On Friday 07 February 2020 23:09:46 Jon Elson wrote: > On 02/07/2020 11:43 AM, N wrote: > > Are however not sure the westinghouse system is better > > there pressure is loaded then breaks are not used. First > > time I heard about the accident there an oil train have > > crashed then driver was sleeping and left engine on > > locomotive running I thought driver was drunk. Later > > however I learned fire department put out fire and did not > > know it should be running to keep pressure up, this system > > is still allowed? Or I got it wrong? > > Yes, the catastrophe was in Canada where a freight train > loaded with oil tank cars was parked on a weekend, the > locomotive engines were left running so the parking brake > would continue to hold. There was no crew on the train. > One of the locomotives caught fire, the fire crew was called > and put it out, and they shut off both locomotive engines. > About 8 hours later the air tanks leaked down, and the train > rolled downhill and crashed on a curve, essentially burning > an entire small town to the ground. > > As far as I know, the air brake system on trains has not > been changed very much in the last hundred years, it was > used on steam locomotives before Diesels. > > Jon > I think you could probably add another 40 or 50 years Jon, time flies when we're having fun. We have some trackage here running east out of Elkins that still needs a Shay or 2 to pull the grades, and I can recall driving past a parked, cold Shay with tender and noting every wheel had a parking wedge under the downhill side of it. Biggest problem with the Shay is its been known to get in a bind on short corners and either derail or break its simple u-joints in the drive shaft. Hypnotizing to watch one coming up the hill, might get down to 2 or 3 miles an hour but they can keep it moving where a normal loco can't find a bite on the tracks even with the sanders running. An amazing machine, built for one purpose, to climb a hill. > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. - Louis D. Brandeis Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
