Re: At the Bull Ring-These Alco's really did suck...
Author: BOB2
Date: 04-24-2014 - 13:53
I spent part of my sentence at the West Colton penitentiary running some of these gassy, smelly, oil spewing, filthy, and uncomfortable, braking sleds, on pull down jobs, at the east end of the yard.
These had six axles, and thus, twelve wheels to push the brake shoes against, and could eventually stop a slow moving airless cut of cars, but not as well as the old Baldwins we used in the Taylor "c" yard pull downs, or an ever reliable SD-7. Basically, they were junk from date of purchase, and this service, as a "switcher", was the only thing left for them to do, before being cut up, to make something useful.
This was no great engine, and no great loss. However, with railfans, these apparently ranked up there with SP's number one turkey the C-415 center cabs (Rollin Roberts biggest mistake?) and another gassy (exhaust always in your face-due to the stupid center cab) turkey. These had the added benefit of lots of steps in dark places and around corners to bang your shins on.
The bullring became the boneyard for the old, the useless, and the engines bought in too small batches, that later weren't cost effective to maintain any longer (DD-35's and such). And, yes, most of that deadline was actually in the actual Bull Ring, and up along the old car maintenance tracks (where the Gold Line shops switch is today).