What Is that on the back of the last freight Car on a passsing train that looks like it is on the coupler and it appears to be blinking. Can anybody answer that question.Thanks
Jeremy
Hello
My name is Larry
To answer your question the object that you are looking at is is called a f.r.e.d or Flashing Rear End Device a.k.a EOT or End Of Train it is mounted on the coupler and connected to the trains air line it monitors the air pressure in the line and the relays that to the engineer also should the train break apart it will instantly alert the engineer
hope this helps ya
Regards,
Larry
Yes, and that is also, sadly, the replacement for a caboose [i really miss cabesses in real life, but they are alive and well at the end of all the trains on MY present day model RR railroad]. curt
Also, it being an end of train marking device, if it is not seen on the end of the train, this can be an alert that there are some cars that have broken loose somewere on the main line. There can be rare malfunctions in any thing, and a loose string of cars can be a problem at 60 mph while coming around a curve. Not good for the on coming engineer.
The end of train device measures the distance between the transmitter in the loco and the receiver in the EOT device. If this changes by more than a couple of feet due to coupler slack, the engineer immediatly knows the train has broken up.
If you are running model train,they can be bought,for almost any scale/guage,check out your local hobby or train store in your area & have much FUN…