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| Re: PHOTO - Genny on its side (1261663) | |||
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Re: PHOTO - Genny on its side |
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Posted by Bill West on Mon Dec 2 04:12:52 2013, in response to Re: PHOTO - Genny on its side, posted by j trainloco on Sun Dec 1 21:20:20 2013. Three cases where an engineer couldn't stop his train:1. This one is theoretical but it does show that here can be much subtlety to what will or won't happen on a train. We have a long 2% grade out west here and a friend has crewed down it. He explained that at 20-22mph the dynamic would hold a long freight and the air could easily stop it. But at a mere 3-4mph faster the train would be completely out of control and would runaway with flames shooting from the wheels. The numbers in the physics can multiply that fast. There is much skill to being an engineer and sometimes very little margin for human failure or mechanical weakness in railroading. I shudder to think what would happen if the speedometer was out of calibration by 2-3mph and the engineer relied on it. 2. Two-three decades ago Union Pacific had a work train run away in Nevada and hit a freight at high speed. When the braking abilities of the train were questioned another train of the same class of equipment was made up for a trial. It took the car foreman about a week to adjust every car exactly enough to make the train manageable under the same conditions. 3. In Wisconsin a freight car's end frame bent while running. It didn't uncouple or derail but it kinked the brake pipe closed and the engineer couldn't get a reduction for an upcoming stop. When it became apparent that the train wouldn't respond he had the caboose dump the air from their end. It is an example of why today's FREDs have a radio dump feature. Now today's accident didn't involve mountain grades but I'm sure that a little digging would bring up closer examples. As much as the evening news is suspecting speed and the engineer has been quoted as saying he hit the brakes, we don't know if the accident is for want of action on his part or a lack of reaction on the part of the brakes or for that matter the wheel adhesion. Bill |
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