Frenchelectrician,
Allright, another railroad person!!! And an Engineer / Operator to boot!
Feel free to post some stories and information regarding CTC.
Were you working with the company before it was integrated by CSX?
I would have thought you to be with CP (Canadian Pacific) or CN (Canadian National).
Virgil,
Nice Steamer image!!! Steam powered Locomotives have rather large....,,, uhh...,,, Testicals (sp?),,,.... at certain speeds, and can probably pull the drawbars off a diesel-electric unit!
On an annual special event train (passenger train), the motive power consisted of a 4-8-4 Northern (ATSF # 4735 I believe) as lead unit, and lashed-up with two SD-70s. The Diesels are used primarilly for Dynamic Braking, Air Brake ability and for slacked starts.
The crew in the Diesels kept bumping against the Northern while the train was running. They were trying to mess with the lead crew (kind of an inside joke for them!).
The crew in the steamer retaliated by opening the loco up full (increaded speed). The train accelerated upto 70 MPH, at which point the Diesels went into automatic emergency, and the Dynamic Brakes were applied automatically (near position 8 I believe). I think the locomotive(s) independent air brakes are also applied (???).
Even with this going on, the Northern continued to pull and achieve increased speed above 70 MPH.
Around 75 MPH, they figured it was time to end the retaliation.
As to CSX, they are a consolidation of many older and well known railroads plus other businesses. The railroads owned huge parcels of land, so they (CSX) are normally involved with many projects and buildings.
In your area, the older class 1 roads would have been maybe C&O, N&W, CONRAIL, MoPac, SCL, ACL, SLSF and PRR.
What roads do you remember seeing before CSX integration? (curious).
Scott35 S.E.T.
