Sorry, no music for you…
I’ve ridden enough trains and heard enough dispatchers and train crews to know that reality covers a whole range of good, bad and ugly. From “let me help you out” to “shut up and leave me alone”. YMMV.
One thing Colin put in was automatic couplers. I thought about it but decided it was a “bridge too far”. Much more expensive to implement that ECP since the thing would have to be adapted to the coupler - yoke - draftgear arrangement along with the plumbing for the air and you’d have to have a better alignment/gathering mechanism than currently exists.
You CAN do ECP and have a car be backward compatible, if you cared to. Not so with couplers, I don’t think.
Another thing Colin put in is “relability centered maintenance” where you replace parts before they fail. I believe you can replace mechanical parts before they wear out and fail, but you can’t do much with electronics. A transistor is as likely to fail on the first time it “switches” as the next. They don’t “wear out” like bearings and piston rings.
Generally, you are stuck with replacing most parts when they break and you build in reliablity with redundency.
Electronics have MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) values calculated allowing for preventative replacements. These values are determined by the reliability of the individual components of the assembly.
The software on these devices also have reliability values assigned.
Obviously, there are out of box and other types of failures that require replacement before the time, but this is also true for mechanical parts as well.
The (completely) automatic couplers really aren’t going to save much. What car load traffic remains will probably be in small blocks. That and intermodal block swapping will only be done at points where you are going to maintain utility employees who will handle the ground work. Assuming that branches and secondary lines are spun off and class one local/yard work is contracted out, the owners/lease operators will probably use two person crews.
The only time a class one train will work between yards will be to set out a bad-order car and there will be a road utility person to help with that. They did some experimenting with automatic air connections (with a knuckle coupler) back in the 1970s. A person still had to manually operate the uncoupling lever to uncouple, but the air connection was automatic. It never really went anywhere and I would guess because they figured it didn’t really save them much.
Jeff
Regarding track circuits for broken rail protection.
I was reading an article in Railway Age about a new CBTC (communications Based Train Control) system. The author, a “contributing editor”, was saying how this system was completely independent of track circuits. That not only could it be adopted on railroads without any signalling, exsisting signalling could be removed. He said broken rail protection wasn’t really needed in many places.
He was involved in the developement of this system. He gave me the impression that anyone who didn’t see that their system was the greatest ever developed was a moron. He didn’t care about broken rail protection because their system didn’t have it. Reading many articles like this I come to realize that the “contributing editors” actually are trying to sell their product or service.
Jeff
There lots of stuff in the transit world that doesn’t “scale up” very well. Automatic couplers with electrical and air built in are just one thing. I can’t see the FRA letting RRs get by without broken rail protection until the number of broken rails drops to very near zero. Some smart C&S guys did tell me that you can to really long “broken rail” blocks using higher frequency AC track circuits or some such.
We once calculated the relibility curves for locomotive components - they were all mostly flat. Scheduled replacement of critical parts was done by monitoring condition, generally, so we never saw the inflection in the curve from when they quit from wear.
Some limits were set by experimenting. Roller bearings on freight cars don’t ever need additional lubrication. The wheel wears out before the grease quits. That wasn’t always the case. Seals and grease were improved and wheelsets tested and bearning torn down until it was known that the design was solid.
UP 8517, an SD70ACe. I was the third engineer to have it on it’s maiden run out of Chicago. The odometer on the computer screen was about 335 when I got on it. The new, fresh paint smell was almost intoxicating.
When the odometer said about 405, we struck the iceberg. The traction motor on the lead axle froze up. A brand new locomotive and it failed. Who woulda thunk it.
Jeff
Infant mortality! Or at least a bad case of colic.
That was a treat too see that order when your guys ACe’s started delivery back in 2005. I remember seeing that unit in Port Huron. brand new out of London GMDD back in 2006. CN was delivering your guys new ACe’s out of Canada. When those ACe’s were on the property after hearing some T&E folks those units weren’t such a treat to operate…
On second thought… Still no cab signal display, but you might have the coded track circuits that are the backbone of cab signalling functioning as part of PTC.
Right now, you can have cab without wayside block signals - just distant and home signals for interlockings. By 2040, I’d be a big chunk of t
A lto of places even got rid of the distant to the home signals. Home signals, cab signals - and that’s it.
[quote user=“oltmannd”]
oltmannd
jeffhergert
And I don’t expect they’ll allow a lone employee to listen to music while toolin’ down the rails.Agree. Not happenin’
jeffhergert
Once with PTC working, you don’t see other trains on the operating map display. I doubt in the future this will change. There’s no reason for it. While it’s always nice to know why you’re getting hosed at a control point, it’s not critical information the train crew necessarily needs to knowOnly if “why” becomes “why not” from a managment perspective. Getting the dispatcher’s track line view into the cab display is really easy to do. Can’t hurt. Might help. Improves employee moral. You want employees to act like owners, treat them like owners.
jeffhergert
Plus, if you have the PTC screen why do you still have a cab signal?Yep. No cab.
On second thought… Still no cab signal display, but you might have the coded track circuits that are th
My cntribution to this discussion concerns electrification with decent locomotive utilization and reducing change-of-engine stops:
And all units can also be used indeoendently.