It is actually good for these types of engines to completely open up sometimes and blow out. If it doesn't happen naturally, we have to do it intentionally every so often. This video is probably too much though lol.

Underpowered?! It's still moving isn't it?

@@pootispiker2866 underpowered in the sense that NS doesn't give the train the right amount of tractive effort to climb the steepest grades and be on time

@@LegoWormNoah101 woosh

Insert joke here about PSR

Oh ya im from mountain top ive seen it all the time

"As the good Lord intended." Long live the Southern!

Yes - why ?

No one who’s actually had to do it! Running LHF is horrible

Yeah it’s cool until you actually have to do it

Starting in the late '90's my railway began installing a traction control system - Positive Traction Control (PTC) - to their large fleet of SD40-2s (At that time over 500). This feature allowed the rated tonnage per engine to be raised by approximately 33% from 4950 EGT to 6600 without incurring any damage to the traction motors. This system would automatically adjust for wheel slip, excessive amperage, etc by reducing power to the traction motors. This meant that operating crews could simply place the engine(s) in throttle 8 and up the grade they would go with little fear of damaging the traction motors or slipping out. The one caveat was that all the locomotives in the consist had to be equipped with this feature to use it. A year or two little later they also began installing it on their large fleet of yard engines. If this engine is equipped with a similar system that would explain the lack of wheel slip and how it is just digging into the rail and pulling. You definitely go slower with more tonnage up the grade but at least you keep going. It became a clear case of 'Uphill slow, downhill fast, tonnage first and safety last!' lol

@@bobjohnson205 Then the system on that engine was definitely reducing amperage because the minimum continuous speed for an SD 40 is about 7 to 8 mph which is the max amperage the motors can take without damage. Note however, that any speed below that will not result in more drawbar pull, only less needed because of the slower speed. I have run a lot of rebuilt SD 40-2's and none of them had this feature. The greatest problem I experienced was the railroad not maintaining the sanders and reminding them that it was an FRA violation did not help, only garnered threats.

@@Hogger280 Reducing amperage so that the traction motors don't get damaged and wheel slip is controlled is exactly how the 'Positive Traction Control' (PTC) feature worked. It was/is a great feature and by the early 2000s hundreds of SD40-2s and yard engines on my railway were equipped with it. I guess you worked for the wrong railroad! lol It seems railways/railroads are great at intimidation and not so good at maintenance. Go figure! lol

They should have given the crew more power

@@rfree82 Yup, I've worked for more that one railroad that wouldn't give us enough power, expected us to abuse the power to get over the road and then blame the crew for damage to the engine! None of them ever maintained the sanders properly!

never noticed, haha

Look at the front of the first autorack!😂

That's not a SD40...that's a SD40-2.

@@ShawnCalay-hi6gySo? People can call sd40-2s or sd40-3s sd40s if they want. It’s not like you’re calling a gp7 an sd40

@@cts3696 a SD40 is a whole different locomotive then a a SD40-2...the spotting difference are so noticable it ain't funny! But hey you be you!

So, explain the difference between a SD45T-2 and a SD40-3. You will get used to people calling dash twos "forties" and on the Espee it was common to call the Ts by either 40T or 45T and everyone knew what was meant. But hey, you be you! @@ShawnCalay-hi6gy

@@sixriversrail what the hell you talking about??? Keep telling me your smoking up, while you keep telling me your smoking up....if you don't know the difference of a SD40T-2 from a SD45t-2 you shouldn't be a model railroader and you should be driving grandma's 1989 cavalier

The Big Boy.

I was thinking same thing.

It probably wasn't reading very high. It's the difference between WS10 and whatever wheelslip control system they probably retrofitted the unit with. Listen to the exhaust... or lack thereof. Just because the engine is running at 900 RPM doesn't mean the alternator is delivering maximum current.

Its fine

​@@docksidemarine4273 My understanding is that you can hold max amperage against the unit load weight only so long before components burn up; as is true in applied electricity.

@@chuckg2016 yes the engineer has a max amperage gauge infront of him with a max rating for 15 minutes, 30 minutes and an hour.

@@docksidemarine4273 Thank you.

That was standard operating procedure on the Denver and Rio Grande. Tennessee Pass specifically.

Just like UP.

@@RedArrow73 Agreed! Most corporations are underpowered, compromised, fluffy bunnies 🐰 that steal credit from others but shove blame on others to cover their screw ups. 0 Tolerance Accountability, 0 Ethics, 0 Responsibility but 100,000 Blame and Scapegoating, just like rank and file politicians.

This is how we cope with the shenanigans our bosses pull. Counting our money😂

NS trying to save costs by merging shorter trains into one long consist

That has to be hell on the short time ratings on those DC motors.

Thanks!

😂😂😂 The driver must have thought, "Fuqqin GREAT...Now I have to stare at THAT the whole time!"

This is not Notch 8, it would be very loud !!! 🔊

Definitely not notch 8. To pull that hard in 8 would fry the traction motors because the amperage would be so high. Also, wheel slippage at that speed would stall the consist.

@@michaelachhammer6383 : it's in run 8... just listen to it. Something that is not well understood by railfans is the way traction control systems work. Very few 40-series and Dash-2 locomotives have their original IDAC or WS10 wheelslip control systems. Most have had modern microprocessor-based systems retrofitted. These systems will control the output of the traction alternator to a fine degree to maximize traction without damaging the motors. Listen to the relative lack of exhaust noise. The engine isn't fully loaded by a long shot.

The Class 59s are basically UK spec SD40-2s. The Class 66s are basically SD59s with 12 cylinder 710 engines.

@daniella, A six axle SD-40?

It's a work horse not a race horse

About 2.7-ish gallons per minute at full throttle, give or take.

I asked my RFE about fuel conservation rules and explained that an SD70M uses 190 gallons per hour in notch 8. In notch 4, it uses 64 gallons per hour. So running 2 engines at half throttle is more fuel efficient than running 1 at full throttle. He said, "I don't make the rules. Just follow the rules."

Not only wasting fuel, with wheel slip it's physically wearing out other parts as well!

​@@keithsuggs7935 That's how it works on paper and theory but real world is a little different. I can say that from first hand experience on the WC/CN.

This was an as needed train, today it only ran to pick up the stored autoracks.

So they know to load the vehicles "head-in". Now, if it was dangling DOWN....

Refers to coupling speed in mph. General rule of thumb for all railcars, but autoracks are prone to damaged/shifted loads because the vehicles inside have the parking brake on but aren't tied down. Often associated with hump yards where they're sorting cars by gravity because all the retarders, computers, etc are designed around it. Someone once told me "it's really 'no more than 3' but that doesn't rhyme"

Nope, i believe they're still in Spartanburg waiting for repairs before being used again

@@palmettostaterailfan7019 okay

They don't care they just abused train to death this is how dumb people do that

We're is the SD40??? Just saw a SD40-2 did I miss something...

Absolutely, take 5 hrs of crawling?

Payed by the hour not the number of cars moved!

We need permission to turn the second engine. Usually the first must completely stall out. Even if we have to back down a mountain to turn on the second engine and get a running start.

S Ç Ř Ĕ Å M

Yep, they moved them up to Spartanburg yesterday

Man i was going there this weekend. Is 891175 and 891177 gone too

@@csxtrainfan319 they're all gone

DARN. What train is going to be stored there next

@@csxtrainfan319 they're in Spartanburg yard right now, they may either be scrapped, or sent down to Augusta GA to get repaired

It's the throttle position on the locomotive.

@@troyh3628 Like gears in a car?

FULL THROTTLE!!!

@@ffemtx47 And notch, ermm let's say 1? Or 5 for that matter? I suppose it's about torque?

@@FrankHeuvelman To simplify...The locomotive's movement is controlled by levers in the cab, both braking and acceleration. Notch 1 is slow. Notch 8 is fast.

Hilarious 😂

EnGiNe and TurBo lol foamers

not so worried about the power plant as for the DC motors. They're probably below the minimum continuous speed here.

"This girl is grossly overloaded you can only run this engine for so long until something happens" Tell that to all the railroads that used to put four SD40s on the front of a coal train and two on the back and haul a hundred and some coal cars through the mountains day after day, week after week, year after year. They're designed to be run as hard as they need to be run.

The fatalistic victim mentality that all these disgruntled union guys end up with… Who Cares!!!! They don’t give me a helper and tell me to just move the cars then F$&@k It !!! I WILL and if I blow their engine in the process then so be it!!!! They Shoulda blahhh blahh this or shoulda blahhh blahhh that….