In the December 2002 issue of Railpace, there is mention of a derailment in Lockport caused by excessive speed. According to the news item, the engineer did not brake enough for a 25 mph curve because there was a kicker in the train. What is a kicker?
MP
To my understanding, a ‘kicker’ is a car with a brake defect that might cause the train to go into emergency, just by applying a normal braking reduction of the trainline.
Also called a “dynamiter.”
Jeff
Pretty much…
Not necessarily a “defect” always, but sometimes cars can be tempermental if you keep setting a minimum and taking it off frequently Constantly going up and down without letting the train come back to full release can make em go “Bite me!” and dump…