South Africa…
http://m.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/Prasas-new-loco-woes-20150914
Yikes! That’s what I call a very expensive mistake!
As Fiorello LaGuardia said, “When I make a mistake, it’s a beaut!”
Can it be in this new computerized hi-tech age no-one knows how to use a tape measure anymore?
That article kinda makes it sound like they are trying to use the locomotive’s air compressor to create a vacuum. No wonder there are leaks and problems, why would anyone be that stupid!?? Do at least a cursory background check before buying new equipment!
I’m thinking a whole lot has to go wrong to have this happen. Unqualified political appointee at the top, no equipment specification review process, equipment supplier acting stupid.
…and then there’s the whole issue of vacuum braking in 21st Century passenger railroading. .
Just checked the wrong option box on the order form. No big deal.
Vacuum brakes are indeed automatic brakes, so are they that much “worse” than the other kinds of non-EP brakes?
Yes, they need much bigger brake cylinders for the same force and they are non-standard and they have failure modes. But automatic (i.e. Westinghouse) airbrakes are not completely without failure modes either.
Buffer-and-screw couplers are also obsolete, but they are not the safety nightmare of link-and-pin?
Almost all the ‘safety nightmare of link-and-pin’ was “macho” railroaders’ refusal to use simple lifting sticks to position the link correctly.
I don’t have the numbers handy now, but a few years ago this was mentioned on here in relation to the footdragging of the rails in adopting new safety appliances. The numbers of serious accidents involving coupling (loss of appendages, death) dropped dramatically once the Janney-style coupler was mandated and adopted.