Doubtful this will ever reach the attention of any engineers who don’t already know this. But a trick I’ve used especially on transfer runs where I’ve had huge cuts to move and limited HP to move them with is simply to reverse back into the consist to intentionally run the slack in. Then roll forward around 5 MPH but maintaining notch 2 or 3 depending on the circumstances. What this allows you to do is get a percentage of the consist moving before the slack runs out which consequently allows you to use that momentum plus your units HP to help ‘jump start’ the rest of your train into motion. As long as you utilize common sense with the throttle and speed you won’t exert a shock load high enough to cause issues unless you already had a weak knuckle in consist and it’s a hell of a lot better to find it on a class track than out on the main anyway. -Over two decades working for UP.

I found myself actually rooting for the locomotives. "You can do it!"

Listening to a locomotive wind up is just about the coolest shit in existence, even small locos, literally power incarnate.

What some people aren’t realizing is that 1804 is the only unit online. That unit pulled that whole train out of a stall on its own. Those locomotives get a lot of hate, but they’re tough. Out on NS’s Buchanan Branch, coal trains usually hit the top of the hill at 8-11mph. Every time I’ve seen an ACC on the hill, they crest at 14-18.

I really like how the loco is bouncing up and down under such high stress. Around 180 tons of live machine moving like this gives an idea about the extreme forces involved.

This is when you find out how good the knuckles are in the head 15 or 20 cars are. If there are any weak ones, you'll find it. LOL.

I once took the Train from Macchu Picchu in Peru. It is steep uphill nearly all the way and the track and train were very poorly maintained. It took maybe 40 minutes to release the brakes from standstill, so the Engineer rode the throttle at the stops to stop the train running back downhill. It was quite a feat for the passengers to embark and disembark with the train surging back and forth at the platforms! The train consistently used to run up to 6 hours late - every day.

What I find more interesting than the sand and the wheel spin is the suspension loading as the traction motors attempt to heave the train forward, and then fail. Watch as the connecting rods next to each axle force the truck frame to pitch up and down. Amazing shots! The HTC-R trucks shown here don't have the axles pushing directly on the cast shape of the trucks frame like older locomotives. Instead they each have a connecting rod below the frame that transfers those forces. The center axle's connecting rod is connected directly to the truck frame making it rigid. But the front & rear axles connecting rods are instead are attached to a pinned cross bar that allows the axle to steer with the radius of a curve. The front & rear crossbars are connected together inside the truck to ensure the 3 axle truck only steers in a radial pattern (If front axle steers left, the rear axle steers right). Also notice the HTC-R's secondary suspension which consists of the rubber bellows looking springs that connect the truck to the frame. All the weight rests on these rubber pads, and they twist/deflect considerably as the locomotive negotiates tight curves.

"horn warning" is brilliant! Thanks.

Great video! I am somewhat new to railfanning, and this is the first time I saw or even knew about engines having the ability to blow sand like that. Thanks for the education!

The traction control on a modern AC locomotive is truly amazing.

A good demonstration of the AC traction at work. Very finely controlled wheelslip and trying to rock the train forward. The lead loco would be doing most of the work getting the train rolling while the other two tried to avoid cooking their DC traction motors.

The sound is amazing!

Beautifully captured, the measure of the pulling power in some way illustrated by how the loco lifts up on its bogies a measure too of the amount of traction on the rails and the wheel slip controls that it doesn't just spin the wheels all the time, impressive

I don't know much about trains. However, there's a set of tracks near my house that I have to cross over pretty frequently and I can tell you one thing: They keep getting longer and longer as the years go by.

Insane what these trains can do! I unload railcars with vehicles in them so I'm around them all the time. Super impressive what they can do.

It still amazes me that these things can even move with steel to steel contact and i cannot believe these things don't rollover while moving at speed. I am a truck driver and it takes almost nothing to roll a truck. crazy how things work. Like how a plane can fly but a human cannot. just amazing.

The amount of weight these engines can move is pretty amazing. A slight up grade full stop to start looks like an art in itself.👍👍

Love how the Engineer shuts the window cause it about to get noisy!

Every time I look at the bogies on a train it reminds me of my Dad, 37 years at Timken Roller Bearing RR division, way to go Dad 👍🇺🇸

I love the sound of EMD power under load.

What gets me is the kinda torque those traction motors must make to get the WHEELS SLIPPING even under all that weight. Bloody hell, trains are fascinating!!!

These locomotive sounds never get old! I loved them as a kid and continue to love them! Awesome video!

It was a great "I think I can moment!" Hearing the turbocharger winding up and the horn blast when the units started moving, as if to say, "I knew I could!"

thanks for showing sanding in action...just joined the rail industry so learning alot

Excellent throttle control by the Engineer. Fantastic!

YOU ARE THE GOAT for warning us headphone users about the imminent horn so we could turn down the volume!!!! My hearing and I cannot thank you enough for that simple little consideration that has caused me to block other YT filmmakers for NOT having that consideration. So, thank you! Again!

With the introduction of ac traction came computer controlled traction systems, and modern ac locomotives are very good at detecting wheelslip. Using wheel creep technology. This looks like an older ac unit, 1st gen like an sd70mac. Slower to detect and correct a wheel slip than an sd70ace for example. And the ge's don't seem to be running at all. No sound or smoke.

There is something majestic about seeing these beasts struggling to move that is impossible to describe, it's incredible thinking the amount of research humanity put into creating these machines and the fact everyday the logistics sector keeps the world moving at just the right pace for things to be considered "normal", so that industries may get their resources on time and packages be delivered at the right place at the expected/promised time. It's like there is an actual personal effort the engines are putting in place, kind of like when you try to start up your own car after the battery died, pushing and pushing until you get it moving *because you have to do it*, the world, your world, depends on it and you are putting each and every amount of force you can into it: these locomotives are doing that too, it makes them seem kind of alive rather than just some piece of machinery, in my personal opinion it's motivating... doing everyday what I have to do because the world needs me to do it and to not stop because I think it's too hard/heavy to do.

Now, that’s some good precision railroading! 👍🏻

Thank you, this addresses several long-standing questions of mine about trains

Distributed power is your friend , especially a Locomotive shoving on the rear. Helps to save drawbars and knuckes. 👍

¡Impresionante! No tenía conocimiento de la arena para las ruedas y lo dificultoso que era comenzar el desplazamiento. ¡Excelente vídeo!

That was darn fascinating! It was interesting to the suspension system of the locomotive “bounce”. ‘Much like watching a driver stuck in snow. Very cool video!!

I absolutely LOVE to watch a locomotive work. They are the coolest pieces of machinery ever created! Thanks for posting this awesome video.🙂

What a magnificent sound, especially in the first 60 seconds as the engine raved up!

Excellent video showing the suspension loading and unloading as the traction management system puts power to the traction motor and then takes it away cyclically to prevent wheel spin. It seems though that this particular EMD system is maybe too restrictive as these guys can’t get any forward progress for a couple of minutes. It would have been nice to see what the GE wheels were doing.

Goes to sow you the tremendous weight trains can carry, and the amount of hp/tractive effort they need to have to be able to pull such a heavy train

Wow. I'm from the UK and was blown away when I saw how long these huge trains were.

Loved the "horn incoming" detailing

I had a similar situation happen to me in Trainz 2019. I honestly didn't think a train could rock back and forth like that, because that's what mine did in the game!

The Accounting Department must be assigning locomotives again.

It’s kinda funny seeing the engine move slowly back and forth. Modern locos are so powerful you wouldn’t typically expect it to struggle like this.

The thing that amaze me the most is the tiny coupler which pulls several tonnes of weight without breaking.

1:43 "Don't forget Stepney's tip about sand. Lay it on the rails as you back down, and roll it firm with your wheels. You get a splendid grip that way."

That horn warning is SO thoughtful, thanks!

KZfaq: Wanna see how a heavy train struggles to move? Audiance: Interesting.

Very interesting indeed, I was stepping on gas gas pedal of my house slippers trying to help!

As soon as the second set of wheels catch the sand it starts moving very nice

Ive watched this vid like 25 times already and i cant stop watching it

0:25 sounds so nice

Great video. A question if I may? Are all three locomotives synchronised regarding their throttle settings?

Amazing watching the flex and movement on the trucks

Nicely captioned, especially the horn warning!

Can't you just feel the sheer power of these beautiful machines?

I don't know if it is the audio or what, but I didn't hear those two trailing GE units pulling. The only unit I heard doing anything was the leading EMD. If so, that would make sense of why it had such a hard time getting things rolling.

Awesome, you don't see that often. Great video, well done👍

That's incredible to see!👍

200kpa or so of independent can reduce the tendency for the wheels to slip during a hard start like that, this keeps the tractive effort there for longer and allows you to build a higher amperage/KN, especially with older DC GE's as they tend to just fully drop the load with the slightest wheel slip. Also helps if the train brakes are fully pumped off too, as i suspect was the problem here.

I remember reading about early diesel-electric locomotives in Britain, none had didn't any wheel slip warning system. So when slipping started, engine drivers had no idea, this caused terrible wheel-burn damage to the track. There were several derailments caused by burnt rails breaking, it took a while before track maintenance crews realised what was going on.

WOW really cool video, love the up close shots of the wheel and sander working!!!

Good video... Those locos are huge. That's a lot of power dude. Thanks.

As impressive as it is to watch these things start a heavy train and climb a hill at 5mph, what's scary is that how fast these locomotives actually are! They don't look it, but they can fly down the track! We have a stretch along the south part of BNSF's Thayer Subdivision that runs from about Portia to West Memphis, Arkansas that is not only level, but virtually straight and it's not uncommon for trains to hit 60mph or higher on this stretch. I was at Bay, Arkansas dropping a crew off and as I was turning around to leave, a Z train appeared at track speed and roared by just a couple of feet in front of me, I literally never heard it coming, talk about a wake up call!

Today I learned that trains can blow sand on the tracks to increase traction.

Wow that was absolutely fabulous to see

The rocking while attempting to get traction reminds me a lot of my semi truck. When it's got traction, the lower gears can really lean the cab to the side from engine torque. But in low traction situations when you're trying to get rolling, you'll often have a similar movement as shown here, just side to side instead. It can be really jarring if you suddenly break traction under load. I once was climbing a hill on a backroad in Pennsylvania and was fully loaded. It was snowing heavily and near the crest of the hill the truck started bucking like a bronco because it was starting to slip on the hill. It was a stressful moment.

The cameraman, instead of helping to push the locomotive, is just filming...

having sand nozzles at the front of EACH wheel would help.

Wheel slip control factors in a “ Lean into the load approach “ which works well and protects the drawgear . That load was most likely on a slight incline as the locos rolled back a little before traction came on. The Driver in this instance did a great job lifting that load off the mark.

Another Hot-dogger hogger who goes from idle to run 8 and lets the electronics handle the rest. Whenever the wheel slip indicator comes on even on the oldest engines, they automatically activate the sanders briefly. When the wheels are slipping constantly, the newer systems will force the governor to cut back to half power and then re-engage once all the wheels are synchronous, which at a start like this is a complete stop. It's really hard on the equipment to have to switch from 100% power to 0% and then back to 100%. A seasoned engineer that doesn't intentionally break stuff knows this and would not have used the wheel slip indicator to activate sand, nor would they have stayed in Run 8 while trying to get started. This sort of behavior is the new wave of railroading though. Crews are no longer expected to think outside the box and use the tools that are right there in their hands. Instead they are given the threat of losing their job and forced to put on a good show for the cameras and event recorders only. When I came to work for the railroad, when I hired out there was still pride in the job. Engineers dressed like well mannered gentlemen and their focus was to do a good job, by handling the train in a safe and efficient manner so that they got done as quickly as possible without anyone getting hurt or anything breaking. Today, it's a different aspect of railroading where engineers come to work, constantly looking over their shoulder, knowing fully well they wear a target on their back.

Indian Railways pull double stacking by using 2 electric engines and 1 electric engine in between and they are quick and fast.

I had no idea a locomotive could spray sand on the track for traction.. ya learn something new every day...

Great video! Really appreciated the warning prior to the horn

None of these units have the starting tractive effort of a AC4400, or a ACGEVO. A dash 9 is barely better than a dash 8 at getting a train moving. Nice close ups.

Really curious why they didn't utilize the other two engines dead-in-tow. Doesn't even seem like they had them hooked up for multiples, what gives?

Great video.

Nothing to see and you still make a video, I'm impressed!!

They almost need a sand nozzle in front of each wheel instead of just the front of the trucks

Great video !! Here's a question for you engineers out there: when applying sand in a MU setup does application of sand in the lead unit cause sand in the trailing units also ? James.

"Horn incoming" Very gentle! Thanks.

Engineer turns to the conductor: "Well? Get out and push!"

The wheels with the sand blowing in from in front and actually making it between the wheel and the rail are not slipping - the traction aid appears to be working. The wheels where the sand is blowing in from behind, and thus uselessly ending up on the rail behind the wheel, are the ones that are slipping. My guess is the slipping wheel is what tells the traction control to back off acceleration. The loco rocks back and forth for a while, slowly making some headway until the slipping wheels reach the sand blown in from the leading nozzle, at which point they gain traction, stop slipping and allow the whole thing to get moving. I wonder if placing twice as many sand nozzles, so that each wheel always has it's own leading nozzle (regardless of its orientation), and blowing sand in only from the leading nozzle (the trailing nozzle appears to be useless, until the loco is turned around) gets it going any sooner. I also wonder if applying power to only those wheels with leading nozzles, while disabling those without, would prevent a "slipping" signal from being sent to the computer, thus preventing the premature disconnection of power. The traction control computer should do that automatically.

So glad this is in 4K

Niceeeee!!! Trains are so hypnoticals to watch, I don't know why.

Mighty impressive show ! Interesting to watch.

Okay that was cool. I've never seen a close up of a auto-sander in action like that.

You did a great job of explaining it, thanks

38 years and I never knew this was an issue that existed with trains.

Impressive! I was stunned when I saw it pulling on the suspension like if it was just a civic on handbrake :o

Thanks for showing

Bring in two big boys 🤠, they would pull the train like a charm

Reminds me of growing up in icy North Dakota in the 80’s, this is how I started my winter mornings going to school, but in my ‘72 Ford Pinto and with bald tires beyond belief!

My god I love that spin up sound 😍😍😍

I remember when we started getting ac4400's. We would stop behind a crossing until the dispatcher told us to come to town. From a dead stop with 105 loaded coal cars. 2 engines on the head end. come out to throttle 4 and release the independent brakes, move to throttle 6 and release the automatic(train) brakes. It would slowly begin to move. Then to full throttle. Going over the same crossing without stopping notch 8 we would be down to 12-14 mph.

Awesome video! 😊👌👍👍 I like NS SD70ACC!

Really an exciting and worthy video...

This is awesome. I'd no idea how a train works

Train was not "stalled". It was simply stopped and trying to get the whole train moving. A train stalls when it is under power and speed is reduced to a stall, by way of track elevation or losing an engine.

Very nice video, and double thanks for the horn warning.

Very good stuff!