So I'm guessing the silver box connected to the MR and and air hose allow the helpers to cut off in motion, but how?  I've always wondered how they did it and after looking at this pic I'm even more confused.

Ahh yes, the infamous "Helper-Link." You are correct in that it allows the helpers to be cut off on the fly. The hose hooked up to the main res supplies an actuator that is hooked up to the pin lifter. You simply bunch the slack a little bit, press the magic button...and VOILA! It gets it's power from a control circuit and thus the MU cable (or fuel hose.) The ones that I have seen have a button mounted somewhere in the cab of the unit the Helper-Link is mounted on, though I wouldn't be surprised if there are variations that allow you to uncouple remotely form another unit in the consist. that may also be controlled through the MU cable. The box gets coded with the EOT and they "talk" to each other, much like a Head End device. If the EOT detects that the trainline is in emergency, it sends a signal to the Helper-Link which in turn dumps the air on the helpers. The same holds true the other way: if the helpers initiate an emergency, the Helper-Link tells the EOT to dump the train. It's a pretty slick little system except when you get the occasional EOT that for some reason flashes 00's for a second or two and then goes back to normal. When it flashes 00, the Helper-Link goes through it's emergency motions. WHen the EOT returns to normal, it gets an emergency signal from the Helper-Link and dumps the train. I know this because it has happened on our hills quite a bit here at LINTCO. I hope that helps.

Thanks, looks like a pretty slick set up. Thats alot different than the way they did it where I hired out

Helper Link works great. If you are equipped.
Works good on one man helpers.
No Conductor to pull the pin...

That's one that concerns me. No pin-puller. Bunchin' the slack of the train, then pulling the pin... Still the train's gotta dump its air, unless TRAINLINE loss is nullified by EOT... BUT an open angle cock is an open angle cock. So what's holdin' the 'bottled' air? Unless the lead unit alone is cut from the rest of the power. Oh yeah BYTW, GE makes that 'silver-box,' or LocoTrol as it's patented. You'll notice it's use on SD 40-2s. One man crews? Not much of a 'crew' eh? Anybody that would go out alone is a candidate for a Darwin Award! Perfect set up for weeding out the weak, and stupid!

Others might chime in about helpers here. Lite power, even? I believe GONErail operated accordingly, I know they used to run a HAWG only job out of the home state capital city every Sunday night, that distributed power to all the outlying points east for the week.

*cy*, are you so old & retired that you have forgotten about your mighty red team one person assignments? UP (where's HHB?) had them, too. Green Team did not.

Gonerail had two people helpers in WV, it was LAMCO that made them one person.

Snippy, my portion of the Red Team did not have that, assignment called for a trainman, spelled out. Never was a one man crew.

Gonerail helpers outta Altoona up the hill to Cresson, then down the west slope to Conemaugh..(then to conway), then return, were one man crews for many years.
Corse those guys didnt get a raise fer 10 years.

Uke wrote:

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That's one that concerns me. No pin-puller. Bunchin' the slack of the train, then pulling the pin... Still the train's gotta dump its air, unless TRAINLINE loss is nullified by EOT... BUT an open angle cock is an open angle cock. So what's holdin' the 'bottled' air?

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The air hoses are not coupled between the last car in the train and the helper.
There is a radio link between the EOT on the train and the Helperlink box on the helper.
You key number of EOT on train into the helperlink on the engine.
Helperlink watches air pressure being transmitted by the EOT.

When you physically seperate the helper from the end of the train, there is no air connection that has to be broken.
Last car trainline air still goes to EOT; helpers trainline air hooked to the helperlink box.

Snippy, with that reasoning alone, it would make you PHAKE GREEN TEAM.

*cy* --  We worked 100% under Green Team Rules and Green Team Collective Bargaining Agreements, not some nickel-plated phake red ones.

Present circumstances demonstrate without question that you were not a loyalist. 'Nuff said.