Coming from an experienced railroader like you, Tom, that is a terrific compliment!
Thanks so much.
@Rich Melvin posted:As Hot Water said, that sharp, square, shotgun exhaust was typical of Lima-built locomotives. The combination of their precise design specs and craftsmanship, and the Fort Wayne mechanical team led by Steve Winicker, made for a very square, smooth-running engine.
Here’s a different kind of exhaust sound from the 765, also typical of Lima Berkshires. After the whistle stops, at about 15 seconds into the clip, you’ll hear what that exhaust sounds like when set at a very short cutoff, running at 70 mph. The slight rhythmic “beat” you hear was typical of a Baker valve gear equipped locomotive at high speed.
Nothing like that "Lima gait"! Maybe I'm being a bit picky but, I sure wish video photographers would set-up at someplace other than a grade crossing. I would much rather listen to the "Symphony from the exhaust" than the constant whistle, which drowns out the exhaust, at a grade crossing. But then, I've had lots and LOTS of time enjoying the "symphony from the exhaust" on Buffalo Creek & Gauley #13, #14, & #4, 765, 4449, 844 and 3985.
Ah, a better listen on the laptop, but like Hot Water says, the whistle kind of makes it hard to hear. It is very constant, the clickety clack of the cars is just a bit faster than the exhaust.
Many years ago, I was at New Haven where the Ft. Wayne group was having an open house weekend. 765 was fired up and moving back and forth a small distance. Really enjoyed the open house. My only regret was that I didn’t pay the money to operate 765. I told myself I’d return next year and do it. A year later, something came up and I couldn’t go. Such is life.
Steve
@Rich Melvin, it seems YouTube is now giving me more #765 videos going at or around 70MPH. The one I watched yesterday though must be on relatively level track as the exhaust doesn't sound like it was in the other videos. I didn't look as though wherever this one was shot was around a crossing either as the sound was not drown out by the whistle.
Here is one of my favorites of the 765 that I shot about 7 or 8 years ago. Maybe more. It was approaching the OCRR Bridge over the Ohio River towards McKees Rocks.
I've been enjoying some great 765 videos coming up. There is one titled 765 vs grade at Nay where there is some very careful train operation going on so as not to have a run away train. It says it was about 7 years ago for the poster's video. I am curious if there are some official 765 videos or even from people Rich knows? @Rich Melvin, do you have a video of that? Should I post the one I saw?
You mean this video?
I was running here. Someone greased the rails at the exit of the tunnel and I stalled with slipping drivers just a few car lengths out of the tunnel. I shut off the rail washers and set the sanders to sand in reverse. We backed up, sanding the rail all the way back to about 10 car lengths from the tunnel entrance. Then we gave it another run, now sanding the rail going forward. This video is the result.
There is a slip early in this video, where we almost stalled again! I attempted to recover from that slip too soon (the drivers had not stopped spinning when I re-opened the throttle) with the result that I had to shut off the throttle again and wait just a bit longer for the slip to stop and the drivers to grip the rail again. When the drivers become visible, you can tell that I’m heavily sanding the rail. All the white “dust” down there is the giveaway.
It was close, but we made it!
So someone attempted to sabotage 765 with greased rails, or are you joking?
And that is the video.
I am not joking.
I wouldn’t call it sabotage, because a little grease on the rails is not going to damage anything on the 765, if the wheel slips are properly controlled. And I can assure you that every one of the 765’s qualified engineers would have handled this as I did, with no resulting damage to the engine. Whoever did it just wanted some “special” video of the wheel slips and the stall. There were several rail fans near the tunnel exit, but I did not recognize any of them, and I have no idea who may have done it.
It caused us to run a little late, but that’s the only “damage” that was done here.
Okay. You had me a bit scared there Rich. I know I have seen a video or two of vandals taking spikes and other such things out of the rails, even throwing rocks at the engine nearly hitting the engineer(that was on a History Channel episode on modern railroads). They did talk to the engineer about a few things and his window had a crack from a prior rock assault.
I did figure that anyone of the crew could have handled the wheel slip as you did talk about that on one of the other post which I believe was a train getting out of control, the disaster of one of the Canadian engines. It did make for an interesting video with the exhaust barking a bit.
I hope I am doing this right from my phone, if not I'll try again to embed.
This video I found on the weekend, it is from August 22nd and 23rd 2015. It seems that 765 is chasing or being chased by 425 I believe it said in the description.
@Rich Melvin, there, I think I got that right. Rich, what was going on those days?
We were running trips on the Reading & Northern RR, the 425’s home road.
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