A remote controlled switcher sideswiped the power for the CSX office train today when it reportedly went outside its range or limits. How or why does that happen? Doesn’t the remote locomotive shut off when the radio control signal is lost? Isn’t there a fail safe?
This incident will be fully investigated by CSX. Questions & Answers will be developed and appropriate actions taken.
Is anything really “fail safe” today?
My toilet still works even when the power goes out…
Awesome!
Zardoz: My pencil (or pen) and paper still work when the power goes out, doesn’t need to be recharged, and doesn’t get viruses. Rain is a bummer, though.
One holer, or two? [}:)]
If the RC loco went beyond it’s limits, then probably some sort of failsafe should have kicked in.
If it didn’t, then either something went haywire with the RC or it’s a case of operator error.
Presumably, the truth will out eventually, although probably not in the public media, unless the public was somehow directly impacted. Otherwise it’s just a run of the mill sideswipe that happened to involve some slightly more significant equipment.
It’s probably one of those old, gas powered models.
henry- the guy that could probably answer your question is zugmann. I think he operated a remote unit at one time.
All remote controlled locomotives have an override feature allowing them to go outside of their zones. This feature was probably used.
Not all remote zones have “pull-back” protection, although most probably do. Remote control zones are more for keeping others out, rather than the RCL in. An active zone relieves the RCO from providing point protection. When a zone is active, no one else can enter or foul the zone without the “owner’s” permission. RCLs can operate on any track, they aren’t restricted to only those with zones or pull-back protection.
Even when the zones are equipped with pull-back protection, along with having a manual override, if the braking capacity of the locomotive(s) is exceeded, the RCL and cars could move out of the track/zone, even if though the RCL is trying to stop.
Jeff
But I guess my point or question is, if a remote unit goes into a dark spot or otherwise out of the range of the control signal, does it shut down or carry on until under control again or hits something? And if not, why not?
If the engine loses communication with either of the RCO control boxes (beltpacks) linked up to it, it applies its brakes and stops.
That is the answer I hoped to hear, thanks, Zug,. So…what happened here with CSX switcher sideswiping the business train locomotives and deemed out of range?
Zardoz, you need to modernize. Get a toilet with microprocessor control. The processor loops continuously, checking to see if the FLUSH button has been pressed, and when it senses it, it activates a solenoid to press the flush lever. Of course you’d have to reboot after a power failure.
The LION suspects that the pax train was where it should not have been in the first place. LION suspects that they encroached on the “Remote Zone” and was not seen by the remote operator because his own train was screening his vision.
LION will ASSUME (at great personal risk) that the remote operation was not at fault until proven otherwise.
ROAR
Actual CSX report was that the remote switcher was out of its zone.
As was pointed out earlier - not all RCO operations happen within a zone.
That one of the crews involved was at fault, barring some kind of equipment failure, is obvious. However, with no real details, I’d like to know why Lion assumes it was the business train crew’s fault? You can get into trouble just as fast running a locomotive from a box as opposed to the controls in the cab. RCLs can, and have, run through switches or into the side of another train just as easily as a manned locomotive.
Jeff
I presume the “remote controlled switcher” was probably more than just the locomotive(s) and likely the term referred to the whole cut of cars. So we don’t know for sure which end was involved in the sideswipe. A switch lined in a direction other than that assumed by the operator, or more cars already in a yard track than thought, can have the far end of a cut going into places it doesn’t belong. Both mistakes have been known to occur with traditional switching too.
John
Photo making the rounds showed it pretty clear. Endcab switcher vs. F40. Someone was where they shouldn’t have been, or weren’t watching what they should have.