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Re: E9A & B on the "San Joaquin" May 1974
Author: OPRRMS
Date: 01-12-2009 - 13:04
Stevo del Applegato Wrote:
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> Wow, never saw Es on a valley train.
They didn't last long.
> Any guesses as to why West Oakland wouldn't care
> for the Es? Aside from an extra 567, another
> generator and a pair of idler axles, they're
> really just a stretched F unit.
The main problem from the Mechanical Department's standpoint was the electrical system. In order to successfully troubleshoot problems and make repairs, one needed an accurate electrical print of the wiring. UP had complete sets of them, but for reasons unknown Amtrak never provided them to the West Oakland Diesel Shop (which was an SP facility). SP had some skilled Mechanical employees at Oakland, but without the correct prints, keeping the E's running became difficult, time-consuming, and often required a trial-and-error approach when working on the electrical system. It was also felt that the units were not in particularly good shape mechanically and that the steam generators required more repairs and maintenance than SP units.
The E's were not particularly liked by many of the engineers who ran them, mostly because they were not used to them and thus were not familiar with their specifics. For example, the E8's were built without Automatic Backward Transition (although the E9's had it). This was not obvious unless you already knew it, and the unenlightened would often falsly report a unit as "not loading" because of it. SP eventually issued a notice to engineers advising them of this issue and giving instructions on how to operate the units. Another common complaint was the "Dead Man" pedal - the E's followed UP practice (at the time) of having a foot pedal that had to be depressed anytime the Independent Brake Valve was in the release position, otherwise a Penalty brake application would result. Most engineers can't sit in the same position for hours (I know I can't), and if one forgot about the pedal and took one's foot off it while running, it usually resulted in a rough, unplanned stop (although there was a way around all this if one didn't mind cheating a little bit).
Personally, I liked the E's, and never had (much) trouble with them. On the other hand, I also liked the U25B's and the C415's, so maybe my testimonial isn't worth much.
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> Wow, never saw Es on a valley train.
They didn't last long.
> Any guesses as to why West Oakland wouldn't care
> for the Es? Aside from an extra 567, another
> generator and a pair of idler axles, they're
> really just a stretched F unit.
The main problem from the Mechanical Department's standpoint was the electrical system. In order to successfully troubleshoot problems and make repairs, one needed an accurate electrical print of the wiring. UP had complete sets of them, but for reasons unknown Amtrak never provided them to the West Oakland Diesel Shop (which was an SP facility). SP had some skilled Mechanical employees at Oakland, but without the correct prints, keeping the E's running became difficult, time-consuming, and often required a trial-and-error approach when working on the electrical system. It was also felt that the units were not in particularly good shape mechanically and that the steam generators required more repairs and maintenance than SP units.
The E's were not particularly liked by many of the engineers who ran them, mostly because they were not used to them and thus were not familiar with their specifics. For example, the E8's were built without Automatic Backward Transition (although the E9's had it). This was not obvious unless you already knew it, and the unenlightened would often falsly report a unit as "not loading" because of it. SP eventually issued a notice to engineers advising them of this issue and giving instructions on how to operate the units. Another common complaint was the "Dead Man" pedal - the E's followed UP practice (at the time) of having a foot pedal that had to be depressed anytime the Independent Brake Valve was in the release position, otherwise a Penalty brake application would result. Most engineers can't sit in the same position for hours (I know I can't), and if one forgot about the pedal and took one's foot off it while running, it usually resulted in a rough, unplanned stop (although there was a way around all this if one didn't mind cheating a little bit).
Personally, I liked the E's, and never had (much) trouble with them. On the other hand, I also liked the U25B's and the C415's, so maybe my testimonial isn't worth much.
