About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

January 29, 2005
Before we kick off today’s lesson, some odds and ends to pick up. I discussed snow and lots of it last time. Well guess what we had all kinds of this past weekend? Snow and lots of it. Where I live here in Schererville, we had nearly two feet of it. Aside from the snowstorm that was predicted to give us between 6 to 10 inches, that Lake Michigan snow factory kicked into high gear. A north wind stirred up a big storm that blasted Northwest Indiana. Illinois didn’t get anything near what we did.

Also, I have been off from work sick since Tuesday afternoon. For the first time since 1986 and only the fourth time in well over twenty-six years of railroading I had to get relieved and come home from work sick. I was feeling terrible and probably shouldn’t have gone in that day, but I figured I would feel better once I got there. I didn’t and I got worse as the day went on and so I summoned relief. After having been through a serious illness some six years ago, I no longer need to push myself over the edge. So I’ll be off as long as it takes to get better. That and the fact the doctor prescribed me meds that prohibit me from working as they would violate rule G. So with all those meds I am presently taking, here’s hoping today’s lesson makes sense. While it looks good to me, it may appear as gibberish to you.

We discussed snow last time and as promised, this time we will study bitter cold weather. I have often commented about the fact that cold weather and compressed air do not mix. I know this; most other Locomotive Engineers, Conductors and Brakemen know this. So why then is it that so many railroad managers fail to embrace this concept?

Year in and year out, every winter it seems that those that run this industry repeatedly attempt to have us operate big long trains when the weather turns bitter cold. And when we have all sorts of air trouble as a result, we get treated as if we are attempting to stick it to the company. When we report problems in attempting to pump up the air in our train, they seem to repeatedly come up with the very same questions to ask us about our problems. They never want to blame the problems on the weather, but rather on the locomotives or the crew. They fail to believe that the bitter cold temperature has any impact on the flow of compressed air.

When the temperature gets below 10° F, things really begin to go wrong within the air brake system. Component piping tends to contract. And this contracting of the piping results in leakage. In some cases there is already leakage, generally minor, that now becomes a major problem. All of those little leaks throughout the brake pipe system tend to grow larger as everything contracts from the cold. The increased leakage robs the system of the valuable air pressure needed to keep the system charged. You need that air to properly operate the air brake system. Not enough air, no release of the brakes. And of course, if the brakes don’t release, the train will not move.

Norfolk Southern has a train length guide that is based upon the ambient temperature. It seems that most others either don’t, or don’t acknowledge having such guidelines. NS prints theirs right in their employee timetables. I would presume that for the most part, it is there for a reason and not just window dressing.

Now being that every single winter most roads attempt to run monster, killer, horror sized trains with little to no success, one would believe that this will be the year the industry realizes the impact of cold weather on the operation. Instead of having to reduce the bigger, longer trains before the air problems begin they will run smaller trains from the on set of the bitter cold weather. You would think.

But one of the problems is quite simple; they don’t teach air brake problems in college. Many of today’s railroad operating officers are not being promoted from the ranks. Instead they come right out of college and aside from some training program the industry provides for them when hired, they have no practical experience. The cold weather problem is one that should be studied in depth by railroad managers everywhere. Anybody that is promoted into management should be from the ranks, or right out of college should be forced to thoroughly read through piles of delay reports that deal with air problems in wintertime railroading.

Perhaps the manufacturers of the air brake equipment could produce training films that deal specifically with the problems of bitter cold temperatures. The films I watched over the years from what were then WABCO and New York Air Brake were quite detailed and informative about problems that could crop up. However, they didn’t have any dealing with the problems of bitter cold temperatures, long trains and air brakes. Why not? Hopefully I will get a response from a representative from one the air brake equipment manufacturers and get an answer.

If such training videos are to be produced, it should be mandatory that ALL RAILROAD MANAGEMENT from lowly Assistant Trainmaster right up to CEO watch them. If they were to watch such videos and then be given an examination on the topic, we might not have to endure the very same problems over and over again every winter.

Train lengths that are excessive in the bitter cold weather don’t work. Those of you that have been reading this little diatribe of mine for several years have heard plenty of stories about air trouble and cold weather.

Sometimes in this extremely cold weather, the automatic brake valve on the controlling locomotive will freeze up. I have never had one freeze up completely, but have had some sort of freezing problems with them over the years. I have seen plenty of them freeze up over the years on other trains though. I have had sander relays freeze open and have had to go out there and heat them up with a fusee to get them to thaw out and close. If these things stick, particularly on older units, the sanders now stuck on, will rob main reservoir pressure which in turn, will create problems in trying to maintain sufficient brake pipe pressure on your train.

For those that haven’t seen as much, here are a few stories for to enlighten you on the subject.

In my days at the Wisconsin Central, we were quite a shoestring operation. The plan called for so many trains per day. There generally was no plan to operate extra sections of the regular trains. It was always perceived that the regular trains would easily handle all the tonnage designated to be hauled on those particular trains. Ambient temperatures were generally not a factor in the equation with the exception of train speed. On portions of the railroad timetable cold weather speed restrictions were in effect. If the ambient temperature dropped below a certain point, train speeds had to be reduced, usually 10 mph or so on certain track segments. However, there was nothing in print anywhere with regards to train lengths in such weather.

So here we are on a bitter cold evening. It was about -25°F. We were scheduled to depart Fond du Lac with 132 cars. Using the Norfolk Southern Table for Maximum Train Lengths on trains equipped with head brake pipe supply only, our train this day should only have been 75 cars. The “equipped with head end brake pipe supply only” means only locomotives pumping air on the head end of the train only. There would be no air repeater cars placed somewhere within the train nor would there be any mid-train helper or distributed power locomotives to assist in pumping the brake pipe. Such equipment would provide for additional brake pipe pressure to be pumped into the system at a point other than, and in addition to the head end brake pipe air supply.

The WC had no such equipment in those days. Nonetheless, our management team routinely made the attempt to operate the big trains in the frigid temperatures. What they would do was have every track we were scheduled to take out of the yard connected to the yard air plant. When you have three tracks each holding perhaps forty or so cars with yard air pumping each one of them, it is no problem in getting the air up to the desired pressure as well as maintaining it at that point. Where you begin to encounter the problems is generally when doubling the train up. You have to remove the yard air plant from each track before coupling to it.

There is a correct way as well as an incorrect way to disconnect the yard plant from each track. In some cases, the Conductor, Brakeman, Utility Employee or even Car Inspector may perform the chore in the incorrect manner. By doing it in this manner, you put that particular cut of cars into emergency. Once the emergency application is recovered, the brake pipe must be charged back up. Only now, instead of feeding air to the track directly from a yard air plant, you are doing it from the train. And in many cases, the source of air now being used to supply the air is 50 to 100 cars away; a considerable distance.

On this particular trip, we had made the first two doubles and had one track in which to triple all of this. The Car Inspector decided he would help out my Conductor and remove the yard air plant from this track. In doing so, he dumped the air on this track putting the cut there into emergency. So now we have to pump the air back up on this track from about 100 car lengths away, where the air compressors and automatic brake valve on the locomotives are located; quite a long way for the air to go when the temperature is so cold.

So we pumped and pumped and pumped some more. The car inspectors even walked the track checking for problems and found none. In those days the WC was operating a brake pipe of 80 psi. This setting requires no less than 65 psi of air on the tail end of the train. We never got the brake pipe pressure on the tail end over about 54 psi. After several hours of pumping with no increase over the 54 psi mark and my insistence that it was never going to come up to at least the magic number of 65, it was decided to cut off that last track from the train. We wound up having to leave those 32 cars behind. Ironically, the tail end pressure never once rose above 69 psi the entire trip.

Now here is something to ponder; even if I was able to attain the minimum of 65 psi, I would then not have very good air on the train, only the minimum. Oh sure, I could get stopped, but anytime I would be required to use the air for braking, I would most likely have to come to a complete stop. There would be no running releases, releasing the brakes without coming to a stop as is routinely and frequently performed. Anytime I used the air, I would have no choice but stopping so as not to break the train in two. Poor air and cold weather would not give me the quick release I needed to keep the train rolling without stopping when only a reduction in speed and not a stop is required. It would take time to increase the brake pipe pressure sufficiently to ensure a complete release of the brakes throughout the entire train. Such action creates delay as you now sit and wait for the air to come back up and the brakes to release.

There have been numerous cases throughout my career where we barely managed to get the sufficient brake pipe pressure on the tail end to initiate the brake test. Once we got our highball it was “Go, get out of my yard.” All they want is us out. Once we depart the yard we are on our own. If we have problems it is up to the Conductor or Brakeman to find them. Again, there will be considerable delay to the train. Oftentimes there will be little that can be done other than reducing the length of the train. And such terminology is almost forbidden on the railroad.

There have been times that we were able to complete the air test and depart, only to have problems en route. As the slack is stretched out and the stiff hoses pull somewhat, but not completely apart, the leaks may become even worse. This additional leakage will cause the brakes to begin to apply and the train comes to a stop. There is a fix for this but it takes time. Once the train comes to stop, you have to make a full service reduction, wait for the exhaust to cease, give it a minute or so for the brake pipe to stabilize and equalize, then release the brakes and charge the system back up. This will usually give you a complete release with (hopefully) no sticking brakes. Again though, this is a big delay. I have had to do this five or six times on a trip on more than one occasion. In taking the delay, trying to explain this to the Dispatcher can be a big pain. Some of them have absolutely no clue as to what we are talking about while the good ones have no difficulty understanding the problem.

On another occasion, I was taking a train out of Fond du Lac that was en route to Gladstone, MI. We would take the train as far as Shawano, WI and change crews there, but first we had work to perform en route. We departed Fond du Lac with 155 cars and an ambient temperature of -40F. The entire train was on yard air and we doubled it up with no problems. This was in the early days of the WC so we did not yet have end of train telemetries, only the Starlight brand of marker also known as “Dumb FRED.” There was no communication with the end of train marker. Even though the air was good enough for the air test we didn’t have a good running train. There was a fair amount of drag to it leading us to believe we probably had sticking brakes.

We stopped at Neenah, WI and performed a set out and pick up departing there with about 147 cars. The Yardmaster came out and gave us our brake test. He told me on the radio that we had 65 psi of air on the tail end. I was required to go on his information even though I didn’t believe his report of the air to be correct, but I had nothing else to go with. With air test complete, we departed. The train did not roll very well at all. I had to make a couple of stops between Neenah and Shawano as well as a couple of slow downs. In each and every case, all I had to do was reduce the throttle. I never had to use the air at all. There were enough sticking brakes in the train to handle reductions in speed and slowing to a stop without using the air. On this particular trip, I had three SD45 locomotives all equipped with dynamic brakes, but in those early days of the WC, the dynamics were not reliable. On several of our ex Burlington Northern units the dynamics did not work at all, on some it worked some of the time, on others it worked only partially. You could not depend upon it therefore, you rarely used it.

When we swapped out crews at Shawano, I rolled the train by as the fresh crew departed town. All throughout the train I was getting a whiff of burning brake shoes. This is a very distinctive odor that anybody who has railroaded for any period of time is quite familiar with. I radioed the Engineer of several cars having sticking brakes and he laughed as he responded something to the effect of “Just several?” I later learned that they got stopped several times as the train literally dragged them down to a stop. They had to perform all the same sort of full service reduction trick with the air that I have previously described to overcome the problems.

Now there are other problems that come out from hiding when the weather gets cold. Everything gets stiff or tight in the bitter cold weather. For one; air hoses lose their flexibility. As a result they can and sometimes do, pop apart which then puts the train into emergency. Nothing worse than going into emergency and having it happen when it is bitter cold only adds to the dilemma. Emergency vent valves sometimes tend to stick open when recovering the air after an emergency brake application. Sometimes a trick that many Engineers know (yours truly included) to correct such a problem works. Other times it does not work. And when it doesn’t work, the Conductor or Brakeman has to walk the train to find the offending valve or valves that are stuck open. This of course, constitutes delay.

When the offending valve is discovered, there are several quick fixes that sometimes work. When these tricks of the trade fail to achieve the desired result, the air brakes on the car with the offending valve must be cut out. This is perfectly legal. In the US and Canada, trains are allowed to operate with 85% of the train brakes functional. There is a difference between the two countries though with regard to the initial terminal where an initial terminal brake test is performed or intermediate terminal where 1000 mile train inspections are performed. At such locations in the US, the brakes have to be operative on 100% of the train whereas in Canada it is 85%.

In any event, the offending car or cars may have their brakes cut out to bypass the problem. As long as there are no more than two cars in succession cut out, the offending car is not the rear car of the train, and there will be no 85% compliant issues you may cut out the brakes on the offending car.

On many long cars there is an additional vent valve called the A-1 reduction valve. This valve assists the emergency vent valve in exhausting brake pipe air in the event of an emergency brake application. In some cases this valve sticks open. If the tricks of the trade cannot solve the problem there is a quick fix for this. This valve has a threaded plug end. You can unscrew this valve, turn it sideways to the threaded plug end and screw that end into the fitting. This will alleviate the stuck valve problem. But again, this constitutes for big delays.

Switches may also freeze. When the snow is initially cleared from all the moving parts, some of what snow remains will melt. Or snow all around the switch melts and the water accumulates in the switch. Oftentimes after a significant snowfall the temperature will drop. This tends to occur when a high pressure system follows a substantial snowfall. The water which has accumulated in the switch now freezes and may really freeze quite solid. In some cases there is so much ice in the switch that a torch is needed to heat everything up and melt all the ice.

We had this occur just last week. The switch we had to use to couple the engines from our inbound train to the outbound train of another assignment was frozen solid. No ordinary switch broom was going to clean up this frozen mess. They had to call out a trackman to remedy the problem. We were on short time, so we didn’t stick around for his arrival.

Power operated or dual control switches are normally equipped with some type of heater to melt off snow and ice. However, just like locomotives, those heaters are not fueled with air. Usually the heaters are fueled with natural or LP gas. Those that use the LP gas have a tank or two nearby that stores the fuel. It is always good to have such tanks filled when there is a threat of heavy weather approaching. Just like than manually operated switches, power switches will also fill up with snow and ice and then freeze solid. And even if there is plenty of fuel, it always helps when the heater unit itself works.

Last winter we encountered a non-functioning switch heater that gave us fits. We had to stop and set out a pair of engines from our locomotive consist for a local assignment. Instead of having us do it where we would normally set out the engines, they had us take them to a small yard outside of town. This required us to have to make several moves over a power switch controlled by the Dispatcher. It was a bitter cold late night/early morning. The Dispatcher instructed us to hand operate this switch as she could not get it to work. I informed her that the heater was not working and maybe the switch was frozen. I then asked if we could leave the switch in the hand, lining it back and forth by hand for all of our moves and restore it to motor when we had completed our chores. I was told “No.” So now, every time we were required to go over the switch, we had to go through the entire ritual required when hand operating a dual control power switch.

Now if this wasn’t bad enough, my Conductor discovers that the selector lever that transfers the switch from motor to hand and back is jammed. This required the assistance of a “persuader” to entice the handle to move. Every time he needed to move the selector lever, he had to whack it with a hammer. And during our moves we had to wait for another train to pass and he too, had to hand operate this switch. When all was said and done, what should have been a fairly simple task took over an hour to accomplish. Now had only that heater been working….

Rail will contract in cold weather. Even where there are rail anchors in use, the rail will still contract and run in. When the conditions become extreme something will have to give. In the case of jointed rail, rail that is bolted together using nuts bolts and angle bars, the bolts may get sheared and the rail will separate inside the angle bars. This is known as a pull apart. It may also be called a stripped joint. This was a routine problem in my days as Trainmaster at the IHB. Every winter there were numerous pull aparts in the hump yard that had to be repaired.

In the case of welded rail the break may occur at a weld. Or if not at a weld, there could be a bad spot in the rail itself and the break might occur there. Such track defects may develop from outside sources and not a problem with the metallurgy. Flat spots on wheels can wreak havoc on rail. That pounding of the flattened wheel tread against the rail can create internal damage which then manifests itself with significant temperature drops. Flat spots hammering the weakened and cold rail can accelerate the deterioration of such rail causing the rail to break.

Over the years I’ve encountered numerous broken rails in bitter cold weather. One in particular really stands out as it could have easily been far worse than it wound up being. One evening in my WC days, we were heading west, actually north according to the compass but west according to the timetable. We were contacted by the Stevens Point East Dispatcher and instructed to stop at Silver Lake, WI and pick up a now repaired bad order car from the house track. This house track was located about a quarter of a mile or so west of the Silver Lake West control point.

So we come zooming into Silver Lake on a clear (green) signal at Silver Lake East. I bring the train to a stop to clear the road crossing near Silver Lake West; we cut away and head up to the house track. We cut back here to avoid blocking the road crossing while we pumped the air back up on the train and performed the brake test before departing. I should note that we also had a clear signal at Silver Lake West when we headed up to pull the repaired car out of the house track. I also need to mention the fact that the temperature had dropped about 43°F from about 62°F during the day down to 19°F that evening. While not that bitter cold, it was quite a severe drop in such a short period of time. That means that everything began to contract and did so rather quickly.

Brian was having a difficult time lining the switch to get us into the house track so I walked back to see if I could lend a hand. It was then that I discovered the broken rail. I just happen to glance down at the main track and there it was plain as day. It was a clean break that was all new. This means there was no sign of previous breakage occurring and that the break itself was complete as the rail was pulled completely apart; far enough apart that you could turn a 2x4 sideways and fit it in between the break.

We had caught a huge break here, no pun intended. The break was located on the outside rail of a curve too. Had we not stopped to pick up that car we would have hit this spot at 50 mph. Being that this break was on a curve and at this speed, our train would have been all over the countryside. We would have been famous and the lead story on “Nightly News.” Chances are we would have survived it as the locomotives always seem to make it over the break. We had made it over with three SD45 locomotives unscathed. Of course we weren’t going very fast as I was slowing down to stop after clearing the house track switch. But in hearing stories from plenty of railroaders with regards to hitting broken rails at any appreciable speed, the engines always seem to make it over the switch before everything else piles up. Good for the crews but bad for the freight.

I guess the railroad gods were smiling on us in a perverse sort of way that evening.

And then there are cab heaters. Federal law requires that there should be a minimum temperature of 55° F eight inches above the Engineer’s seat; while you are standing still. 55° is not all that warm when you think about it. I don’t know too many people that would be able yet alone willing to work in an office if it was less than 62°. Now add a nice draft from doors and windows that don’t close tightly and allow air to blow right in and remove virtually all of the insulation as well. I know people that scream if it is below 72° in their offices and they have to put on a sweater. Try having to sit there with long johns, a sweat shirt over a flannel shirt, gloves and a parka on, just to avoid freezing to death while sitting inside your office. I, along with thousands of other railroaders have had to do just that over the years while performing our duties in our “offices.”

All locomotives built new after 1975 are equipped with electric forced air heaters. All new locomotives built by EMD with standard cabs from 1976 until the phase out of the standard cab have electric strip or sidewall heaters as well. These heaters are mounted against the walls below the windows and just above the floors on either side of the cab. GE added electric sidewall heaters in 78 if I am not mistaken. Prior to the electric forced air heat, locomotives used hot water recirculation systems. Cooling water from the prime mover of the locomotive was circulated through grids of the heater and a fan forced air to pass through this piping gird drawing heat off them and out into the cab. There were three different speed settings for the heater fan so you could regulate your heat to a certain point. When the locomotive is working hard, the water is plenty hot and you have great heat. When it is not working hard, particularly on a very cold day, you have very poor heat. It didn’t matter how high a speed that fan was set to, if the piping in the grid wasn’t hot, the heater wasn’t producing much, if any heat.

Older GE locomotives employed a heating system that only had two fan speeds; on or off. You regulated the heat by adjusting the vent louvers and opening and closing the valve that let the water flow through the grid.

And all the plumbing that is involved with the hot water heat can and does develop problems. Piping will spring leaks or burst. Over time scaling will build up internally from the minerals in the water. This scaling will restrict or completely blocks the flow of water and you know what that means. Little or no water equates to little or no heat. Periodically an acid solution has to be run through the piping to clear out the scale build up. The hot water system is obviously more labor intensive to maintain which is why so many railroads are eliminating it and replacing it with the all electric systems.

And if you board a locomotive equipped with hot water heat that has been sitting for any time idling in bitter cold weather, it will be quite cold in that cab. In my brief tour at the EJ&E, with the exception of the three former DM&IR locomotives on the roster at that time, all of the locomotives were hot water heater equipped. When you boarded a locomotive on a bitter cold day that had been sitting awhile, first thing you would do is immediately rev the thing up to run 5 and let it rev while you inspected your power. This was in an effort to try to create some heat for the cab. Once you got that engine working hard out in the yard or on the road, you would then have all kinds of heat. Otherwise if you were working an assignment where you weren’t revving the engine way up, you pretty much froze. And with the exception of those three ex DM&IR locomotives, none of the J engines had electric sidewall heaters either.

The all electric heaters have improved the situation somewhat as you are no longer dependent upon cooling water temperatures to keep you warm. And the additional sidewall heaters also help heat those thinly insulated cab side walls. However, there are still obstacles for those heaters to overcome.

Unless specified by the railroad, there was very little insulation provided in the standard cabs. So here you are sitting inside of a steel box with minimal insulation. And years of use and abuse don’t help either. Over time the cabs get banged around and may get knocked out of shape. The frames around the doors warp and the cab doors themselves will bend or deteriorate. The weather stripping around the doors wears out. As a result gaps are created. The same principal applies with the sliding side windows. The window frames bend or warp, weather stripping deteriorates and the bodywork around the entire window frame assembly starts to rot. If there is an opening, cold air will find a way to get in. There is also the problem of the seals around the high voltage cabinet doors deteriorating as well. There have been times it felt like there was more of a breeze inside the cab than outside. Even the best of heaters will have a difficult time trying to overcome the influx of cold air.

This is just one of many reasons I carry a role of duct tape with me at all times. Duct tape is the greatest invention since wireless radio, round wheels and indoor plumbing. The guy who invented this stuff should have been given a Nobel Prize for science or something. I have probably unrolled a million miles of duct tape and applied it all around cab doors and windows, high voltage cabinet doors and other opening in the cab during my career. When people ask what the roll of duct tape attached to the shoulder strap of my grip is for I usually respond “This year’s cab winterization program.”

There have been brutally cold nights where the temperature is far below 0 and even with the heaters on full blast you are still bundled up in the cab as you are trying not to freeze to death.

A serious flaw in the cab heating system is that no heat is provided for the area under the floor or down in the nose. While some roads have opted for a heater in the nose, nobody has ever addressed the issue of under the cab floor. Having this area heated would provide not only for a warmer cab, but would also help keep the automatic brake valve and the pneumatic control switch from freezing up as well. What would a heater in the nose do you might ask? Aside from helping in the overall comfort within the cab, it would also keep the toilet from freezing. When it gets cold enough, I have seen many a locomotive toilet freeze up. If you ate Mexican food or perhaps even White Castle hamburgers for dinner the night before, the frozen toilet could present a serious and difficult dilemma, far worse than freezing to death.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and HTOTHI are both ©2005 by JD Santucci