Ok, I’ll try this again, I posted this question with a different pic before and did not get an answer that made sense, anyway, what is the cable marked A.?, the ones marked B.? and the one marked C.? I think B is MU Cables, I think A is a MU cable and C is an air hose usually a copper colored pin in MT couplers. Can anyone help me if I am way off base?
A is the MU Cable, B are the MU hoses and C is the trainline air hose.
A is the MU cable. The electrical connection between engines.
B are MU hoses. They connect the locomotive air braking systems together.
C is the train line air hose. The air line that runs the length of the train (brake pipe).
Jeff
It should be mentioned that cable (not hose) A, for MU operation is in this instance connected at one end to a dummy plug to keep it in place. When MU-ing, it would be connected to the engine next to it.
You should see what happens if the air hose has a faulty connector and blows on a downgrade. Life can get very interesting very fast. I’ve had it happen on a truck, I can imagine what it would be like on a train. The stuff nightmares are made of.
I don’t know what happens if a truck air hose blows but on a train it causes the brakes to go into emergency stop and (unless the wheels loose friction with the rail head) you STOP. FAST.
I’ve had it happen on an 8 car Electric multiple Unit doing about 5mph (Old SUB units with only Westinghouse) and I head butted the windshield. That thing stopped so hard it bounced. I think that newer stock is a bit more subtle… but it stops!
On our stock (passenger) when the communication cord is pulled by a passenger the brakes are leaked on to something like 90%. This allows the Engineer to stop the train in a safe location and means that the entire human cargo doesn’t arrive at the head end in a heap.
We also had a 3car DMU (RDC) hit in the mid car’s side on a grade crossing. The auto took out both the brake pipes and just about everything else between the trucks. From about 70mph that train stopped in about 500 - 600 yards up grade. What was left of the auto made it about 300 yards. You don’t want to know any more of that incident.
If you get all wheels up on water (aquaplaning) you can glide for miles.
I did Nutfield tunnel to Redhill junction (about 12 miles) with all wheels off the rail head. We got back on the rail head between the Outer and Inner Home Signals… about 300 yards from the fouling point withn the Brighton Main. Fortunately we had the road… we stopped at the London end of a 12 car platform instead of the country end. That is the only time I’ve had to look at “getting out”. I had my hand on the door handle when the driver finally got traction on his last attempt and the brakes/wheels began to stop the train.
Drivers and Brakes do NOT stop trains…
The only things that stop trains are friction and obstructions more solid than the train.
In a similar vein… on electrified lines turning the power off does not stop trai
For modeling you might notice that the signal line is missing (B) 3 hose is freight, 4 hoses is passenger. The signal line was activated from the conductors pull cord to blow a small hi-pitched brass whistle on the engeners brake stand, notifying him of various instructions. John
Now that is something I didn’t know!
Does anyone know where this 4th signal line is? Is it on the left side is it right or left of the 3 hoses?
It appears to me that the locomotive in your picture is strickley for freight. Note the angle plate above the air lines only have the lenght for three lines.
On older diesels this mounting plate would be long enough to mount the forth hose to the outside. F3 and 7s and most geeps, if in freight service, would have the outer line removed and a pipe plug installed where the hose would be, three hoses and the forth missing on the longer mounting angle bracket.
Memory isnt serving me at this moment, name of hoses, signal line, independent brake line (locomotive brakes only) . Sanders. The thicker one may have been an application and release (I forget). aint my age its the mileage.
and as you know the center hose is the Train line or somtimes called the brake pipe, which is fully charged and if the hose connectors (glad hands) are seperated ( as in a derailment) will set up the compleat trains brake system with the loss of air pressure.
The MU cable is not an air hose, is the electrical cable for multi-unit lash ups.
Rudy I hope this helps, if not email me again…John
Most current locomotive have a 3/3 duplexed system of pneumatic M/U air lines on the sides of the coupler and a 27 point M/U electical cable above the knuckle. The ‘train line’ is mounted just to the left and above the knuckle. The pneumatic lines have been simplified over the years(back in the 70’s, a 4/4 or even a 5/5 arrangement was quite common. With just GE and EMD as the primary builders, more function is now in the electical cable. The passenger service ‘signal line’ was usually near the main train line, or opposite it on the other side of the knuckle. One of the reasons for keeping all of the older pneumatic connections was that older engines many times had air controled features(sanders, etc…) that needed to be activated. Right now, the train line, resevoir equalizing line, and indepedent brake lines are the big hitters. Many railroads have color coded tags above each line and the hostler just needs to match them up - if there is no match, one does not worry about it.
When I worked for the Burlington, the E8/9’s had the small signal ‘whistle’ in the cab. A lot of older conducters would use it, but radio communications was replacing it quite fast. Usually we would hear a ‘toot-toot’ and it would be followed by a radio call to ‘highball #24’…
Jim
Hi Jim
Great anser, I only have experience with WP and the signal line was outboard all other lines. due to my fuzzy mind (28 years since I retired) i checked a few photos. I could stand to be corrected but thought it was uniform on all roads. Dont get me wrong Im not challanging in any manner. Have a great day…John
When you say that the pneumayic lines have been simplified and that there are more cables now do you mean that modern systems have gone more toward EP - Electro Pneumatic - systems… with electric signals controlling the discharge of air to operate the brakes all along the train at one time rather than the old pure air/air only/Westinghouse system of discharging air from the head end and waiting for the application to work back along the train?
I always think that working any sort of long train on Westinghouse only must have been a real skill. Our passenger units on pure air br
Dave,
Electrically activated is the wave of the future(actually local ‘Wi Fi’ like stuff as in DPU may replace the cables some day). In the US, there are no general use of vacumm brakes or straight air(at least in the train line). The Burlington had a hybrid system that had electrical actuators on each control valve on the passenger cars. Rather than the change in air pressure actuating the control valve, an electical signal was sent from the engine to each control valve and there would be an immediate release of the air brakes. If a car did not have the electric control valve, it operated as normal - the release was propagated serially through the train line. The NP also had this equipment, but stopped using it due to maintenance costs(and a braking failure on the NCL). The release feature made accelerating out of curves very quick!
Jim