Re: (erielack) Transfer Cabooses and Locomotives (long)

["Schuyler G Larrabee" <sgl2_@_ix.netcom.com>]

Paul Tup states:

> >  Some of the Baldwin and Lima
> > versions were supercharged and had dynamic brakes... were these
> > "expensive to maintain features" really necessary for this type of
> > service, even if used in a hump yard?
>
> Depends on the service. Remember, stopping a cut of loaded ore cars or hot
metal cars being transferred would be GREATLY helped by options such as
dynamic brakes. Also remember that the large Baldwin/Lima center-cabs
usually ran solo, whereas the EMD/Alco transfer locomotives were multiple
units.

Well, I agree with Alan S on this.  DB's on a transfer locomotive seem weird
to me, too, since DB's don't do much good at slow speeds.  And in your
example, Paul, stopping those cars, the DB's would be pretty close to
completely useless.

DB's work well when there's a little speed to make the motors work as
generators and throw off the energy as heat.  At slow speeds they don't do
much.  IIRC, the cutoff for them to do anything worthwhile is about 8-10
MPH, or a little more, maybe.

A better explanation is needed.

SGL

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