More Mileage From Diesels

The Southern develops art of planning diesel movements to a high degree - and runs up remarkable mileage records for its huge fleet

THE high availability of the diesel. locomotive gave it its original potential for doing a tremendous job of transportation at low cost.

But it had to be kept moving. And to do that traditional concepts of motive power operation invariably had to be discarded and a fresh start made without ally preconceived ideas or theories.

The Southern has followed just such an open-minded approach to the problems of operating its huge diesel fleet. As a result it has developed the art of planning diesel movements to a high degree. Southern railroaders are particularly proud of their achievements in this field. In fact, there's friendly rivalry among both Transportation and Mechanical men to develop new ways of squeezing additional productive miles out of 'the diesels.

Typical cow-calf-slug combination at Sevier yard with booster unit added. After daytime duty at yard, diesels may take a turn at road service during night shift.

This sort of initiative is encouraged by Southern's management; and it has paid off many times over. Today, even with the railroad nearly all diesel, the locomotives are running up mileage records that would have seemed fantastic a few years ago with steam power.

In 1951 Southern road freight diesels averaged about 9000 miles a month-a particularly fine achievement because it includes many runs of a semi-Iocal character as well as the high-speed, long distance assignments. Road switchers are currently chalking up about 6000 miles a month, including a proportion in yard and passenger operation. In contrast, steam locomotives, doing almost the entire job back in 1941, averaged less than 5000 miles a month.

Passenger diesels, too, are recording an impressive over-all mileage performance. They average about 14,000 miles per month-300 percent more than the steam locomotives they replaced.

Yard diesels are kept busy to the tune of about 19 hours a day on the average, or 7000 hours per year. This too is a substantial improvement - about 136 percent-over what was done with steam switchers in 1941.

One of the first of the old-fashioned railroading practices to go out the window with the arrival of diesels was the idea of operating motive power only over one or two districts within an operating division. To- day, diesel locomotives are maintained and dispatched largely on a regional basis. But the over-all planning is often in terms of the entire system; for many diesel assignments extend over parts of all three operating regions, and many include half a dozen or more divisions. The first passenger locomotives, acquired in 1941, were operated in this way right from the start-on runs such as those between Washington and Atlanta, Washington and New Orleans, and Bristol-Memphis.

For a brief period more convention practice was followed in the case of road freight diesels. The first two four-unit freight diesels, which also went into service in 1941, were used on a run of just 138 miles, between Danville and Oakdale on the CNO&TP.

Road Engines pass through servicing quickly as part of planned movement. Road freights average 9000 miles a month.

With the arrival of additional freight units, however, this type of operation was abandoned; and it wasn't long before the diesels were running all the way from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Birmingham and New Orleans. As more and more diesels arrived, their runs were ex- tended through to Atlanta and beyond.

It was easy enough to get good mileage out of the diesels when there were just a few of them; but as the fleet became larger the problems became correspondingly more complex. "Keeping 'em rolling" as much of the time as possible now became a challenge of cooperative effort between Transportation and Mechanical men-with frequent assists from the Traffic Department. The scheduling of diesel runs must, of course, be tied in with the requirements of periodic maintenance. And it is sometimes necessary to get the cooperation of the railroad's customers when changing train or switching schedules in the interest of better locomotive utilization.

In operating its diesels, the Southern follows both the planned cycle and the "first-in-first-out" system, depending on the particular circumstances. The 5cheduled cycle is particularly useful where there are a number of daily trains passing through maintenance points.

Largest diesel maintenance centers on the Southern are Spencer, N.C., on Eastern Lines; Knoxville on Central Lines; and Chattanooga on Western Lines. But there are other important maintenance points besides those three. On the Eastern Lines, Columbia, S. C., is headquarters for a large fleet of road switchers used on both freight and passenger runs radiating from that terminal. Passenger power is also maintained at Alexandria, Va. Central Lines operates freight and passenger pools out of Atlanta. Then too some passenger and local freight diesels call Memphis their home terminal.

Supplementing Chattanooga on the Western Lines is the important maintenance point of Birmingham (Norris yard). And passenger locomotives get periodic attention at Ludlow, Ky. (Cincinnati) and New Orleans. On all three regions other points also maintain relatively small groups of locomotives.

With operating cycles scheduled to fit in with the maintenance requirements much of the freight diesel operation out of Chattanooga, for instance, is set up under three carefully planned cycles. Following these cycles, a freight locomotive will arrive back in Chattanooga for periodic maintenance in approximately 10 days. A locomotive following cycle No.1 first takes a train from Chattanooga to Cincinnati. After a quick turn-around there it heads for Atlanta; then back through Chattanooga to Cincinnati. Next, the diesel drops down to Oakdale, Tenn., thence back north to East St. Louis, via Danville, Ky. Returning from E. St. Louis it continues south to Oakdale again; then back to Cincinnati. Next, the locomotive makes a trip to New Orleans, after which it returns to Chattanooga for periodic maintenance after having been on the road for about 10 days and 4100 miles.

With a 2000 ton load, four-unit diesel starts an 4.7 percent grade up Saluda Mountain in North Carolina. Four unit diesels have virtually eliminated the need far helper service up this, the steepest main-line grade in the country.

After 14 hours in the shop for periodic maintenance, tht; same locomotive is normally ready to take off again the next morning, this time tracing out cycle No.2. First, it heads for New Orleans; then back to Chattanooga and on to E. St. Louis. Finally, it returns to Chattanooga. Usually, this locomotive would then be ready to start out again on cycle No.1. These two operating cycles are generally operated as one, but the break between them gives the flexibility that is needed for unusual conditions.

Still another freight cycle operated out of Chattanooga involves seven days and about 2300 miles of travel. A locomotive following this schedule leaves Chattanooga the first day; destination, Louisville. From Louisville this locomotive next takes a train through to Jacksonville, Fla. From Jacksonville it picks up a GS&F ( Georgia, Southern & Florida) train for Macon; then another train from Macon back into Chattanooga. After a short layover at Chattanooga it takes another train north to Cincinnati; finally it returns to Chattanooga the seventh day to complete the cycle. This is a typical inter-regional operation, for the Chattanooga-Jacksonville portion is on Central Lines rails.

Twenty-one locomotives are required to operate these scheduled operations out of Chattanooga. And there are some other units which do not operate on regular schedules, but are kept moving just the same. Eleven locomotives constitute the "Mountain Pool" ; they run between Chattanooga and Oakdale, Danville and Cincinnati. Diesels handle both freight and passenger trains on quite a few of the operating cycles; Southern has a number of freight diesels equipped with steam generators and used for either type of train. In one typical cycle, a two-unit loco- motive of this type leaves Cincinnati (it's maintained at Ludlow, across the river in Kentucky) with train No.3, the Royal Palm. It arrives in Jacksonville, Fla., early the next morning, and is immediately put to work on a local freight train to Valdosta, Ga. Early the next morn- ing it is on its way to Macon, at the head end of mixed train No.26. Arriving at Macon in the afternoon, it returns to Jacksonville during the night on through freight No. -?9. After an early-morning arrival at the Florida city; it starts back to Cincinnati on passenger train No.2, thus completing the cycle that has extended over two regions and three operating divisions.

Efficient Utilization on Branch Lines

The main pooling point for freight power on Eastern Lines is at Spencer, N. C. Seventeen locomotives now move all the through freight traffic between Washington and Atlanta, 638 miles over the Washington, Danville and Charlotte divisions. These locomotives are not split up except when power is needed for extra passenger trains. They operate in and out of Spencer on a first-in-first-out schedule.

The many secondary and branch lines radiating from the Southern's main stems have presented a problem: how to provide adequate service on these lines without an excessive investment in expensive diesels. More efficient utilization is of course the answer.

Some of the savings in motive power made possible by diesels seem almost incredible. For example, 41 units do the work of something like 150 steam locomotives on the Charleston and Columbia divisions. The diesels handle the yard work at Charleston, all freight runs on the Charleston and Columbia divisions, plus local freight trains on the Charlotte division. All are maintained at Columbia.

These are but a few of the many instances in which the Southern has been able to exploit the power, flexibility and availability of the modern diesel locomotive to good effect. Actually, operating schedules are al- ways undergoing change, as Southern personnel come up with new ways to do an even better job of utilization. Indeed, some of the particular cycles mentioned may well have been superseded by the time this issue of Modern Railroads goes to press.

Careful and continued attention to this vital matter of getting the most out of its $120-million investment in diesel locomotives has resulted in an unusually fine performance record on the Southern. But Southerners are confident they've by no means exhausted all the possibilities of keeping diesels on the move.