So I’m sure many of you have heard a defect detector’s message once or twice, or hundreds of times. Either on a scanner or while working for the railroad. In the many that I have heard, I’ve only heard “integrity failure” once or twice. My question is, what does a train crew do when the detector says this. I’ve heard one crew call the dispatcher and report the incident, but didn’t stop the train.
Does it depend on what message is said? Is it different practice if the message is for dragging equipment vs a hot axle? Just curious to hear from some railroaders out there.
So i’ve heard that my heart pace maker stops working every time the Hot Box Detector Transmitts “Integrity failure”…No serious…The UP detectors at Mileposts 332.0 & 335.3 do the same thing…Alot! I have no idea what INTEGRITY FAILURE means but those two do it alot!
yes I think I have heard one but, A lot of people were talking well, it was a false one because of rain earlier in the day and the only time I hear it is in Folkston or any other place
Depends on what type of detector. Some situations you would have to stop and check your train (like a dragging equipment or shifted load detector placed before a bridge crossing, tunnel, or other structure), Others just require a report to the dispatch(such as a hot box detector). If the train is moving too slow, it will state “train too slow” usually.
I would call the dispatcher then check the train or if there is a train near me and ask him to see if there are any cars missing
PS what dose a defect detector sound like when there is a defect
NS’s detectors on the West Slope near Johnstown usually give a alarm when a defect is found, such as a hot axle…It will also tell you which axle number…such as 32, etc, and North or South Side. The engineer then calls the dispatcher and reports it…The crew stops the train and walks it…The couple of times I heard it, it turned out to be a sticking brake…The conductor freed it up, and train ran at restricted speed to the next detector to see if it tripped again…If no defects on the next detector, then train would :run back up to road speed. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Or how the UP Dispatcher does it this way: If a Train runs over a Detector and gets a “Integrity Failure” read out over the Radio the Train crew calls the Omaha Dispatcher then they tell the Dispitcher that they got the call fron the Scanner that was a Failure then the Dispatcher then says “35mph to the next Detector”.
The Hot Box Detectors are triggered for scanning by an advance start transducer. The transducer is basically a magnet encased in a fiberglass/potting compound box aqnd are clamped to the web of the rail inside of the track gage. When the train wheels are moving in & out of the magnetic field, the HBD system detects this. There is actually no physical contact between the wheel flange and the transducer’s magnet. A small voltage, about 2 volts AC, is generated by the wheels passing through this magnetic field (long live Mr. Tesla!!).
The HBD scanner’s each have an internal heating pad located on their shutters. When the HBD system has “started”, meaning, a train is starting to pass through the HBD location, these little heater pads on the shutters gives a “shot” of heat to the internal infra-red sensors. This “test temperature” must pass a pre-set temperature level, which we can adjust, to ensure that the HBD’s sensors are operative. If this pre-test fails, then, the HBD system can be set to reject all of the train data about to be received (all of the bearings).
Some reasons we have seen for an “integrity failure” are:
One or both of the “integrity” heater pads is defective from either burning out, or, maybe a broken internal wire that feeds the 110VAC voltage to the pad.
Internal mirrors or lens have become so dirty that the infra-red sensor cannot see. One time, we had the weed sprayer pass through a system and it ended up spraying the internal mirrors and lens! During the fall, we’ve actually found a large leaf that somehow got sucked into the scanner and blinded the sensor. Coal that fell off of a car that ended up inside the scanner is another one!
Sometimes there is a “glitch” in the system that caused the microprocessor not to read the “integrity test”.
When the defect detector at Lilly Pa on NS sometimes goes ‘down’ it sounds like this…'NS Detector…Milepost 253point1…track one (or two, or three)…hot box detector not working! Then it repeats this another one or two times…Now the engineer calls the dispatcher, and then they decide whether to stop the train, qand walk it, or else usually they continue to the next detector at Portage…MP258.9, at restricted speed until it clears Portage , to see what that detector reads out. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/nsaltoonajohnstown
Currently the UP double main on the Villa Grove sub is under heavy maintenance. One night one of the detectors had an integrity failure, we were told by the dispatcher to continue at normal speed. However, the thing made an alarm beep for every axle in our train. We had 400+ axles, so we heard “UP Detector integrity failure… beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…on and on and on…” It was funny for the first 30 seconds, then it got annoying quick, especially when there were about five trains in the area.