Johnson bar

Very close to this!!!
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=18

 

Don't listen to her , up here we call it a Spike , a Johnson bar, a Holy (*&^ stick , Broker bar ....not all of us are boring

 

I've always called it a johnson bar. When I was logging off highway pulling 250,00-300,000 lbs on 8-12% grades we set it at 7-10 lbs on downhill grades to keep everything in a straight line. We ran water cooled brakes in the summer.
In the bush we used to attach a small log horizontally to two trees and dig a hole under it for a bathroom. The horizontal log was called a johnson bar. Not sure why.
Interesting info on the locomotive Burky.

 

My husband (he is 36) learned how to drive from his grandpap, in a logging truck up and down and all around the mountains of pa, wv, va, and md. He was taught how to use the trolley valve (johnson bar) when jack-knifing.

He taught me but I sure would not recommend an inexperienced friver trying it. Not unless you want to make it worse

 

oh no not that site

that is one of my fav sites

 

Hi all,
I am new to this forum and recently got my class A cdl. I am not a professional truck driver, but do drive a trailer truck ocasionally to supplement my hobby. I want to add to Burky's post about the use of the "Johnson Bar". This was indeed a railroad term, but it was a slang name for the reverse lever. The throttle was used to open a valve in the dome to admit steam to the cylinders. When you'd start a train, you'd put the johnson bar "all the way in the corner" and this would allow steam to be admitted to the cyninders for about 80% of the stroke of the piston. This massive volumn of steam was necessary to start a heavy train. As you'd gather momentum, the bar would be pulled back nearer the center to allow the steam to be worked expansively, thus saving steam and wear and tear on machinery. A passenger train would work with as little as 25% and a freight would run about 33%. This is where the engine would do the most work for the most economy. The notch on the reverse quadrant where this setting was would be called "the company notch" because that is the notch the company would want you to run in! I have some practical experience with this. You can also tell by the sound of the exhaust how hard the engine is working. The fireman can tell, too because he will have to shovel coal harder to keep up.
L. Fernald

 

Well, in the days before engine brakes existed (or anyone wanted to pay the price to have one installed), and hauling heavy loads (heavier than legal) down steep grades, we were "taught" to engage the johnson bar lightly at the top of the hill and leave it on all the way down. On an 8 mile grade at 7%, it took me a few tries to figure out how to get down that mountain without plumes of smoke coming out of - well out of ALL the brakes. Going down a 7% grade grossing at 100,000 with no engine brake is an interesting experience, indeed.

 

Hey I have one in my house with stools LOL

 

OMG!!! I went to that site!!! OMG!!! Thanks!!!!

 

ive wondered how it was done back in the day...