I just got off the Empire Builder (the one that was 12 hours late getting into Chicago). We skipped all stops between ST Paul and Chicago and detoured thru Wisconson. We had the following consist:
Engine (2)
Baggage
Sleeper (3)
Diner
Coach (2)
Lounge
Coach (2)
Sleeper
for a total of 13 cars and 52 axles. In St Paul we picked up one more coach and two private cars.
Somewhere in Montana I heard one detector report"no defects" and 53 axles. The crew just acknowledged the “no defects” and kept going.
Anyone you ax’ll tell you that these things make mistakes from time to time–no telling what caused the ghost axle to show up, but if it didn’t also trip a dragging-equipment detector there was probably no cause for concern.
If the axle count were 51, though, it might cause a different response.
^
What Carl said. Sometimes detectors will misread.
Justin
And, in the days of steam excursions, hot box detectors would say that an axle near the firebox had a hot box. I recall at least one such incident during an excursion from Birmingham to Chattanooga.
And, quite unrelated, I was riding coach overnight from Shreveport to New Orleans on the T&P when I noticed an unpleasant smell. I asked the conductor if the car had stinkbombs which let loose if a bearing became too hot. His reply was that we had hit a skunk, and there were many such in the area we were going through.
Speaking of a odd axle count, is there any time there could be a odd amount of axles on a train? I thought of the Amtrak Cascades’ Talgo bagagge car with the one alxe truck but I think they use two 1-axle trucks.