 |
The famous ride of the SCL Mother and MATE set
Author: OPRRMS
Date: 09-05-2013 - 22:35
SP5103 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I know they tested the SCL U36B Mate slug set
> there,
Ah, yes. Another memorable trip. December 1975. This was the second of the two round-trips the units made on the NWP. An SP crew was called out of Oakland at 4 AM to deadhead to Schellville, get the train, then pick up a fill at Lombard and go to Elvas, where it was to be handed off to a Valley crew. Or at least that was The Plan.
The first thing that was discovered was there was no way to tell if the MATE (SCL's term for their road slugs) was actually loading. After making the Lombard pickup, the train "made a run" for the Big Balloon at Napa Junction, but stalled before the engines made it a third of the way around. So the entire train was backed all the way to the signal at the Brazos bridge, and another try was made. Got it up to close to 40 going by the Lombard depot (never mind that the Maximum Authorized Speed was 15), but they didn't make it much futher than on the first try. Everyone was pretty much frustrated by then, including the brand new Assistant Road Foreman of Engines who'd been instructed by the superintendent to ride along and had been up over 24 hours by then, so it was decided to triple Creston Hill to get the train to Busch Siding at Suisun. Even with only about 40-car cuts, the units barely made it.
By then, a number of railbuffs were following and taking pics, including an SP company officer, who had a photo of the debacle published in Pacific News.
The crew went to beans in Fairfield after the second trip, then tripled the train together, set it on the Schellville Main with the crossings cut, and waited to be relieved on the Hours of Service. I was told that the relief crew from Roseville had a series of problems with the units on their way to Sacramento, so OP&C made a decision to call another crew with fresh power to run from Roseville to Elvas and swap out.
So it took three crews and close to 24 hours to get the train from Schellville to Elvas. Impressive!
The engineer happened to be wearing his EMD hat (visible in the Pacific News photo, so maybe he jinxed it.
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I know they tested the SCL U36B Mate slug set
> there,
Ah, yes. Another memorable trip. December 1975. This was the second of the two round-trips the units made on the NWP. An SP crew was called out of Oakland at 4 AM to deadhead to Schellville, get the train, then pick up a fill at Lombard and go to Elvas, where it was to be handed off to a Valley crew. Or at least that was The Plan.
The first thing that was discovered was there was no way to tell if the MATE (SCL's term for their road slugs) was actually loading. After making the Lombard pickup, the train "made a run" for the Big Balloon at Napa Junction, but stalled before the engines made it a third of the way around. So the entire train was backed all the way to the signal at the Brazos bridge, and another try was made. Got it up to close to 40 going by the Lombard depot (never mind that the Maximum Authorized Speed was 15), but they didn't make it much futher than on the first try. Everyone was pretty much frustrated by then, including the brand new Assistant Road Foreman of Engines who'd been instructed by the superintendent to ride along and had been up over 24 hours by then, so it was decided to triple Creston Hill to get the train to Busch Siding at Suisun. Even with only about 40-car cuts, the units barely made it.
By then, a number of railbuffs were following and taking pics, including an SP company officer, who had a photo of the debacle published in Pacific News.
The crew went to beans in Fairfield after the second trip, then tripled the train together, set it on the Schellville Main with the crossings cut, and waited to be relieved on the Hours of Service. I was told that the relief crew from Roseville had a series of problems with the units on their way to Sacramento, so OP&C made a decision to call another crew with fresh power to run from Roseville to Elvas and swap out.
So it took three crews and close to 24 hours to get the train from Schellville to Elvas. Impressive!
The engineer happened to be wearing his EMD hat (visible in the Pacific News photo, so maybe he jinxed it.
