Slipping wheels

I ask this out of curiosity and, please understand,it is not to make fun. Why is it that railfans seem to have a certain fascination with slipping wheels? I noticed this in particular with respect to our former steam operations some 20-30 years ago. It seemed that the fans would knock you off your feet to get at a video of an engine slipping down on a switch or on wet rail. I never got anything out of it myself and thought it a bit silly! Perhaps, somewhat akin to kids "scratching off", or screeching tires out of a parking lot. That, also, does nothing for me, but while working on the RR, I watched people just go all GAH-GAH over an engine stalling or slipping down. And we even see some references to it here. So............................why? What am I missing?

Gadfly

I consider myself pretty savy as regards to my interest in railways as a fan (particularly traction). Having said that, I would stop and enjoy a slipping wheel on rail as well. (Steam locos do put on quite a show !) I enjoy the physical (and emotional) dynamics of railway vehicles. I like to see how they work, perform, sound, smell, react, look, and feel. I personally have always been fascinated with grooves in girder and guard rail sections. Watching a spinning wheel or two is like watching a trolley pole arcing through icy overhead, a trackless trolley losing it's poles on a switch, the smell of hard braking on a PCC, the smell of pine blocks rubbing against rail on a cable car, etc etc. At the risk of seeming "silly", it's sort of "getting to know them". I have the same reaction with a beautiful woman (with a few minor extras ). Not to be flippant as I believe your question to be earnest, but I also happen to be a big jazz fan. We jazz aficionados have an old saying, "If I have to explain why I like it, you'll never get it."

From an Engineering viewpoint, slipping wheels are only interesting from the point of how the Engineman gets out of the problem. Usually liberal use of sanding, and a gradual acceleration solve the problem.

The same could be said for seeing a locomotive belch huge amounts of smoke and/or flames. This is probably something that the average hogger doesn't find particularly amusing or entertaining... but for the average trackside observer, it's quite a show.

From the cab side of it, getting a train moving, especially on wet rails, without slipping is the mark of an engineer who is good at what he/she does. Slipping steam loco wheels will bring the shop foreman out screaming, as he looks for nuts and bolts and parts flung off the rods and valve gear. Most engineers will not take the chance of showboating and breaking something, especially with a very old piece of equipment.

But yes, it is fun to watch!

As a side note, slippage isn't just restricted to steam locos - you can have diesels spinning their wheels in place eating the rail to pieces. Wheel slip is even more of a problem with electric locomotives, as the amount of power they put out, as quick as they do, and as light as they are.

its all about throttle control and being patient. You might not think that Notch 1, 2 or 3 would do anything on a big, long, heavy train, but it does.

I just always thought watching wheels slip was somewhat immature. A diesel slipping very much is a Track Supevisor's nightmare. But many fans seem to get great joy out of observing such. With the steam locos..........OH BOY! Did they EVER "foam" over that.

Years ago, we (Southern RR) had a Royal Hudson #2839 for a season or two in our steam excursion program. This particular engine had a penchant for slipping down to the very excited glee of the rail buffs. It was VERY bad about stalling on wet rail and tight radius trackage. It got REALLY bad about it---so much so, I *think* it was one of the reasons it was returned to Canada after a season or two. Just TOO 'slippy"!!!
Anyhow, the fans would, no doubt, be mightily entertained at our shops where I worked at the end of my career. We had all KINDS of roadway equipment, even converted Bucyrus Erie cranes (formerly steam) that often needed assistance getting into the shop stalls, requiring a "nudge" from a friendly Caterpillar fork lift! I recall one time when a heavy rail crane's brakes locked up on one axle, we had 2 forklifts and a jet aircraft "mule" (like you see servicing airliners) plus the crane itself, Detroit Diesels a-roaring, smoking tires (and spinning rail wheels) shoving ahead trying to get that dadgum thing in the shop stall! We even had a shop supervisor laying down sand and cat litter trying to gain purchase to go ahead!!!!!! That'd get 'em tore up and cameras flashing, wouldn't it!!! LOL! (I don't recall thinking it was funny at the time, tho!)

Gadfly

The rail grounder is out on Florence division, on Southend Sub. Folks who like slipping wheel should love to see that. And it's even working at night, so that it more "interesting"!

I find it very fun to watch on steam and diesel locomotives. A few weeks ago i got a text messeage from a friend of mine who is the engineer for a local shortline. He said that they had 28 gondolas loaded with scrap to move uphill to the BNSF, all they had to move it with was their SW1200, and it was snowing. So they put the train together tying on 7 cars a few boxcars and grain cars at the end. I then drove the crew up to the BNSF yard to borrow 2 BNSF geeps, when we got there, there was only 1, a GP53. So they brought the geep down the branchline and tied it on to the front end. The geep charged the hill in run 8, but stalled with half of the train on the hill. The switcher was following close behind, being driven by a second engineer. So they tied the switcher on to the rear of the train adn it pushed from behind. Its wheels slipped constantly, and smoke billowed from its stacks, but the tow engines slowly dragged the train up the hill. Just the sounds of it.