Pikes Peak Cog RR and Cummins

[Deezul1]

We have just recently taken a ride on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway and it was great. We were told that these trains are powered by Cummins I think 8 Series engines that are laying on their sides under the floor. Has anyone heard of this type of installation?

There was another TDR member there also on Sept 29 with a white dually with lance camper and Maryland plates but I never had the chance to say hello as they were prolly on another train.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Deezul 1, it would be interesting to know what sort of compression, turbos, etc. they run to operate at 14,000 feet. As you probably noticed the air's pretty thin up there! My dad's 2. 5L Celebrity Wagon was a horrible wheezing dog at the top of Pikes Peak. My brother and I tried playing catch with the football but that didn't last long



We accidentally destroyed our air mattes because we inflated it at sea level and forgot to let some of the air out before our ascent :-laf



Vaughn

 

[MLee]

turbo

according to a display they have there that was one of the first installs of a turbo on the engines they use to get to that altitude, to help them get enough air.



Marv.

 

[HVAC]

Pikes Peak

Just watched a vid of that RR last night. You could see a bit of white smoke emitting from the top of the car. I thought they said the cars were Swiss built. Looks like a busy rail with lots of cars, even side rails to allow cars heading up to pass the downhill bound cars.

 

[Deezul1]

Yes it is a busy little RR. We were passed twice on sidings and this is the slow season. The cars are made in switzerland as they are the experts on cog railways and can do grades as steep as 48%

 

[C. Harlan]

Is there a link to see pictures? I think that would be really neat to look at! I have always been fascinated with trains and railroad stuff... .



-Chris-

 

[Rebel_Horseman]

What's really cool is that the line used to be powered by steam locos. Imagine a shackled up hot rod with the rear end sitting up high. Well that's exactly what they did to the little steam locos so that the water in the boilers would stay level in the boiler. Otherwise ti would run to the back and the train wouldn't go anywhere. I think the line was originally built in the late 1800's and the railbed in use today is essentially the same.



Reb [><]

 

[NPloysa]

Hi guys. I recently met a girl from Colorado Springs and go down there all the time now. Last weekend (the 4th and 5th) we took the Cog up on Sunday and drove up the highway yesterday (Sunday the 12th).



The trains are really cool. The first single units are diesel electric and use the wheels as generators to slow the train on the decent with the Cummins shut down.



The double trains they run were made starting with No. 18 and 19 in '76, No. 24 in 1984 and No. 25 in 1989 and weigh 73 tons, 124 feet long. The Cummins are laying flat on the bottom with their automatic transmissions, made by Twin Disc, and the exhaust and cooling systems run through the archways in the train interiors and are vented through the roof to their mufflers and tailpipes.



Each car of the double train has 2 engines, each engine driving a seperate automatic transmission and that drives 2 cog wheels on the furthest uphill and furthest downhill axle of each car. 4 engines, 8 cog wheels per double train, and are always run double.



These are diesel pneumatic and they just let the engines idle on the way down.



As for the altitude effect, my Cummins ran just fine with a little bit of smoke at startup when we were leaving yesterday, only because it was 35 degrees on the summit and 75 degrees in the Springs.



Go to www.cograilway.com for more info



Nick

 

[NPloysa]

Hi guys. I recently met a girl from Colorado Springs and go down there all the time now. Last weekend (the 4th and 5th) we took the Cog up on Sunday and drove up the highway yesterday (Sunday the 12th).



The trains are really cool. The first single units are diesel electric and use the wheels as generators to slow the train on the decent with the Cummins shut down.



The double trains they run were made starting with No. 18 and 19 in '76, No. 24 in 1984 and No. 25 in 1989 and weigh 73 tons, 124 feet long. The Cummins are laying flat on the bottom with their automatic transmissions, made by Twin Disc, and the exhaust and cooling systems run through the archways in the train interiors and are vented through the roof to their mufflers and tailpipes.



Each car of the double train has 2 engines, each engine driving a seperate automatic transmission and that drives 2 cog wheels on the furthest uphill and furthest downhill axle of each car. 4 engines, 8 cog wheels per double train, and are always run double.



These are diesel pneumatic and they just let the engines idle on the way down.



As for the altitude effect, my Cummins ran just fine with a little bit of smoke at startup when we were leaving yesterday, only because it was 35 degrees on the summit and 75 degrees in the Springs.



Go to www.cograilway.com for more info



Nick

 

[Grayhackle]

Back in the 70's, I worked at Fitzsimons General Hosp and our high altitude samples were on Pike's Peak, we had others in Denver (mile high) and Framingham, Ma (sea level) (GO RED SOX),

Anyway, I had to deliver supplies, take samples, and otherwise work on the top of that beast. We had humans and animals for test subjects. the first night you wake up gasping for breath, Takes about 3 days to become acclimated. If you are a smoker as I am, takes longer!. Pikes Peak I love it, but get off the damn thing ASAP. They have an annual hill climb race that is really something to see. Switchbacks are gravel and sharp. Good fishing in the nofishing lakes along the way. I have said too much!

 

[BFaoro]

Try

If you like to go and hike, try the original incline !! It is steep !! I have done the Pikes Peak Ascent for five years and it is a butt kicker !! In August they sometimes have to take a motor grader (Cat) to clear the road so that the vans carrying the racers down won't have problems because of snow!!.