Chris Guss
Helper killers
A 50-unit AC4400CW order delivered in 1999 from General Electric doomed the two helper districts on KCS with the implementation of distributed power once again on the KCS mainline.
The railroad used radio-controlled locomotives (RCL) beginning in the 1970s on their trains, but reverted back to manned helpers based out of Neosho, Missouri, and Heavener, Oklahoma, to get heavy trains over the grade.
Here a southbound loaded grain train with 2x1 DP power glides along Butler Creek in the shadow of Butler's Bluff just south of Noel, Missouri. The train has conquered one of the three 1.5 percent grades in the Ozarks with the final two coming in quick succession in just a few miles.
Helper killers
A 50-unit AC4400CW order delivered in 1999 from General Electric doomed the two helper districts on KCS with the implementation of distributed power once again on the KCS mainline.
The railroad used radio-controlled locomotives (RCL) beginning in the 1970s on their trains, but reverted back to manned helpers based out of Neosho, Missouri, and Heavener, Oklahoma, to get heavy trains over the grade.
Here a southbound loaded grain train with 2x1 DP power glides along Butler Creek in the shadow of Butler's Bluff just south of Noel, Missouri. The train has conquered one of the three 1.5 percent grades in the Ozarks with the final two coming in quick succession in just a few miles.