Looking through the Museum of Transportation's collection, I noticed on the 1522, it said... St. Louis-San Francisco ("Frisco") #1522 Baldwin/1926 S Mountain Equipped with booster and diesel multiple-unit control 4-8-2 http://transportmuseumassociation.org/rail_motive_power.htm What exactly does that mean? Could 1522 control attached diesels? Could attached diesels control 1522? Does it just mean that Diesels could communicate through 1522? Was it something done by the SLSTA? Was it something done by Frisco? I am interested in your knowledge about this. ThomasF
The SLSTA equipped 1522 with a control box in the cab to operate a trailing diesel. It was connected to the diesel by the air lines and a multiple unit (MU) electric cable. Our water car had pass through lines. When we ran the BNSF Employee Appreciation Specials trips in Texas and Oklahoma, they put a shiny diesel in the consist behind the water car. We used the diesel's air pump to save wear and tear on ours. Otherwise, 99% of the time the diesel was at idle. I used it a few times down in Texas to help get us up to track speed quicker, also to save wear and tear. It was handy. We could control the diesel, but not dynamic braking from the steam engine cab. You could not control anything on the steam engine from the diesel. The box was designed and built by Jack Wheelihan, who was with EMD and a regular fireman on SP 4449 and until 2010 a "fireman for hire" on UP steam trips.