Ronald Melhorn Good crews are invaluable and it sounds like you were part of one. But...today's railroading is not necessarily railroading of the past. Often there is no "engine house". Often things are changing so frequently that sometimes from day to day your bosses change. Railroading today is dramatically different than 20 years ago.

But they are independently owned and operated. Each functions without taxpayer dollars (besides Amtrak.) "How would you like it if the government built a highway right beside your railroad to take away your business?" Once said a railroad owner.

How does applying the brake work to smooth the wheels out? Wouldn't it make the wheel more likely to stay in the flat spot?

Mark Rose -NO! ... In a word. The composite brake shoes in cold weather have a very poor grip. The wheels need to be warmed up to melt the snow and ice. You can pretty much apply brakes full pressure and they will not stop the engine wheels, especially when under throttle. If cast iron shoes are fitted? Then about 5 or 10lbs pressure will do the trick. In Canada most locos, now only have composite brake shoes. They are abysmal at stopping, on cold rail. I've been dragged or pushed by rail cars, trying to stop as much as fifteen car lengths on cold rail by composite brake shoes. You learn in a hurry to get them warm. When wheel slip occurs, the electric power supplied to wheels has uneven load and the electronics seek to rectify this. This leads to conditions acerbated. Remember to get a flat spot, the wheel has to stop turning. Which also means - no pulling. That is happening under slip. To get a flat wheel, it has to slip for a very long way. British Columbia has 5-6 months of snow and ice. Unlike most of continental U.S. Switching rail yards are almost thing of the past.. A rail yard, teaches tricks unlike anywhere else on a system. You learn to run cars with or without air lines attached. Yardmen, for crew, who have little understanding of requirements of Loco operator. Now with automation using humps, etc. That experience is limited. It is the wheel slip that needs to be under control. That can be helped by applying independent brake. Especially if sanding is sporadic which is often the case in cold weather. Any moisture in sand box becomes frozen, especially at nozzle near wheels. Sanding is now mostly automated. As companies seek to reduce costs, of filling with sand. Those automatic sanders only come on when slip is detected, which is fine if the slippage is constant. Mostly they come on and cut out when it stutters like that. The sand supply is uneven. When, or if, we were supplied with engines that had wheels with flat spots. I would run the engine with independent brake applied, with about 5-10 lbs. of pressure which would slowly grind the flat spot out. Rail company's are only concerned with profit and meeting the requirements by law and regulation, at barest minimum. Profits always come above employees or equipment maintenance. After years of experience you learn tricks, that get the job done.

I think you've got that bass-ackwards. Traditional DC motors can't be run for long periods at stall. That's why some heavy-haul railroads spend the extra bucks for AC traction. AC also allows for advanced traction control, which prevents track-damaging wheelslip.

Mark Stockman Pretty sure Rodalco knows his stuff when it comes to AC and DC.

Mark Stockman AC motors can run at a high load longer than DC motors. That doesn't mean they can't get fucked up.

There is no short - time rating for AC units. You can stall a train with them and you won't damage the traction motors. Some of the old Alco and FM power had huge GE motors that far more powerful than what the tonnage ratings were.

No it isn't. We take coal trains in and out of there all the time.