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Dick Cooper Time Book - 1950s

 

4/17/53 Layed in.
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4/18/53 deadhead, through freight rate, marked on Mohawk 12:30 PM, marked off Colonie 1:30 PM, on duty 1:00, paid $2.32 for 16 miles.
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4/18/53 Richmondville helper, power 4109-4112, through freight rate, marked on Colonie 1:30 PM, helped RW-2, GEX-4 & RW-4 up Richmondville hill, marked off Colonie 3:00 AM, on duty 13:30, paid $35.16 for 243 miles, E. Baisden engineer, Cooper fireman.
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4/19/53 deadhead, through freight rate, marked on Colonie 3:00 AM, marked off Mohawk 4:00 AM, on duty 1:00, paid $2.32 for 16 miles.
 

Very interesting that a GE Extra needed help up Richmondville.? I always thought those trains consisted of no more than a handful of over-dimension loads with their accompanying empty idler flats, but I could be wrong. Even though the loads themselves were heavy the overall train tonnage would not be that much.

Al W.
 

Just guessing. GEX-4 and RW-2 or RW-4 might have been combined at Mohawk or Schenectady and separated somewhere south of Richmondville because of routing restrictions to the south. Some heavy or dimension cars required special routing for clearance or weight restrictions. Some of those restrictions would appear odd unless you understood the reason. For instance, even though track centers (distance between adjacent tracks) were standardized, very long cars had center or end overhangs on curves so that they could not meet or pass another train alongside in that curve. Some curves at that time had as much as 6 or 7 inches superelevation and cars with a high center of gravity could only be operated at a minimum speed to avoid overturning to the low side, or at slower speed to avoid overturning to the high side. Those restrictions probably did not apply north of Richmondville.
 

Thanks Gordon.

Ed

On Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 08:08:26 PM EDT, Gordon Davids via groups.io <g.davids@...> wrote:


Just guessing. GEX-4 and RW-2 or RW-4 might have been combined at Mohawk or Schenectady and separated somewhere south of Richmondville because of routing restrictions to the south. Some heavy or dimension cars required special routing for clearance or weight restrictions. Some of those restrictions would appear odd unless you understood the reason. For instance, even though track centers (distance between adjacent tracks) were standardized, very long cars had center or end overhangs on curves so that they could not meet or pass another train alongside in that curve. Some curves at that time had as much as 6 or 7 inches superelevation and cars with a high center of gravity could only be operated at a minimum speed to avoid overturning to the low side, or at slower speed to avoid overturning to the high side. Those restrictions probably did not apply north of Richmondville.

--
Ed Cox
 

Thank you, Gordon.? I like to compare the operations on the REAL D&H to my experiences on the same territory post-2000 under CP.

Al W.


On Wed, Sep 18, 2024, 08:00 Ed Cox via <edcox13=[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks Gordon.

Ed

On Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 08:08:26 PM EDT, Gordon Davids via <g.davids=[email protected]> wrote:


Just guessing. GEX-4 and RW-2 or RW-4 might have been combined at Mohawk or Schenectady and separated somewhere south of Richmondville because of routing restrictions to the south. Some heavy or dimension cars required special routing for clearance or weight restrictions. Some of those restrictions would appear odd unless you understood the reason. For instance, even though track centers (distance between adjacent tracks) were standardized, very long cars had center or end overhangs on curves so that they could not meet or pass another train alongside in that curve. Some curves at that time had as much as 6 or 7 inches superelevation and cars with a high center of gravity could only be operated at a minimum speed to avoid overturning to the low side, or at slower speed to avoid overturning to the high side. Those restrictions probably did not apply north of Richmondville.

--
Ed Cox

 

D&H Dimension Loads
Moving dimension and heavy loads for GE on the D&H was always an interesting challenge. GE Schenectady had some cars with the highest maximum gross weight in the country. One that I remember in particular was the GEX 80003, a depressed-center flat car with forty wheels and a capacity of one-million pounds on a 40-foot center platform. It had a hydraulic system that would permit the load to be shifted slightly for low-speed movement past a tight restriction.
?
Another car, GEX 80001, was a ¡°Schnable¡± car that was two sections that could be joined together for light movement, and then separated to connect directly to a steam turbine that was designed to serve as the actual center of the car. The turbine was pinned directly to the car at four corners at each end, in a horizontal plane. GE sold that car around 1975.
?
When GE began designing a large steam turbine, they had our clearance diagrams for a guide. If they wanted to exceed the clearance diagram, they would contact us with a ¡°can you handle¡± request. We could often find a way to remove a small clearance restriction and negotiate the cost with GE. They were usually very happy to assume the cost when the turbine really needed that excess dimension, knowing that once that load was cleared, we would be able to handle the same loads for them later.
?
The D&H south of Schenectady had some of the best clearances and bridge capacities of any eastern railroad, in conjunction with the former Erie lines. Those routes were originally built to six-foot gauge, and double track north of Nineveh Junction. Binghamton Tunnel was a clearance restriction, so the dimension loads going to the Erie were interchanged at Jefferson Jct on the Penn Division. The Penn Division had good clearances to the PRR at Buttonwood, as well.
?
I remember clearing one load on a different long D&H flat car to PRR at Buttonwood. Our clearance diagrams for planning had detailed cross-sections showing the tightest obstructions at the point, and any track curvature to account for center or end swing-out on curves. Our diagram did not indicate a curve that began about fifty feet beyond the portal of a through-truss bridge on the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad.?
?
The turbine scraped the end post of the bridge. We set the car aside at Buttonwood, and I went down with a GE engineer to look at it. He had a can of gray spray paint that he used that to ¡°repair¡± the turbine.? Nothing more was said beyond ¡°Thank You!¡± We did update the clearance diagrams to account for the longer cars.
 

More great information.

Thanks again Gordon.

Ed

On Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 01:50:08 PM EDT, Gordon Davids via groups.io <g.davids@...> wrote:


D&H Dimension Loads
Moving dimension and heavy loads for GE on the D&H was always an interesting challenge. GE Schenectady had some cars with the highest maximum gross weight in the country. One that I remember in particular was the GEX 80003, a depressed-center flat car with forty wheels and a capacity of one-million pounds on a 40-foot center platform. It had a hydraulic system that would permit the load to be shifted slightly for low-speed movement past a tight restriction.
?
Another car, GEX 80001, was a ¡°Schnable¡± car that was two sections that could be joined together for light movement, and then separated to connect directly to a steam turbine that was designed to serve as the actual center of the car. The turbine was pinned directly to the car at four corners at each end, in a horizontal plane. GE sold that car around 1975.
?
When GE began designing a large steam turbine, they had our clearance diagrams for a guide. If they wanted to exceed the clearance diagram, they would contact us with a ¡°can you handle¡± request. We could often find a way to remove a small clearance restriction and negotiate the cost with GE. They were usually very happy to assume the cost when the turbine really needed that excess dimension, knowing that once that load was cleared, we would be able to handle the same loads for them later.
?
The D&H south of Schenectady had some of the best clearances and bridge capacities of any eastern railroad, in conjunction with the former Erie lines. Those routes were originally built to six-foot gauge, and double track north of Nineveh Junction. Binghamton Tunnel was a clearance restriction, so the dimension loads going to the Erie were interchanged at Jefferson Jct on the Penn Division. The Penn Division had good clearances to the PRR at Buttonwood, as well.
?
I remember clearing one load on a different long D&H flat car to PRR at Buttonwood. Our clearance diagrams for planning had detailed cross-sections showing the tightest obstructions at the point, and any track curvature to account for center or end swing-out on curves. Our diagram did not indicate a curve that began about fifty feet beyond the portal of a through-truss bridge on the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railroad.?
?
The turbine scraped the end post of the bridge. We set the car aside at Buttonwood, and I went down with a GE engineer to look at it. He had a can of gray spray paint that he used that to ¡°repair¡± the turbine.? Nothing more was said beyond ¡°Thank You!¡± We did update the clearance diagrams to account for the longer cars.

--
Ed Cox

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