I dig the SD38-2 locomotives that were built with and without dynamic brakes respectively for Cherokee Yard, Tulsa, OK and Tennessee Yard, Memphis, TN hump service.
They were probably geared for the hump jobs. Did they ever get assigned anything more glamorous than that slow-speed job by BNSF? Has anyone kept track of them? Doug
One of the dynamic drake equipped Frisco SD38-2s is still in Tulsa. It was the SLSF 297, BN 6261 and now is BNSF 1801 I believe. It is remote control equipped and has been bumped from hump duty due to longer trains being humped in Tulsa. Lately it has been working the East end of Cherokee Yard including on Yard Job 105 going up to the Urban interlocker onto the SKO tracks to switch the old Santa Fe yard. I miss the Frisco! Steve.
Two of the four ex SLSF SD38-2's Links to photos: SD38-2 SLSF 297. http://gp39m.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=72380 SD38-2 SLSF 298 http://gp39m.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=69239 Doug
I have pictures of all four of these big fellas in Frisco colors. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will pull them up and post them. I remember seeing them in both Memphis and Tulsa during FMIG meetings in the early 1980s. Impressive - they made good noise, in particular in Tulsa on the downhill hump. Ken
Yes Ken, please post your pictures. I would love to see them, and any others you might have. Looking at all the pictures is the best part!
Here is the entire Frisco SD38-2 roster - four units: SLSF 296, 297, 298, 299; 2000 HP, entered SLSF service in June, 1979. Note the dynamic brakes on the first two, SLSF 296 and SLSF 297, for use at Tulsa, where the Cherokee Yard "hump" is actually a long downgrade. The last two SLSF 298 and SLSF 299, were used in Memphis, where the Tennessee Yard hump is the normal configuration, and hence these two units did not have dynamic brakes. They all each had special controls and/or gearing for low speed operation. I do not know the identity of the photographers. These pictures were obtained from public sources such as on-line pages, e-Bay, friends, etc. I also recall a Mike Condren 35 mm slide showing the first two passing through Pacific, MO on their way to Tulsa. I have that around here somewhere. Enjoy! Ken Meteor910
I would like to know what the sign on the handrails of 6260 says. It should say "This locomotive once belonged to a great railroad but we came along and destroyed that. Now it is covered up forever by this hideous green and black."
Please see the following for an action shot of SD38-2 at Tulsa, OK. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8576809@N08/2725981973/sizes/o/ Note the extended range dynamic brake blister, lack of nose Gyralite and third brake cylinder above center axle. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
When the 296 and 297 first came to Tulsa, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The hump set at the time consisted of two SW1500s which had no speed recorder. As the regular hump speed was two mph, it was difficult to judge until the wheels began to get some flat spots, and then I would listen to the rhythm of the flat spots to judge the speed. With the hump control feature on the SD38-2s, all we had to do was set the speed and let the engine do the rest. They worked very well for several years. They were mated with a SW1500 until the tonnage grew to the point that they were going to add another SW1500. I was afraid that would be too much independent brake which might result in knuckles breaking. I suggested adding a GP38-2 instead which they did. Tulsa is down hill until about 45 to 50 car lengths then it is uphill to the hump. Therefor, our SD38-2s were equipped with extended range dynamic brakes. The only issue was that because the hump control worked so well in braking, sometimes at night I would be dozing and would not be aware that I had gotten to the point where I needed to change over to power. The hump conductor would key the radio or clear his throat, and I would come to and know to change over to power. The engines would hold most cuts on the down hill portion okay, but as tonnage continued to increase, we started using air on a few cars to supplement the braking needs. After the merger and renumbering, we had the SD38-2s BN 6260, 6261 and GP38-2s 2299, 2361 regularly assigned to the hump. I saw many men taking pictures over the years, and I may be in some of them , but I know who the star of the picture really was. Today they are using two SD40-2s as the tonnage has continued to increase. See a pattern here? That picture really brought back a lot of memories to me. Terry
All I need to finish with the different SLSF engines is the SD38-2 in the correct color. the 4 different SLSF.
I was working the hump when they arrived in Tulsa, and, man, they were sweet. When the hump control was new and working correctly, and it did for several years, the engineer only had to change from braking to shoving at about 45 cars from the hump as the grade changed from downhill to uphill. As the tonnage increased on the cuts, we would have to use a little automatic on the first few cars to help on the downhill portion. I will tell you that they never had a better set up than those two SD38-2s as they could pull anything after the GP38-2s were added. It made the hump job a dream. The speed backing toward the hump was 4 mph and when the hump conductor would say "hump speed" about 10 to 15 cars from the crest, we would just turn the dial from 4 mph to 2 mph, and the extended range dynamic brakes would do the rest. Thanks for posting those pictures as it brought back some good memories. However, I must admit I am glad they are memories now that I am retired. Terry
Terry, What did they do, pair a GP38AC or GP38-2 with one SD38-2? Or was a bigger consist like SD-GP-SD or SD-GP-GP needed for hump service at Tulsa? I think I have some pics of the SD38-2 paired with a SW1500. Ken
Ken, They were originally consisted with a SW1500. But we found it was not enough horsepower to pull some of the cuts, plus no additional dynamic brakes for the down hill humping mode. They thought about adding a second SW1500, but I told them that that might be too much independent brake increasing the possibility of an undesired separation and still no additional dynamic brake. That is when management added the one GP38-2 to each SD-38-2 and that solved both problems. Terry
Ken, I just noticed in your photographs that in the one on the far left the brake wheel is orange, not white. Is this the way they were delivered and then later changed to white or visa versa? Also can anyone say what was written on the sign right below the brake wheel? Overland Models actually made a brass import of these several years ago but may be next to impossible to find. I do not remember if they made both versions, but I think they did.
That first picture does look like a delivery photograph. Unit is way too clean to be in service. They were delivered to the SLSF at Lindenwood, and ran down to Tulsa and Memphis from there. Mike Condren has a picture of one of the Tulsa too somewhere around Eureka or Pacific, MO. So this picture is likely at EMD, or at the delivering railroad yard, or at Lindenwood. At least that would be my guess. Ken
