I moved an RS-1, on friction bearings, from central PA to NJ back in the early '90s. The big issue there (and way back then-) was not the bearings, but the 14-EL air. The unit had been set up correctly for dead in a train, but every road crew that tried to pick it up could not get a good apply and release.

After about two weeks of this, I took a vacation day from my real job and gathered up tools, gaskets, handles and manuals and went out to the locomotive. Every valve and cutout cock position had been changed; like everybody and his brother had been in that cab. The automatic's rotary valve had been turned with a screwdriver, and main reservior air was blasting out the emergency.

Conrail ("big" Conrail, not today's Shared Assets), had sent an air brake machinist up from Enola to help get this unit moved. His initial comment was "I've never seen this system before". Biting my tongue, as I needed his help (or so I thought), I did NOT tell him it was in the '25 Loco 'Cyc.

Once I got the valves and cutout cocks right, and we gave the main reservior time to charge fully, we got a good air test. As it turned out, the road crews were giving the unit about the same time as it would take to charge a freight car; not enough to fill a 68,000 cubic inch main reservoir.

I went to the hardware store and bought two rolls of duct tape, which the local trainmaster and I used to mummify the brake stand. A personal "note" from the trainmaster, in bold black marker, was then added. A pair of SD-50s grabbed the unit, put her at the head of an 85 car train, and got out of town. One good way to find out if the Kadees were any good-

E. D. Moxley
26-FNL, NJ