Photo 1: UPRR Diesel Locomotive

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive Engineer and Track Foreman

Photo 3: UPRR Diesel Locomotive Driver's Seat...

Chief Bownas Comments: I'm by no means an expert, but I work on locomotives for a living, and from the cab layout on the one in your photos, I can see it's a GE unit, with similar controls to our GE's out here in NY, although ours are passenger units and this one's a road switcher, or "freight hog". I'll add captions to your photos to help with the controls, but the thing to remember is that on a road train, there should be a train crew whose job it is to control the train for you. They will usually be more than glad to secure the train for you, and you should let them do it. That said, I'll describe the console controls:

Chief Bownas Comments: The controls, from left to right, are the directional control (or reverser), the throttle, the automatic brake (which controls air to both the locomotive and the cars), and the independent brake (which controls air to the locomotive brakes only). The ones for you to worry about are the throttle and the automatic brake. In a rail emergency where you have to work around the equipment, you'll want to make sure the throttle is all the way forward in the "Idle" position. Then make sure the automatic brake (which controls the trainline air to the cars) is pushed all the way forward to the "Emergency" position. This will "dump" the air from the brake pipe line and fully apply ALL the brakes on the train. Again, this need only be done by firefighters IF the train crew has been somehow incapacitated by the emergency. Otherwise, let them do it. It's their job, and their train.

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive View Out The Front Window

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive View Out The Right Side Window

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive View Out The Rear Window

Photo 2: UPRR Diesel Locomotive Cab Electrical Control Panel

Chief Bownas Comments: As you can see from the labels, these are the switches and circuit breakers that control the locomotive's main engine. The only ones we really need to worry about, or ever mess with, are the "Emergency Engine Shutdown" button on the upper left; and, in the cabinet below this panel (both of which are on the wall directly behind the engineer's seat), the main battery knife switch. The main battery knife switch is a BIG two-bladed knife switch with a Bakelite handle, and pulling it out will remove all battery power to the locomotive's circuits, isolating the batteries. Again, I can't stress enough that a firefighter should only do this if the train crew is for some reason unable to secure the train for you.

The only other thing I would recommend doing is applying a parking brake or handbrake to the locomotive and at least one car. On the locomotive, this may be done either by a valve next to the engineer's seat, or a ratcheting handle or handwheel on the outside of the cab. It will be marked with "Apply" and "Release" legends to show you how to operate it. On the cars, there will be a ratchet handle or handwheel at one end of every car, and they will likewise be labeled with the direction to operate them for "Apply" and "Release". Typically, handwheels will apply clockwise and release counter-clockwise, and ratcheting brakes will have a large handle that cranks the brake on, and a small handle that releases it.

Last Updated 02-27-2010

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