You may not be the right place to start but you are my best guess.
Recently we had a train with power contactor problems on our third locomotive, BNSF 5238 I believe. My conductor talked to mechanical over the radio and was told to; isolate the unit, insert a reverser and throw it back and forth, center the reverser, reset the faults and put the unit back on the line. Further up the line we were being held at an intermediate signal. As we got close to the signal I applied the independent brakes for our final stopping effort that should have stopped us about 200 feet from the signal but we kept creeping along till we stopped about 3 feet from the signal. I knew there had to be something wrong with my independent brakes so I started back through the consist. My lead unit was showing 69 lbs brake cylinder pressure, second unit was 49 lbs, third unit was 5 lbs and I believe last unit was 0 lbs. When the reverser is inserted and thrown on a locomotive with electronic air brakes it automatically cuts the independent brakes into the lead position on the locomotive you are throwing the reverser on. Since the third locomotives independent handle was in the release position it was overriding the application I was trying to make. . You can just imagine what would have happened if this had been light power and I had been trying to stop short of a train crossing over at a control point. By the time I realized the independent was not going to stop me it may have been to late for even an emergency application to get me stopped.
I have talked with 30 40 engineers since this happened and only one had even heard of the independent being automatically cut in if a reverser is thrown. The independent cannot be cut back out while a locomotive is moving, even on a trailing locomotive, if my research is correct.
Please have the mechanical supervisors that respond to our locomotive problems via radio to NEVER instruct crews to insert nor move a reverser on a trailing locomotive that is moving. Have them remind/instruct anyone that does have to use a reverser on a trailing locomotive that is stopped to cut the independent back out if it has automatically cut itself in when a reverser has been thrown.
Thank You,
XXXX XXXXXX
Locomotive Engineer
Needles, CA
6569131
I think I have encountered this once but thought it was a fluke caused by another LINTCO Red-headed step child with a superiority complex.
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Some people say I have a bad attitude. Those people are stupid.
I remember them teaching us at choo choo U, that on newer units if the reverser is moved it automatically sets it up to lead. This way it prevents some one from taking off only to realize they can haven't cut the brakes in.
I also found out you can't cut the brakes out with the reverser in.
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DJ will never be the Republicunt nominee. Permalynx this. Snippy 2/2/2016
What Snippy said. Only a half-wit would throw the reverser back and forth while moving, although I know of two different guys, in the early days of dynamic brake, that reversed the engines instead of operating the selector lever.
This 'locomotive engineer' sounds like an expert on GE electrics, in that he diagnosed a 'stuck' power contactor all by himself.
And that caused his consist ta continue 'creeping forward, in spite of the lead unit's control position (brakes, and power).
If I read that correctly, and it was kinda tiny for my lousy eyes... The YM/TM/Mech. desk gave this engineer bogus instructions over the radio (for other crews to hear) as to solving the problem.
Something about this whole thing stinks. Then again, what the hell do I know?
Maybe my bud mntman will chime in.
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
You may not be the right place to start but you are my best guess.
Recently we had a train with power contactor problems on our third locomotive, BNSF 5238 I believe. My conductor talked to mechanical over the radio and was told to; isolate the unit, insert a reverser and throw it back and forth, center the reverser, reset the faults and put the unit back on the line. Further up the line we were being held at an intermediate signal. As we got close to the signal I applied the independent brakes for our final stopping effort that should have stopped us about 200 feet from the signal but we kept creeping along till we stopped about 3 feet from the signal. I knew there had to be something wrong with my independent brakes so I started back through the consist. My lead unit was showing 69 lbs brake cylinder pressure, second unit was 49 lbs, third unit was 5 lbs and I believe last unit was 0 lbs. When the reverser is inserted and thrown on a locomotive with electronic air brakes it automatically cuts the independent brakes into the lead position on the locomotive you are throwing the reverser on. Since the third locomotives independent handle was in the release position it was overriding the application I was trying to make. . You can just imagine what would have happened if this had been light power and I had been trying to stop short of a train crossing over at a control point. By the time I realized the independent was not going to stop me it may have been to late for even an emergency application to get me stopped.
I have talked with 30 40 engineers since this happened and only one had even heard of the independent being automatically cut in if a reverser is thrown. The independent cannot be cut back out while a locomotive is moving, even on a trailing locomotive, if my research is correct.
Please have the mechanical supervisors that respond to our locomotive problems via radio to NEVER instruct crews to insert nor move a reverser on a trailing locomotive that is moving. Have them remind/instruct anyone that does have to use a reverser on a trailing locomotive that is stopped to cut the independent back out if it has automatically cut itself in when a reverser has been thrown.
Thank You, XXXX XXXXXX Locomotive Engineer Needles, CA 6569131
I think I have encountered this once but thought it was a fluke caused by another LINTCO Red-headed step child with a superiority complex.
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
Couple times I had a trailing Gonerail SD80MAC in my consist of otherwise all GE's. Needless to say, we got stopped several times on the trip, and a few times long enuff for the SD80 to shutdown automatically for fuel conservation. Whenever youd put the reverser in the lead engine forward to start the engines and that trailing SD80 would start, you would hear air blowing under the floor and you could see the independant brake cyl pressure reducing. The SD80 was changing its air brakes to lead whenever it was automatically restarting. Only had it happen twice to me, I think they cycled all the electronic air brake units thru the shops to fix it. There was a bulletin out about not manually shutting down certain engines after they were coupled together too.
Sounds to me that the Mechanical desk guy didn't have enuff common sense to instruct the crew that they needed to be stopped when they did his trouble shooting procedures.. Any time that you throw a reversor in a consist its going to do something.. The older units will choke if its in a direction opposite your movement and unload, and with the newer ones with electronic air its going too cut-in the brakes.. Sounds like the guy figured they were stopped but didn't really ask the crew..
I think the guys on the mechanical desks are looking stuff up on the computer or reading from a big book. A official-type person told me the other day that wasn't too far from the truth.
Still, wonder who was back there flipping the reverser, was it a fairly new conductor, trying to help out the hawg. I would think anyone who had a lick of sense would know better than to flip the reverser while moving or the engineer would have gotten on the radio and said, NO!
Wonder if he bothered to check the speedometer while he was back there on trailing power.
