Mixing Engines

IAIS 604

Member
Mixing locos was the norm with the Rock Island - so much so that a photo of three MUed GP38-2s was labeled as "unusual" !

Examples:

GP38-2 MUed with either a GP7, SD40-2, GP40, or a U25B !!!
 

60103

Pooh Bah
Cannonball:
If you want a lot of examples in railroading, just ask if "something" never happened.
For a while Model Railroader ran a column called "There's a prototype for everything" which was pictures of all the things that modellers are told never to do.
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Cannonball:
If you want a lot of examples in railroading, just ask if "something" never happened.
For a while Model Railroader ran a column called "There's a prototype for everything" which was pictures of all the things that modellers are told never to do.

Really, all I wanted to know is if I was going to look silly running a U36-B with an EMD-18. :D

I'd like to see those articles though.
 

Jim Krause

Active Member
If you go back to the transition era, there was a lot of steam-diesel helpers and diesel -steam. but technically they wern't MU'ed since there was a crew in each type of loco with independent control.
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Cannonball: Diesel helpers on steam powered trains.
Steam helpers on diesel powered trains.

OK, I got that from your first post but what does that have to do with running a U36-B and an EMD-18? :confused:

Or were you just bringing up the fact that steam and diesel could be mixed on a transition era layout and I totally misintrupreted your intent?
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Here in So Cal a favorite consist with the local switch crews on the BNSF was a U23b mu'd with a Topeka cab chop nose Gp-9. They found the U23b had a lot of low end "grunt" to get things moving and the Gp-9 had good cruising speed to keep things moving once started.
 

NP 1364

New Member
MU locomotives

844, left, and 4449, right, both have MU control boxes, next to the speed recorders, for useing diesels as helpers as trailing units only.
The box above the MU unit is the train radio on 4449 and the "FRED" unit on top of that on 4449 while 844 has its "FRED" on top of the speed recorder and its train radio is over the engineers head
 

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Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
844, left, and 4449, right, both have MU control boxes, next to the speed recorders, for useing diesels as helpers as trailing units only.
The box above the MU unit is the train radio on 4449 and the "FRED" unit on top of that on 4449 while 844 has its "FRED" on top of the speed recorder and its train radio is over the engineers head

That second one needs a few more valves.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Hummph!:confused: No wonder steam gave way to internal combustion: they had an infinitely variable transmission years before the automotive industry, but hung the "gas pedal" from the ceiling, there's neither tachometer nor manifold pressure gauge amongst all that instrumentation, and not much in the way of driver safety features, either. Heck, there's not even a padded dash, never mind airbags! :eek:

Wayne
 

NP 1364

New Member
You cant see it but, there is a manifold gauge (steam chest back pressure gauge) and the air brakes are of the automatic trainbrake kind.

And its fuel injected!
 

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