(Mods, if you think this doesn't belong, I understand.)
For those of you who run steam regularly...
Given these circumstances:
--steam is up (they've just stopped for a brief ceremony, dropped passenger cars during the doings so a diesel can take them away and intend to turn on the wye and head home)
--no other traffic on the line
--steep grade, but abundant power
--wye at the top of the grade
--unexpected need to pick up a couple of cars at the wye, rather than running light engine

...how long would it take (give or take half an hour) to make a 13-mile round trip, including the wye and picking up the cars? I may have it more or less right, but I'd hate to be so far off that it would stick out like a sore thumb.

What shape is the track in? Track condition (rail weight, tie condition, surface and alignment) and characteristics (curves, grades, iffy bridges) all affect speed. Is this a dinky little backwoods branchline with 80 lb rail and dirt ballast and 16-degree curves, or is it a mainline with 115 lb or heavier rail, stone ballast and nice smooth superelevated curves?

Sorry to add more variables to your mix!

Howard P.

Should have mentioned that, too--it's a reopened mainline with brand-new (or at least freshly ground) heavy welded rail. To be specific, it's a hunk of the B&O old main from Moundsville to Cameron, West Virginia with some of the curves re-engineered and the tunnel floors dropped. I messed with Ohio geography something fierce, but I left most of West Virginia pretty much where it actually is.

Well, Becky, if the track is as you say it would be, and if the locomotive has enough coal and water and has been lubricated recently or has mechanical lubrication, then the time for the run would essentially be the same as for a diesel. Big thing to suck up time for something like this would be turning the locomotive on the wye, picking up those freight cars, pumping up the air in them, all that stuff. What so many people don't realize is how long some of that activity takes because it relies on people walking around for a good deal of it. How long would it take for a brakeman to walk back, open knuckles on the couplers, make the coupling, tie in the air, pump up the air, and run a quick brake test with the engineer? How long does it take him to open and close switches?

I have no idea of what your story is going to be like, but if it's worth anything, if you have a ceremony going on down at the other end of this, and the diesels have to be tied on, then the diesel crew will be engaged in a lot of this as well, possibly taking somewhat longer if the train is longer (more air to pump in), the ceremony with windbaggy politicians or whoever, and so on. . .

Off the top of my head (and I could be horribly off, I'm no real railroader), I would give your steam crew about an hour for all this and the trip, too.

Hope this helps out.

A couple of weekends ago SOU 630 made three 24-mile round trips out of Spencer, NC. This including wyeing the train at both ends, detraining and loading passengers at Spencer. The schedule of departures from Spencer was 9:00, 12:15, and 3:30. No switching duties enroute. No diesel helper. Top quality track. Top quality steamer and cars.

Becky, hope this helps.

Let's also not forget that what 611 can do compared with a 1910 logging lokie makes a LOT of difference. Just the time it takes to pump up air after charging the pickup and making a brake test......different on a one lung at 160 PSI and a cross compound at 220. 42" drivers or 78"?

You can of course make it anything you want it to be......and I appreciate your efforts to make it believeable and realistic. The only difficult suspension of disbelief I have so far is the good track........very rare commodity.

dave

Assuming at least class II track
and
assuming the grade is uphill (with the light engine going in that direction)
and
assuming the cars are empty or the loaded cars are headed downgrade
and
the locomotive is not a Shay or Climax (Heislers can go a little faster) or an oh-for-two-tee and can do track speed

13 mi round trip about 40 minutes
coupling up to the cars ~5 min
making up the air hoses (if not already attached) ~1 min/car
pumping up the air ~5-7 min PER car (freight, less for passenger)
walking the train for air test ~5 min
hanging the FRED (included)
using a caboose (add in runaround time ~5-10 min + 1 min for set/release)
paperwork time?
contact the dispatcher time?


Lotsa choices - I'd rather go to a Chinese restaurant - only columns A & B to choose from.

Thank you all so much.

I'm getting that two hours wouldn't be out of the question. The locomotive in question, if any of you have read my Christmas stories, is an EM-1 who should be able to handle three or four cars loaded with...well, that would ruin the story if you hadn't seen it. The short story is actually one I put up a couple of years ago and lost when the hard drive it was on crashed and TrainNet's message board server unexpectedly took off on us, so I'm rewriting and wanted to make sure there were no Unstoppable moments. And fear not about forgetting the walking the train part...the unfortunate soul who has to do it certainly won't forget.

Basically:
--Brief "ain't it great the track is reopening after all these years" ceremony at 6:05, windbags not being all that windy because the weather is
--Diesel (already on the back of the train) departs
--Steam engine goes up to wye
--Before they get there, business at end of wye says "Oh, good, we thought you'd forgotten about these cars!" (Ooooops...)
...and the usual is to say "and hilarity ensues" but in this case it's more "mortification, smelliness and the lack of appetite for eggs for a month or so."