railroad@ucbvax.ARPA (08/13/85)
From: Dennis Rockwell <drockwel@CSNET-SH.ARPA> [ ... ] I wasn't aware that these were still in use in todays engines, but, I can't think of any other reason of carrying a sand tower on an engine. Rick Smith As far as I know, they are still in use, but they are no longer so readily visible at the top of the locomotive. After all, there is still the need for additional traction (steel-steel is not the best match for adhesion). As backup evidence, I have a short article (anecdote, really) which mentions that the GG1 (the greatest locomotive ever) had sand available to the engineer and it was used routinely in accelerating away from stops; also, on a recent (business) trip to Stockholm, I spent an entire afternoon at the central RR station and the RC1 thru RC5 locomotives all had sand pipes leading to the wheels. The RC class locomotive is the basis for the AEM7 (?) currently in use by AMTRAK in the Northeast Corridor. Dennis
railroad@ucbvax.ARPA (08/13/85)
From: Swenson.PA@Xerox.ARPA Sand is indeed needed. I was on a trip on the California Western last summer (or perhaps the summer before)-one of the first steam trips in several years. The steam engine ran from Fort Bragg to the midpoint and swapped cars with a diesel from Willets. We went on to Willets behind the diesel. The sanders on the diesel were empty or clogged. The engine was unable to pull the train around an uphill curve. Finally after many failures, the train crew went along the tracks and picked up pinches of sand along the track & put this sand on the rails. After perhaps a half hour of this, the train was able to proceed.