@Number 90 posted:We rode the Builder from St. Paul to Chicago and return a couple of years ago ... The Engineer on the eastward trip out of LaCrosse was awful … she had to make a double stop at the short Wisconsin Dells station platform … two rough stops. Other than poor train handling … it was a good trip.
Train handling can make the difference between an enjoyable trip and one that you regret.
Years ago I was riding a CSX/Amtrak train north out of Miami to Jacksonville. CSX had put their theater car on the rear of the train, and I was enjoying the ride back there with my host Dick Young, who was the Vice President of Passenger Services at CSX. The car had a speedometer and a gauge showing the pressure in the brake pipe.
We were rolling along at 79 mph when I felt the brakes come on - HARD. I looked at the brake pipe gauge and realized that the engineer had made what is called a “Full Service Application” of the brakes. This is the hardest you can apply the brakes without setting them to the “emergency” position. Dick noticed me looking at the gauge. He turned to me and simply said, “Watch this.”
With a full service application set, our speed was dropping fast! In railroad terms, the engineer was “drivin’ ‘em in and settin’ ‘em down.” As we slowed to below 20 mph, I saw the brake pipe pressure coming back up, and felt the brakes ease off a bit. The brake system on this train was set up for “Graduated Release” which means the engineer can gradually ease off the brakes, something you cannot do with a freight train.
A moment later we eased to to a very smooth stop with no slack action at all. It was a perfect “stretch braked” stop. A second after we stopped, I heard one only word on the radio - “Perfect.”
The stop was at Delray Beach, where the platform at the time was only 10 feet long! The engineer had to position the vestibules of the 3rd and 4th car centered on that platform. He did it perfectly, with no car length countdown from the conductor. It was, as the conductor had said on the radio, “Perfect.”
That was the most impressive demonstration of smooth and precise train handling I had ever seen.
