 |
Re: Does anybody even remember what kicking and dropping are?
Author: Shortline Sammie
Date: 06-30-2017 - 20:05
On the OPR at Milwaukie we always have to do a gravity drop. After we come down the 5% we cut off the cars clear of the yard switch and run the engine into the clear. The conductor then bleeds off the air after tying a sufficient number of handbrakes then releases enough brakes to get them moving. Since the switch is a spring switch the cars just "snap" through and the engine comes out and follows the cars to a hook stopping just clear of the switch so the conductor can re line it for the trip back up the hill.
At Canby on the Molalla Branch since the American Steel switch open west the cars are taken to a new storage track east of the wye where a straight drop is made where the engine goes into the spur and the cars roll down the main and the conductor catches the cut and ties a hand brake. The engineer observes the procedure and if necessary catches an additional car to assist in the braking. This happens every Friday two or three times to get all the cars up town.
So far we haven't found a safe place or a valid reason to kick cars but we eventually will.
Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad
At Canby on the Molalla Branch since the American Steel switch open west the cars are taken to a new storage track east of the wye where a straight drop is made where the engine goes into the spur and the cars roll down the main and the conductor catches the cut and ties a hand brake. The engineer observes the procedure and if necessary catches an additional car to assist in the braking. This happens every Friday two or three times to get all the cars up town.
So far we haven't found a safe place or a valid reason to kick cars but we eventually will.
Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad
