Trains...

If I remember correctly, on US locomotives the dynamic brakes are operable so long as the automatic/train brake is not set to emergency. The independent brakes do not affect the dynamics.


Jumping off a moving train and/or leaving a running locomotive unattended is against regulations here in the States...but it's not unheard of, actually. It's one of those "it's OK so long as you don't get caught" things.
Yes, it would have been better if he had just run the point and have to deal with an angry manager, though I'm thinking there was something else going on with this engineer that would make him take the risk. Either not thinking clearly for personal reasons or he was already in trouble for something else and didn't want another thing against him.

We may never know...


Also, as far as I can tell, there's no regulation against moving a train with the brake line disconnected while within the confines of a rail yard since the speed restrictions are low. As the article pointed out, this is a common "shortcut" used by engineers when performing switching duties. All in the name of getting the job done faster.
 
All valid points, interesting to see how things are done in the US that are different to here. That would be the power knockout switch that would activate if the brakes were put to emergency, which is a separate system.

"All in the name of getting the job done faster" went out of fashion here long before I joined the job a few years ago. We can't ride on wagons, yard speeds are 15kmh, reversing movements must be proceeded at all times by a shunter who must be outside of his car (ie, cant just drive alongside as it's reversing) and many other rules. They go over the top, but if that's how management want it then so be it. Just means trains will delay for no good reason.
 
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these are some strict rules!

shunting without the brake line connected is still widely practiced here, there are even rules governing how many axles you may move in this fashion depending on the locomotive used.
of course nobody can memorize those so its more done according to rule of thumb. for longer consists a couple of cars are attached to the brake line to have some more stopping power.
 
How widespread are the use of remote controls in the train world? I live next to the railway station and the driver is often not on the train, but walking along with his remote for shunting in the yard.
 
I've only heard of it in rail yards.
 
dSMiL.SlMa.80.jpeg


Mostly rail yard switching and Distributed Power Units (DPUs).

megatrain-2l-0210.jpg


DPU setups aren't too common here in the States and they're usually out west. Eastern railroads like Norfolk Southern (see sig) usually use helper lashups with their own crews, though they're not strangers to DPUs (occasionally can be seen on heavy coal or tanker trains).
 
over here remote control is very widespread in road switching. in the railyards you often get help by additional shunting workers, because remote controlled operation means you spend a lot of time walking up and down your train, during which you block the track for other shunting movements or trains. but out in the industrial sidings you are working alone most of the time.
 
Leadfoot866 said:
dSMiL.SlMa.80.jpeg


Mostly rail yard switching and Distributed Power Units (DPUs).

megatrain-2l-0210.jpg


DPU setups aren't too common here in the States and they're usually out west. Eastern railroads like Norfolk Southern (see sig) usually use helper lashups with their own crews, though they're not strangers to DPUs (occasionally can be seen on heavy coal or tanker trains).
Click to expand...


If you have so many cars that you risk breaking couplings in the middle or a 1/4 of the way through, maybe you should shorten it? :dunno:
 
It's not uncommon to see 100+ car trains out in this part of the country that have something like 4 or 5 engines up front and even sometimes 2 on the end. I've seen engines in the middle but since the trains are only about a mile long, they seem fine.

As for remote controlled trains, they're done. There's warnings at crossings here that some trains are remotely operated.
 
I've always wondered why the US trains are so long. Is it because the railway network cannot handle a tighter frequency of train traffic or is there another reason beside the vast distances?

Anyway, I was visiting Offenburg in southwest Germany two weeks ago and the railway station is located at one if not the major European North to South main transportation channel. Freight trains were passing the station in a frequency of a couple of minutes. All trains not very long compared to US standards but the system seems more flexible and faster to me.

The US philosophy seems to be transporting lots and lots of goods on one train from one point to another point far away and then spread it from there, while the European philosophy seems to be sending shorter trains in a tighter frequency around. I suppose it also has to do with the much larger distances in America... Maybe somebody can explain it to me?
 
the different coupler systems used in the us and europe means that such long trains are not really possible here. trains are limited to around 4000 tons with the regular couplers.

besides that, the topography makes a difference as you have noted. in europe you have lots of small stations close together, and most of them don't even have long ernough tracks for the german maximum train length of 740m.
on the other hand the close proximity of cities means that we have much more double line track which offers a higher capacity for many shorter trains, whereas the long distances in the us favour fewer but longer trains.

the european railways would like to run much longer trains and there are experiments being run with 1000m trains in germany.
but the work thats necessary to accomodate the network to these is so vast, we're probably only get a few very important lines upgraded to that standard.
 
Most trains out west travel long distances -- hundreds of miles between stops (state to state). It doesn't make a ton of sense to have short trains. It's a lot cheaper to run long trains as you need less people to do it.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Most trains out west travel long distances -- hundreds of miles between stops (state to state). It doesn't make a ton of sense to have short trains. It's a lot cheaper to run long trains as you need less people to do it.
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Fewer people, dammit! :mad:
 
Then that would be lesser people. Dwarves, midgets or as they are known here, shortarses.
 
MWF said:
Then that would be lesser people. Dwarves, midgets or as they are known here, shortarses.
Click to expand...

Hey, don't get all classist on me. We aren't better than them.
 
No, but our bookshelves are. :p
 
ryosuke said:
the european railways would like to run much longer trains and there are experiments being run with 1000m trains in germany.
but the work thats necessary to accomodate the network to these is so vast, we're probably only get a few very important lines upgraded to that standard.
Click to expand...

We do have longer trains up here, they recently bumped the Hamburg to Padborg line from 670 to 835m.
 
TIL there still are a couple of Dampfspeicherlokomotiven (fireless steam engines) in active duty in Germany :jawdrop: obviously at a coal-fired power station with a basically free 24/7 steam supply :lol:


 
You get Japanese High Speed Dildo Train E5

1408767833440.jpg
 
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