From Jon Flanders Was it the engineer of the Metro-North train at fault for the wreck? A comment I posted elsewhere on FB, Ill make it a status update on my own page. When people like Chuck Schumer and Andrew Cuomo weigh in on this watch out! The fact that the train make earlier stops is really not relevant. There are three braking systems on a locomotive, independent air for the locomotive, brake pipe air for the entire train and dynamic braking. This is possibly the culprit in this case. Heres a description of dynamic braking from Trains magazine: It works like this: While the train is coasting, the engineer, using an eight-notch controller similar to the throttle, energizes the traction-motor fields, causing the motors to act as generators. The resistance of the motor field acts as a brake on the locomotive, which in turn helps to slow the train. The electric current generated by the motors in the dynamic-braking mode is a waste product and is dissipated as heat in banks of resistors located in the locomotive carbody. Or I would add in an electrical system, sent back to the system for use as power. At high speeds dynamic braking would be critical, because train line air takes time to recharge, the engineer relies on dynamic braking for train control. If it failed in this case, and a full application of the automatic didnt slow the train sufficiently, the engineer may have had no choice but to go to an emergency. In fact, he might have saved lives, if the train slowed enough not to career around the curve with all cars going off the tracks. So please, give him a break until everything comes out. More on dynamic braking here:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_braking_(locomotive)
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 17:06:39 +0000
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