Caption: A very short 148 heads east in February; the time when traffic started to drop off before the world fell apart. Since then, 148 has joined the sad ranks on one lung monsters with a DPU on the other end. The technology is fabulous for the railroads, and, I assume, the crews although if you pull a knuckle on a 14000 foot train, it's ugly. Somehow, single lead unit trains take some of the magic away
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When I hired on they still had cabooses and I was sure the railroad would never survive without them. Gradually I came to accept the SBU,FRED,IDU,Marker as it made things easier in the long run.
I felt exactly the same was about DPU powered trains. I took the training (no pun intended). There is a hell of a lot to learn when trains are operated this way. You sure want to be sure that the DPU is in set out mode when making a set off or lift. You don’t want that DPU running off with the rest of your train.
I came to appreciate the “power” spread through the train, especially in the winter time when air travels slowly through the brake pipe. It can take hours to get the air pressure up. The DPU adds another compressor to the train so the air comes from both directions and recovering the air happens way quicker. Not to mention the train handling. There are places on the Kingston Sub that you had to pray that your train help together because of “slack” action. With DPU the units can all act as one or you can “put up the fence” and have “independent motoring”.
I won’t even get started on “trip optimizer” This sure isn’t your grandpa’s railroad!