This Locomotive Can't Climb The Grade! Something Is Broken?

(UPDATE - They were out of sand) In the last video, ELS 503 was having issues already so it wasn't much of a surprise to see the same issue happening again coming north but with far less of a load.. They had to stop and back up to get enough speed to make a small grade, then FAILED to leave Iron Mountain...
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[@BillCarson-g4n]

Get rid of the grass and there wont be any problems. EL&S is cheap not to spray there right-away, you either pay for spray or pay for fuel!!!

[@feminazislayer]

It's not the grass. That's not going to slow you down. That blown turbo definitely will tho. That loud vacuum cleaner hum is the bearings smoked out

[@Camridestheneighborhood2635]

yeah because the grass is not hard its soft but its the level of train tracks that are bumpy

[@smokelesschoice165]

They're amateur cheapskates that are going to wreck this engine and others. They shouldn't even be in business to begin with. ELS should change its initials to EBS.

[@williamrowe954]

Having spent years and countless trips over and back on Cajon Pass with every type of train you can imagine, if you know the train is stalling out like that- make the initial trainline set before you stall. Rolling back downgrade multiple car lengths is rookie all day. Anticipate the stall, make the 10 # set a couple cars before it happens, keep throttle up until set propogates through to the rear and then make a deeper set as you slow to a stall and apply full independent brake as speed drops to zero. Rolling back like that on the CTC mainline could get you backing through a absolute signal or control point and a whole lotta eyes looking down on your train handling skills. The turbo on that ex BNSF SD40-2 sounds fine. Yes the track is shitty

[@memyshelfandeye318]

50% of this locos power is spend stumbling over the "roadholes" in the rail ... . Look like the whole train is swaying and bumping around ... all that energy is lost. The state of most rails in the states is laughable...

[@beerancher3225]

The owner of that track doesn't spend any time or money on maintenance .

[@smokelesschoice165]

@@beerancher3225 That's to be expected with numbers of Class 3 railroads. Nothing new there. They take down the block signals that were on the lines by the previous Class 2 or Class 1 rail companies and replace them with hum drum track warrants. Then they don't do too much if hardly anything at all with regards to track maintenance. And finally they don't treat their equipment properly and effectively either. Most annoyingly they have patch-jobs for locomotives and rolling stock, a real eye sore.

[@barrywilliams991]

They'll spend hours trying to drag too much train instead of dragging it in two parts. What is the grade there?

[@kittty2005]

Moisture on the rails, wheel slippage, mite be out of sand and MOW crew needs to cut grass between rails, if the wheels slip badly they leave blue streaks on the rails and make a high pitch whistle or squeal. there hows that?

[@1JohnnyCruiser]

Yeah seems like someone forgot to fill the sander

[@clarklindquist8137]

The Cumberland mine railroad is a fine example of what happens when you start spending money on maintenance. This railroad can take a page out of that and do likewise

[@johnrencheck2283]

I LOVE DAVES VIDEOS ALSO GREAT VIDS TO LEARN MAINTENANCE AND RRING

[@johnsmart964]

@@johnrencheck2283 Yes, we can only concur.

[@smokelesschoice165]

@@clarklindquist8137 The railroad operator in this video doesn't want to spend money, it only wants to make money. Sooner or later this joke for a Class 3 railway company is going to tank.

[@paulpuglia8480]

Hello Jason, I'm in Iron Mountain all week. I'm from Rochester Hills Michigan. I hope to meet you. I enjoy your videos and your parrots. Congratulations on your 10000.

[@jasonasselin]

Very cool! I'll be back Tuesday.. ha ha

[@jamesyoung7655]

Wet track and steel… needs another motor… companies will run in notch 8 just to save a doolar

[@Carolb66]

Sounds like my vacuum cleaner😮 its not peaceful for the residents of the graveyard!

[@ICUNA22]

Wet rail, rail with grass on it, tree sap, and or no sand (improperly serviced).

[@EricArmstrong-vo6dp]

No sand and wet vegetation means a lot of slipping.

[@nigelterry9299]

Engine and turbo look and sound fine. Dragging brakes? Lack of sand with all that vegetation lying around? Money needs to be spent rather than leaving the Yorkshireman in charge of spending....

[@paulsmith5398]

OH, WOW! Seems like a huge electrical issue, alternator/generator/traction motors, maybe even a turbo issue. And no power up north to bail them out🤔❔ What a sorry state of a railroad 🤔☹😤😢😭😵😨😱❗

[@billxam2674]

There sure is something wrong with the engine. Sounds like a bad turbo.

[@charlesbennett8700]

Definitely something is wrong with 503, maybe a traction motor is bad or something else electrical with it. Obviously the diesel is running okay. Could it be that the generator is going bad?

[@Gruntsworth]

Jeez. You sat there recording when you should have been in back pushing!

[@n5ifi]

That's a 3 or 4 engine train for an Alco. WET, Wheel slip. That's all it is. I've seen the dop the cars and go up the tracks with the engine and sand everything. They may have no sand either.

[@SlapthePissouttayew]

Or the sanders are clogged. Had that happen more than once.

[@haworthlowell805]

Seems like they have the same 'maintenance' program for their engines as they do their tracks; 'If it's not broke don't fix it!'

[@haroldreardon8070]

If the unit is slipping, no point in getting more throttle. That may damage wheels as well as rail. If it will hold the rail at 2 or 3 mph, stay there until your situation improves ( grade ?? ).

[@Brandon-r6x]

Like I said they need to purchase a bigger locomotive like an SD 70 Mack

[@DJ279V]

ELS could do a better job with the rails, engine maintenance, and cutting the grass back for sure. Sounds like that engine is cooked.

[@rds2821]

The owners of this railroad have been neglecting the track and equipment for years. Every time I go up there, it looks worse and worse.

[@wildbill5126]

Well theres the grave yard, might as well park it there. Jason every time I see you posting stuff like this, I say to myself the owner of this rail road must be a real penny pincher, his locos and track are garbage.

[@SleeTheSloth]

Wet rails make a big diff.

[@ginafleener3962]

Love to count cars and see multiple variations of cargo😊

[@sclewell777]

Wet rails and 1 engine doesn't cut it on a grade. He probably went back n forth sanding the rails before he got traction.

[@richardhunn4298]

We see this on Tehachapi, that's an RBD train ie "runs better downhill".

[@josephsimmer9267]

ELS seems to have a bad habit of running their locomotives into the ground. If ELS is so short of motive power, maybe they should take a page out of the Lake State Railway's playbook down on the Alpena branch in lower Michigan, where the LSRC use road slugs with traction motors that draw power from a locomotive's prime mover to provide additional tractive effort to haul heavy trains loaded with aggregate, gypsum or cement products. ELS has plenty of mothballed locomotives stored at their Wells facility that might be suitable for conversion to road slugs-- might as well make do with what they have on hand if they don't want to spend more to lease more locomotives.

[@johnd4101]

Bad track, rainy day, overload for one 3,000HP older diesel electric loco. ELS modus operandi, eh?

[@lars277]

Maybe their sanders are empty. Weeds and water are slippery.

[@ericanderson8394]

No money for anything at ELS. What will L.P. do if the Smart siding train gets stopped by an underperforming railroad company. Somebody with super deep pockets needs to step in and just take over. Great video of a failing company. Maybe even Wisconsin and Michigan can fund it.

[@franklinwerren7684]

Wet wheels or bad traction motors….or even the generator is shot…..

[@JawTooth]

That was awesome 😊🎉

[@davidbunker6115]

it looks like they are out of sand on a slick track

[@JamesRayConway]

I think he backed up to sand the rails. We did that a lot on the ACR.

[@sammisworkshops3762]

Lovely old cemetery. nicely maintained. love the trains along side too

[@stevetroutman7787]

Hi Jason, I enjoy your videos. I notice an LP SmartSide ad at the beginning of this one 😂😂. People are watching!!

[@Rfinerd]

When they were trying to push the loads yesterday that would be the same direction the engine would be running as it is now. Looks like the problem is more than the sand. Maybe traction motor(s).

[@rompinroger9614]

That seems to be a very nice cemetery, it looks like everyone’s dieing to get in there. Congrats on the 100000 subs Jason.

[@Carolb66]

It's dying! 😂👍

[@alexsands433]

Definitely something wrong with the train not being able to climb iron mountain

[@MidWestRailFan-1z2eq]

Nice video, by chance, have you ever caught the High Hood unit ELS has? I saw it tied down in Escanaba last year.

[@arlenesobhani8739]

Engine sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

[@christopherescott6787]

Fix what ya got. Lease until it's done. What a mickey mouse railroad.

[@dkillalegend]

That locomotive IS LEANING!

[@jeananderson815]

he'd rather walk then ride with you lmao

[@deezelfairy]

It's probably because of company policy/insurance reasons. Jump in some member of the public's car and then get into an accident the first question is going to be "why were you in some dudes car?". Sad world, but you can thank the ambulance chasers for that.

[@roballen5670]

No money for sand. That SD40-2 Shouldn't have a problem pulling that train.

[@Cratergrease]

Could be traction motors cut out due to ground relays. Happens lots in wet or snowy weather..,

[@robertoja9680]

Sounds to me the locomotive isn't loading properly more trouble some to diagnose than not loading at all..meaning its sending power to the traction motors but not as it should

[@alanpope179]

Why does it sound like the dynamics are engaged? 50+ year old locomotive on 100+ year old bad track....nice work!

[@TBlackMktg]

Maybe slick rail combined with vegetation on the rails?

[@roberthagberg5482]

They better do something or the railroad will lose the customer to trucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@DavidScott-ij2ef]

I'm all set with a bucket of popcorn.This is going to be interesting.

[@richardmead9225]

Wet rails, high wet grass, no sand?

[@RealMelodyBlue]

Gosh I love hearing those turbos ❤

[@barrywilliams991]

Well, your long journey to 100k is finally complete and you get your silver play button!

[@clarklindquist8137]

Happy Sunday Jason God bless

[@Howoldareweanywayyipes]

I got a feeling Jaw Tooth is watching this somewhere.

[@tomroise9426]

Where is your scanner? Probably had your answer there? Wet wood wet rails old engine Alter metal loads with water. Maybe they blew a traction motor, .

[@kittty2005]

Yeah 100 tons of scrap with a hundred tons of water lollol.

[@raymondtaylor3016]

You people sound so stupid not knowing anything about railroading.

[@dougbarnowski5224]

That's some serious wheel slip to an already unmaintained ballast. Won't be long until the whole track will be completely unusable.

[@gordtvradio3465]

Idk what everyone is on about saying the engine doesn’t sound good. It sounds amazing

[@tezzah...]

Pulling way to much weight , poor distribution, wet track badly maintined railroad , I'm surprised it didn't derail the track is so bad

[@allenstayduhar7139]

You don't think all that lumber is extremely heavy?

[@nmccw3245]

Thanks for taking a puddle splash for us Jason. 👍🏻

[@Milwroad4ever]

For some reason the traction motors weren’t getting the juice to run them

[@erie910]

The conductor should be at the back, protecting the shove move. Might be a sticking brake, too.

[@davidbankston3408]

Also turn on Sanders as you approach jill

[@SkyhawkTL]

It would be nice to hear the RR radio to see what the plan was. That loco should have made it easily. There is more to this than a stall.

[@Gentry09]

The tracks look like half chewed spaghetti. Beautiful locomotive and Xmas gondola.

[@williammcgeehan3424]

👉 2:45 Clown world graffiti.

[@Zenergy0101]

Old ex BNSF SD40-2 getting wheel slip on wet rail over light grade with grass on the rail makes for a fun day. Bet the sanders aren't working. That engine wasn't made for short line operation but for hauling coal trains and intermodal trains on welded rail at speed. I would be hard pressed to put a 6 axle loco on that stretch of track. Nothing good can come from that! Just another day on a short line/regional railroad.

[@NJPurling]

Wet rail is bad, but if there's not much traffic the rails might have some rust which makes an excellent polishing compound to make the rails even more slick. At 12:00 What is the gradient on that stretch of track? It is very relevant to the crew on such a lousy evening I take it that the crew outlawed at 6pm Friday so they had to leave the train there

[@yahdoober]

Turbocharger sounds like it is going bad.

[@TylerDonitzen-777]

503 can't climb the grade oh boy the last thing ELS needs is another downed locomotive hopefully 503 isn't breaking down.

[@xxTexas_outlaw71xxttv]

Is it the video or was the leaning to one side whoever owns this line either needs to abandon it of fix it. having it in the current condition is dangerous.

[@smokelesschoice165]

ELS sure isn't going to fix it, they're a bunch of amateur cheapskates.

[@tracksidecraig]

This old horse ain't what she used to be

[@crdom12the]

I love the "disney" car as you call it. Someone obviously has too much time on their hands.

[@paulbergen9114]

If you didn't see the locomotive in the cemetery you'd probably swear it was a landscape crew working on Mowing and weed trimming. Then it almost starts to sound like a Mixmaster. Independent Locomotive Services should have a few more SD40s in stock but it would probably take a week to get there from Minnesota it was just the way @12:30 how's the speed just suddenly disappears. EI. EI. Oh forget it

[@barrywilliams991]

What was that? Unemployed behavior and somehow being able to buy (or steal) hundreds of dollars worth of spray paint.

[@jamescerone]

Absolutely insane how mad people get about graffiti lol who the heck cares? And it’s not an unemployed thing, there are plenty of regular, employed people who do it as a hobby. As long as they’re not tagging residences or small businesses that the graffiti will actually harm, it really doesn’t matter. I mean, look at that artwork… at least it’s not just shitty scribbles. It’s actually pretty nice.

[@kirkcoatsccc594]

I think the graffiti is cool

[@trainboy4024]

It has dropped its load. He's in number 6 still struggling .

[@erie910]

I sospect wet rail with grass and weeds.

[@fstudent0198]

The plow blade on the rear of the loco shakes the water droplets off the weeds n grass right onto the top of the rail and the leading trucks are slipping. Probably ran out of traction sand thursday already.

[@hiscifi2986]

If that is a diesel electric engine, it can't be doing the electric motors any good running them in a stalled condition.

[@paulmace9165]

Shop time track motor died

[@sclewell777]

You can hear the traction motors. That's the noise you hear

[@class77sncb]

Wet rails, no sanding, to much green between the rails.train too heavy..there you have it !!! This makes slipping rails.. Put sand upon the rails before driving over them...!!

[@DixonSyder420]

Maybe Mr retired bsnf is broken lol

[@chuxproductions1090]

Definitely something is wrong with the locomotive and still notched up!!! Sad to see them with so few locomotives and struggling with another locomotive! Seems like they are shutting the Locomotive off and leaving town! Thanks for the coverage! Safe travels to Iowa🙏🤲

[@randylearmonth4047]

Jason, can you send this video, to a state representative for some financial help, , it's clear the railroad needs some help

[@mikejungferman4744]

So were in Michigan? Since everything is declining, id say she's not doing to bad, definitely out of sand though 🤔

[@leskeegan9033]

They need more power instead dragging that many cars with 1 locomotive.

[@kittty2005]

SD 40s have a reputation for being the work mules of the railroads, specifically SD 40-2 but both are rated at 3000 HP but the dash-2 has lower gearing, you could be rite about that.

[@rodgodx345]

Hey Jason when are they gonna weed spray the tracks do u think it’s that time of the year?

[@rickprusak9326]

That's one hell of a large cemetery your driving in. 😂

[@peterwexler5737]

I think I can, I think I can!

[@chesterfrench7721]

They might be out of sand. Engine seems to do okay on the level and downhill, but wheels might be slipping when they are going uphill. Short heavy train doesn't helping either.

[@rickprusak9326]

It's all due to the train company not spending money on locomotive or rolling stock equipment maintenance. Another example of the company cutting corners, and inflating the executive's salary and bonus options at the expense of keeping trains 🚆 and tracks properly maintained. 😢

[@damuphillips9188]

Man that railroad is all messed up

[@ramtuff2007]

good train video

[@johnbauer3445]

Out of sand

[@mrfingerlakes8735]

Something is definitely wrong with that engine

[@quixkiwi5337]

My thoughts are this: Wet weather (well drizzle/mist actually) along with a slightly overgrown/weedy track, allows for wet grass and other leaves as well as a few tree leaves to fall onto the top of the railhead, where the first train (in a while) arrives to attempt to get traction uphill, to discover, that not matter HOW HIGH they pull that throttle lever (wide-open), their traction motors are revving way too high with almost NO forwards motion, almost 99.9% gaurantee that the railhead NOW has this nasty green slime (from "crushed-vegitation" oils) which has made the track sliprier than if it was coated in old fashioned axle grease. It was a problem sometimes (during the first wet after a long dry period) up the Comwell Gorge, especially for any motor trollies hauling heavy work fla-top's loaded with rails or sleepers etc., where we could absolutely NOT get any decent forwards traction on crushed leaves (in the autumn mostly) as they released this nasty extremely greasy oill, when a trolley wheel ran over them, which also slowed o a crawl, most of the DJ locomotives they used up that way. I've seen (in the 1970's) a DJ locomotive that had to be run "light" (decoupled from it's train) several times each way, until they had laid down enough sand, to remove most of the oil off the track, before they went back and recoupled to their train for a final "rush" to get up a steeper section of the old Cromwel Gorge .. Thus, with all that vegitation (including those rapidly growing bushes that blocked your view) combined with a fine drizzle/light rain, may have greased the track sufficiently, to stop that single loco from gaining enough traction, and why when it stopped reving at 13:16, the weight of the wagons pulling it downhill, meant that as soon as they throttled down, it basically "ran away" backwards thus the crew could barely keep it under control in reverse. Obviously pissed that the engine couldn't get enough traction, hence a "second" or third repeat run at the hill was required. I'm assuming they din't use their sanding equipment for some weird reason, or maybe the crew didn't understand that a squirt of SAND would have given them all the traction they needed. After all, to the crew, there was NO SNOW or ICE (frosty weather/cold rails) and it wasn't raining THAT hard surely? But see that's the problem with JUST a light drizzle, it is nowhere near enough, to WASH AWAY the crushed vegitation oils, from off the top of the track. And, without a heavy downpour, or a sunny day, that oil remained tracing around on the weheels, to keep that loco unable to get any traction worth a dime.. If they had "parked" their small "rake" of wagons, and ripped back and forth through there a few times, sanding all the time, there wouldn't have been a problem when reconnecting the loco.

[@Fantom822-i4i]

The tracks look a little warped and rough in that area

[@gatorgator3942]

Definitely out of sand with all the wet grass and wet rails. Maybe do some tie replacements to get the speed up could help some as well.18 loaded cars roughly 2,340 tons for that SD should be no issue unless out of sand. Even though class 1’s can have the same problem on the main lines.