What it the equipment connected to the track for?
Mar 16, 2019 23:24:11 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
Last year we were in Scotland and I took this photo from a tour bus window as we crossed a bridge. Does anyone know what the equipment attached to the track section is used for?
Mar 17, 2019 01:18:53 #
Do they run electric trains on that route, those are all connected to both rails by heavy duty electric cables.
That or some kind of sensors.
That or some kind of sensors.
Mar 17, 2019 01:42:41 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
robertjerl wrote:
Do they run electric trains on that route, those are all connected to both rails by heavy duty electric cables.
That or some kind of sensors.
That or some kind of sensors.
I don't know what they run, but there are no catenaries and no third rail.
Mar 17, 2019 02:04:27 #
bpulv wrote:
I don't know what they run, but there are no catenaries and no third rail.
Not all electric use third rail. Most use overhead wires or side wire, or electrified rails
Mar 17, 2019 08:48:57 #
robertjerl wrote:
Do they run electric trains on that route, those are all connected to both rails by heavy duty electric cables.
That or some kind of sensors.
That or some kind of sensors.
Maybe P.B.C (positive brake control.) That is what is needed in USA
Mar 17, 2019 10:39:00 #
Mar 17, 2019 10:53:38 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
Silverman wrote:
Maybe P.B.C (positive brake control.) That is what is needed in USA
The brakes are controlled from the locomotive and are independent of any equipment external to the train. I think you mean P.T.C. (Positive Train Control); a system that automatically stops the train if the engineer fails to actively respond to a block control signal or fails to periodically push a button to prove he is still alive and conscious. Such a system does not require the kind of equipment shown in the photograph.
Mar 17, 2019 11:03:01 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
dougbev3 wrote:
Wheel greasers , I would guess
Wheels on modern locomotives and rolling stock have roller bearings or other sealed bearing arrangements and are not packed with oiled rags as in the old days when "hot boxes" were common. On a modern railroad, overheated bearings or other components are checked by equipment that scans the barcode on each car and uses an infrared detector to report malfunctions via radio to the engineer as the train passes. That equipment looks very different from the equipment shown in the picture and takes far less real estate.
Mar 17, 2019 11:45:29 #
Mar 20, 2019 11:34:53 #
dougbev3
Loc: Pueblo, Colorado
bpulv wrote:
Wheels on modern locomotives and rolling stock hav... (show quote)
All railroads use wheel greasers... The equipment has been upgraded over the years here in the USA, with the older equipment sold in other countries or used on other than Class 1 RR's.
P.T.C. is computers on the lead locomotive talking to the wayside computers to determine whether the train will be able to stop at a given point on the track.
Also you are correct to a point about the roller bearings of new equipment, that is true, but there is still some of the older wheel bearings out there, not much , but it is still out there. When a train passes over a " Hot Box Detector" the detector starts counting axles. If there is a problem it will report via the radio the axle (s) of the problem as well as alert the dispatcher, so as to make certain the problem will get inspected and corrected.
I was able to play RR for 40 years, I don't know it all, I know enough... lol
Mar 20, 2019 19:54:58 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
dougbev3 wrote:
All railroads use wheel greasers... The equipment ... (show quote)
Do you know enough to answer my original question about the equipment on the tracks in my photograph that I took in Ireland?
Mar 20, 2019 21:27:35 #
Mar 20, 2019 23:07:10 #
Mar 21, 2019 20:19:04 #
dougbev3
Loc: Pueblo, Colorado
When the wheels go over them they shoot grease at a specific point on the equipment. Since they have so many, I thought maybe each one is pointed at a different spot and they alternate cars or something. That is a lot of them. but who knows, that is foreign to me. Our old ones used to have 4 hoses. The new ones they were putting in when I retired just have one. Do you know, here they also grease the rail... Used to make things interesting pulling a 18,000 ton coal train up the hill. But grease helps everything last longer.
Mar 21, 2019 20:44:27 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
dougbev3 wrote:
When the wheels go over them they shoot grease at ... (show quote)
Thanks Doug for the information. When you mentioned greasing the rails, it brought to mind the scene in the 1973 film "Emperor of the North" starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Keith Carradine, where two depression era hobos grease the rails to stop a freight train so they can "hop it". If you haven't seen this film, you should get a copy. It is one of the best steam era railroad themed movies Hollywood ever made.
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