Now that we have smoothed our ruffled feathers, Ed suggested a further discussion on gravity switching. There is a big difference between a "static drop" and a "flying switch".
A "static drop" is a rather bland move in which the grade is utilized to get cars in or out of a siding at a facing point switch. One location I used to do this was at Butler Lumber Company, a pallet manufacturer in Chase City, Va, on the Southern Railway's R&M branch. The cars were ancient bulkhead flats, with high brakes and friction journals, 50 feet long. The siding was trailing point south on a southbound descending grade. The loads were to be routed north through Keysville, Va, where they would be picked up by train #145, the nightly "thru freight" from Richmond to Danville, ultimately destined for Chrysler Corp. somewhere. The R&M local, 21-22 ran south to Durham, NC M-W-F, returning north Tu-Th-Sa. We would switch this customer both directions, leaving the loads on the lead on the southbound leg. Northbound, we would set the loads north of the switch on the main. The engine and the brakeman and conductor would go back down in the plant to spot the empties, while the flagman would reline the switch for the main, climb up on the car(s) and release the brake, riding down to the joint with the rest of the train whilst controlling the speed with the hand brake. Don't forget to line it back for the siding for the engine!
A "flying switch" is a rather exciting maneuver, occasionally too exciting, which I've been party to many times in the past. We never referred to it as a flying switch. In the dirty south we called it "jerking it by". It requires precise timing and a competent crew. If done on an ascending grade, it gets real dicey. My least favorite place to perform this move was at the Bear Island paper mill in Doswell, Va. At this time, I was working as an engineer for the RF&P. Bear Island was always jammed with cars, no convenient place to run around them. We would shove the loads of paper to the far south end of the plant wind em' up just as fast as I could get out of a slippery GP-35, give the brakey slack for the pin and race ahead into the mill track. If everything went as planned, the conductor had just enough time to flip the switch, letting the cars down the lead. The track was fairly flat, the problem was the weight of those 60 foot cars, sometimes up to ten of them. Getting a good swing on them was near impossible, given the space available. More than once, just a tiny hand brake would be overlooked on one of the cars, the cars would roll to a gentle stop, trapping the engine. At these times, the mill's power plant crew would graciously give a strategic shove with their big front end loader and we could get on with our work. Don't try this at home!
John
