Subject:
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Re: Train Stoppers
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Wed, 8 Mar 2000 20:15:27 GMT
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Reply-To:
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lpieniazek@novera.comNOSPAM
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Viewed:
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1286 times
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Scott A wrote:
>
> At the edge of my memory, I can remember, as a kit, hearing a news story
> about derailers being stolen. It made the news as the items stolen were
> explosive in nature. I assume it would be a small charge which would be set
> off by the train/carriage itself. Could this really have been the case
I believe those are "track torpedoes" which are (were) set out several
hundred (thousand) yards behind a train stopped on or fouling the main.
They detonate with an explosive sound when train wheels go over them,
thus making an audible indication that there is something amiss. They
were used only in emergencies to warn the crew to bighole (1).
While they are explosive, and there is a LOUD report, it's only
destructive to ear drums in normal circumstances.
This month's TRAINS mag tells of Casey Jones, famed engineer hero. Track
torpedoes were used there but failed to protect as Casey was apparently
doing 70 MPH, faster than expected (and faster than the track speed)
(2), and they weren't set out far enough from the Vaughn (Mississippi)
siding. That wreck was a see saw gone bad. Theory is Casey knew there
would be a see saw (3) but expected the blockage would be at the far end
of the Vaughn siding. Were it not for a busted air hose, it would have
been.
The fireman jumped when it became apparent that bigholeing the train
brakes and reversing the engine wasn't going to be enough. Casey had
worked 35 MPH off but plowed into the other train at the north end of
Vaughn siding doing 35. He was the only fatality.
Interesting reading. Casey was actually too much of a hot dog for his
own good, apparently. He had made up almost all of his time deficit, he
was only 5 minutes late and still had 1/3 the run to go. He had a
history of rules infractions for speeding and recklessness, although the
roundhouse crews loved him, his engine (assigned to him in violation of
standard practice) was always clean and very customized... he also had a
set of custom whistles which he would change out, depending on mood,
kind of like the vanity horns you hear on some people's cars.
1 - apply emergency brakes. Train brakes work on pressure drop and the
exhaust hole on the brake stand for the emergency position is much
bigger than the normal position, hence the term bighole.
2 - RRs in those days cared about punctuality above all else and turned
a blind eye to minor rules infractions that got trains back on schedule
when they were running late. Officially, running the speed limit was all
that was required, but unofficially, an engineer that could not make up
time when given a late train would be blackmarked.
3 - A type of meet in which trains too long for a given siding
nevertheless manage to pass each other by breaking up and sawing back
and forth (or in the Vaughn case, multiple short trains in one direction
pass multiple short trains in the other direction by backing and filling
to get one train at a time past the other and clear. In a single see saw
the longer train enters the siding, leaving one end clear (front if
opposing meet, rear if overtaking meet). The shorter train (short enough
to fit on the siding overlapped part of the main) goes into the space,
with its rear clearing the siding switch, and the longer train then
proceeds. When its rear clears, the other train also proceeds. A double
seesaw is more complicated but allows trains neither of which fit to
pass by parting the trains partway through and one train pushes or pulls
parts of the other one.
--
Larry Pieniazek - lpieniazek@mercator.com - http://my.voyager.net/lar
http://www.mercator.com. Mercator, the e-business transformation company
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.
Note: this is a family forum!
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Train Stoppers
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| At the edge of my memory, I can remember, as a kit, hearing a news story about derailers being stolen. It made the news as the items stolen were explosive in nature. I assume it would be a small charge which would be set off by the train/carriage (...) (25 years ago, 8-Mar-00, to lugnet.trains)
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