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The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

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Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#91

Post by abcanthur »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #89
kqr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On a bike, you maintain a steady speed by matching drag losses with the energy you're putting into the pedals. Braking and other actions cost you energy you've put in. As does the frequent mistake of putting weight on the rear pedal. Realising this made me understand how little energy it really takes to keep a bicycle going, given the correct gear.

As does the frequent mistake of putting weight on the rear pedal. I don't follow. What do you mean here?

I think he means making sure to actively bring your rear leg forward while pedaling, so that your downstroke doesn't have to push against the weight of your rear leg too.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#92

Post by Kluny »

giarc wrote: post #56

The title (Dangers of Train Yards) reminds me of a story told by an acquaintance who worked in a yard many years ago. He said they would fuel the engines by inserting a hose and letting it run. It would take a long time to fill the tanks and so they would walk off to complete other tasks. They would return and more often than not, the tank would just be overflowing diesel into the ground. He didn't think they would e…

The pumps at gas stations for cars have automatic backflow cutoff valves. I wonder why this technology isn't available for trains?

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#93

Post by oh_sigh »

pixl97 wrote: post #27
oh_sigh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get joy from just making up stories and pretending you were there? I've heard this story perhaps as frequently as I hear about people who go cow tipping. But then I ask and it back tracks 'Oh, did I say I went cow tipping? I meant I sat in the car while some friends went cow tipping. And no, I guess I didn't see any cows. And we were parked in a taco bell parking lot.'

/r/watchpeopledie tells me that yes, some people are out experiencing those stories.

I don't doubt that it could happen. I doubt that it happened in close relation to OP. Hence the cow tipping analogy.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#94

Post by DC-3 »

userbinator wrote: post #88
DC-3 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an emergency. Who cares about flatspotted wheels? Parts can be replaced.

If you slip the wheels it will take longer to come to a stop. Sliding friction is always lower than static friction.

I agree, but the optimal achievable situation might be to be on the edge of locking wheels like ABS. Anyway, my point was that damaging the wheels is not the issue at hand.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#95

Post by sandworm101 »

Symbiote wrote: post #84
sandworm101 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 5mph would take nearly 1000' to bring to an "emergency" stop. That seems far fetched. 1000' is a long way at 5mph. The number of engines doesn't matter. Each car has its own brakes in an emergency. Cut pressure in the line and every car will brake itself. Perhaps they meant situations involving hills, not uncommon for ore trains heading from mines.

"Shortly after 08:00 hrs on 8 November 2010, a passenger train running from London Charing Cross to Hastings failed to stop at Stonegate station in East Sussex. The train ran for a further 2.45 miles (3.94 km) with the emergency brake applied, passing the level crossing at Crowhurst Bridge before coming to a stop 3.22 miles (5.18 km) after first applying the brakes." There's a whole sequence of events behind this, fr…

It was going far faster than 5mph. 5mph is little more than walking pace.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#96

Post by Noumenon72 »

regularfry wrote: post #17

Just as interesting, linked from that page: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-j... Now I'm wondering about the cross-over between that and rubber-duck debugging.

Patrick McKenzie says this is the procedure Japanese programmers use for making changes in production! Now I know it came from the culture.

https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1009235280530829313

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#97

Post by Symbiote »

sandworm101 wrote: post #95
Symbiote wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Shortly after 08:00 hrs on 8 November 2010, a passenger train running from London Charing Cross to Hastings failed to stop at Stonegate station in East Sussex. The train ran for a further 2.45 miles (3.94 km) with the emergency brake applied, passing the level crossing at Crowhurst Bridge before coming to a stop 3.22 miles (5.18 km) after first applying the brakes." There's a whole sequence of events behind this, fr…

It was going far faster than 5mph. 5mph is little more than walking pace.

True, but the last part of the graph shows what I think is fairly normal braking from 24mph to 0.

Counting pixels, the distance covered from 10mph to zero is about 350 feet. With this distance for a lightly loaded passenger train, 1000 feet doesn't seem impossible or even unreasonable for a heavy freight train at 5mph.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#98

Post by Noumenon72 »

jacquesm wrote: post #57
pixl97 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, /r/watchpeopledie has taught me that heavy equipment will murder you in a violent fashion if you don't respect it.

I got within a hair. Stupid, stupid, stupid. In a nutshell: I was working with a backhoe that was older than I was, early 60's model and a hydraulic line developed a very small puncture, enough that I could see the line start to sweat. Instead of backing off I got closer to see if the drop I saw on the line was really oil or maybe water. Fortunately before I could reach for it but after I got way too close the line e…

A Reddit thread this week said if you put your finger over a leak in an oil line the pressure will drive it through your skin and they basically have to do surgery to scrape the pockets away from your bones.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#99

Post by dredmorbius »

hexane360 wrote: post #79
btilly wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a bike, you maintain a steady speed by matching drag losses with the energy you're putting into the pedals. Braking and other actions cost you energy you've put in. Which is exactly why bicycles are so fond of rolling through stop signs. When you're riding one, it is obvious to you that going from 20 mph down to 10, then back up to 20 is reasonably safe and only takes half the effort as going from 20 mph down to 0…

Not to mention that a person pedaling from a standstill has a lot less power output than a person pedaling an already moving bike.

Not really, and highly dependant on gearing.

Re: The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

#100

Post by regularfry »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #96
regularfry wrote: post #17

Just as interesting, linked from that page: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-j... Now I'm wondering about the cross-over between that and rubber-duck debugging.

Patrick McKenzie says this is the procedure Japanese programmers use for making changes in production! Now I know it came from the culture. https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1009235280530829313

Culture is just "what people do". It's interesting that train drivers have to be coached through it feeling uncomfortable but necessary for safe operation. If there's a "national character" element to it, I'd say it's the acceptance of the uncomfortable but necessary.
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