User:Throttleer/sandbox

I had added some historical fact to pages on the Australian NR-class locomotive that related to a claimed (by the manufacturer) feature called variable horsepower. The advertised concept of variable horsepower as a technical feature of the locomotive was always something of a furphy because while it (the feature) enabled the locomotive operator to set a series of lower maximum power output settings through the digital driver interface (the DID panel), this functionality was utterly redundant since—to produce quite the same outcome—a driver could simply limit the maximum throttle position used when driving the locomotive. I have extensive experience operating these locomotives and have tested this myself by comparing the power output parameters when using the DID panel to set the so-called variable power feature versus doing the same thing manually with normal throttle modulation. In other words, if it were desired to be operating the locomotive as a Notch 6 maximum power unit, then the operator had simply to limit themselves to using throttle position 6 as the maximum. If the intermediate horsepower output of Notch 7 was desired, then position 7 would be used as the maximum.

Use of this so-called 'feature' was NEVER prescribed at any time by railroad management and the concept has not since been used by any other manufacturer, as far as I'm aware. So, accomplishing variable horsepower by any means other than normal throttle use by the driver 'on the day' was NEVER used. It turned out to be an irrelevance, and I hold to my view that it could have been nothing other than a sales tactic conceived at the time that a marketing strategy for these Dash 9 models was being formulated by General Electric. This material describes a feature unique to this class of locomotive (other than the previous unadorned mention that it existed) and the discussion deserves to be a recorded part of the NR-class story. In my view, the actions of james.au in removing it were precipitate and insufficiently explained.