Lee Ramsburg wants to know what’s the most number of engines an engineer can operate in a train. Steve Sweeney is in the studio with the answer.
How many locomotives can an engineer run?
By Jenny Freeland | December 3, 2021
| Last updated on December 2, 2022
Have a question? Ask Trains is here to answer
Video Currently Unavailable
We truly apologize for the absence of this video while the site is under construction. Please email videorequests@firecrown.com to relay a specific video you would like us to prioritize or push the notify button for the video on this page below.
I heard Lee say that DPU’s are connected by radio. Might tunnels or deep cuts cause problems?
/Erik, Sweden
I’ve read accounts of some issues back in early days of “slave” units on the Northern Pacific in the late 1960’s. They had a tendency to lose signal in the two mile long summit tunnel over Stampede Pass in Washington state. In theory they were supposed to shut down if they didn’t regain communication within twenty seconds. The problem was when they didn’t. The engineer at the head end would be throttling down for the descent of the mountain, while the last signal the “slave” units had received was full power! The engineer would apply all the brakes he could trying to keep the train on the rails. THEN the “slave” units would emerge from the tunnel, regain signal, and finally they would go into emergency braking. Trains broke apart, cars went on the ground, etc. Ain’t it fun working the kinks out of a new technology?
I have seen trains with dozens of engines but that doesn’t mean that all of them were operating. Some may have been being transported from one site to another for any of a variety of reasons.