Dan,
I'm not sure about the handful of 'Eastern' roads that fielded diesel
electric and straight electric motive power, but one of my favorites,
the Milwaukee Road, found a way of MU'ing the diesels (often GP-9's)
with straight electric (Little Joe's) so that must have been a whole
n'other ball of wax to deal with. Later on they were one of the first
RR's and probably the first mountain railroad to run remote engines
mid-train via radio. From what I understand it was a mixed success.
The main problem being when a mile long train reached a mountain summit
the lead engines could reduce it's throttle setting while the mid-train
helpers would need to keep pushing. A few minutes later when climbing
the next summit the lead engines would need to dig in while the
mid-trains would need to hold back. One can appreciate what an engineer
had to do during that time. I assume they have worked out a better way
of making that work, as most trains I see now days have lead, mid-train,
and trailing units. Of course here in our part of Texas most of the
only hills are made by ants!
In regards to the MU hoses themselves. One of the later brass importers
included one piece castings that had very small diameter hoses, while I
know the early OMI units resorted to the black insulation which is too
thick and hard to deal with. My guess is that these were included in
the OMI SD-50/60's or the RR SD-7/9's.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 1/2/13 10:11 PM, danvandermause wrote:
Dave:
For the diesel-challenged among us, here is what I know about MU
connections between diesel units. Perhaps those in the group that have
actual engine service, can please correct anything below that is
incorrect.
There are two basic connections between diesel units: the MU-hoses and
an MU cable.
The MU-hoses are the hoses we have been discussing, and these are
actual air hoses which connect the air brake systems of the units in a
consist. MU-hoses are usually found on both sides of the coupler.
Reading out from the coupler,
