Nice photo! I was always wondering what the reason for a slug was, does anyone know this?
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Slugs make use of the great gobs of power that a loco makes at low speed.
A loco has like three or four "power" settings (for want of a better word) called field diversion that kicks in at certain speeds so that the traction mortors make the most efficient use of the available power from the generator.
At slow speed (switching) the loco spends most of its time in the first diversion setting (most grunt available) and usually there is plenty to go round, so, you can hook up a slug which has traction motors like a loco, but they are powered from the spare current provided by the mother loco.
Its only the simplest of explanations but I hope it helps. Regards Andrew
p.s. Great picture!
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| Posted by Mike Roth on January 14, 2007 | |
Thanks for the IHB photo . Chicagos best !
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Thanks for the explanation! I figured they used them for power but sometimes it doesn't appear that the slug has anything inside of it(motor) like the pictured one above.
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