For all of You Train Lovers

[RR Fan Dan]

 

[YY1]

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Thomas had a good run of "costars"- George Carlin and Ringo Starr.

 

[DeltaV]

LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman

 

[DeltaV]

Transmountaine

 

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[Photon440]

 

[Photon440]

BCOL 993804 sitting on our repair track in March, 2011. The air brakes were bypassed with that white wrap-around hose to get it here.

I repaired the brake problem and sent it on it's way to a storage yard. I don't know how long it was sitting in its previous location, but I found a bunch of little bags of pot in one of the lockers, plus cookware and sleeping bags. Some dealer likely came home in the evening to find out that his 'home' had been moved.

That strange electrical stack on the roof was from this cab being used to test and repair overhead power lines for the electrified tunnel portion of the Tumbler Ridge subdivision (hauling coal); electric locomotives were used through a long tunnel stretch. After CN bought out BC Rail, they decided to use regular diesels through that tunnel. That also explains the extra windows on the cupola.

This was one of the electrified EMD GF6C locomotives, and is the last one left on display. The rest were scrapped.

 

[j-c-c-62]

"That also explains the extra windows on the cupola."

To you maybe, explain to us layman.

 

[Photon440]

"That also explains the extra windows on the cupola."

To you maybe, explain to us layman.

Well certainly. The cupola is the raised center section, there are two chairs up there so the rear end crew had a better view of the train ahead of them. But usually they just look like this, rather than the above version with extra slanted windows:

As well as a place to sit, the crew had a radio to communicate with the head end locomotive, a pressure gauge to monitor air brakes and a pull cord to initiate an emergency brake application if so required.

Other caboose info:

The main floor also had a seat at each end by the end window along with a desk for taking care of paperwork, another emergency pull cord and radio, switches for the lights, both inside and out (red, green and track lights). There was an oil heater at each end, a large water tank (regularly sterilized), sink, stove, a chemical toilet, bunks for sleeping and supply lockers.

The supplies included spare air hoses in case something blew apart during the trip, spare knuckles for the couplers, brake shoes and brake shoe keys, hammers and bars and basic tools. Each door had a holder with a selection of both yellow and red flares and track torpedoes. There were personal lockers for the crews as well, some cabooses were dedicated to certain runs and had the same crews using them all the time, others went across long distances and would be attached to any needed train for the return trip.

Short distance runs used a caboose with a diesel generator for power, keeping the lights going. The radios had their own batteries and were the size of a small lunch box, portable to be used out on the track if needed. Long distance cabs (most of them) had a bank of batteries in a tray, and a generator that was driven by a driveshaft coming off one of the main wheels like this example:

For a couple of years I was the lead hand in the caboose maintenance section, taking care of these cabs before each trip.

 

[j-c-c-62]

Thank you, all very interesting

You should write a book.
Still not clear why the pictured car needed "extra" windows.

 

[Photon440]

Thank you, all very interesting

You should write a book.
Still not clear why the pictured car needed "extra" windows.

Those extra windows were to enable a better view of the electrical stanchions on top of the roof, to watch them as they were in contact with the overhead power lines. This was a one-off cab modification, no others that I'm aware of had it.

These days, they'd probably save a lot of money and just put a camera up there instead.

 

[DeltaV]

 

[YY1]

Oops.

 

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