LIRR Zip Cars

That's not a very technical answer 452. You disappoint me. And a retired Conductor kicking a component of the air brake system does not mean one understands the technical workings. Maybe you two should form some retired RR'er club. You guys can get hats and shirts made up and meet on Tuesday nights.

Continuing with this childish banter will get us suspended or banned. Knock it off. If you have anything to say about the topic of ZIP CARS, go on ahead. Who is more qualified in Air Brake, its components and related systems or its practical use is not to be discussed here any more.

As the OP, perhaps we could sum up caption(s) to go with Zip Car photos/text for the general public to read about their origin as "Why the name?" Anyone; and thank you. Best, Steve

em.. an a23 unit is not what you think it is.. but we know what it is.. thats the point... duh..
452, one of the passengers once spilled a beer, over the seat which had the A-23 unit under it, it leaked down into it.. train was done. had to be taken out of service.

Doc, obviously sarcasm is not your thing. I actually received training on the A23 unit and various other components. Someone just showed you "Hey, that over there, give it a kick". Just like a Pavlov dog.

Anyway, back to the topic of MP-75's, they were of the same design as the NYC 1100 ACMU's.

interesting since it is an electronic component, not something you kick.. hmm

To get back to the basic question of the post: The Zip cars had a lousy brake whether they were on an MU train or in a push-pull train after conversion. 'Nuff said. I think were done here. Anyone else?

A NYC engineer showed me a valve that the engineer could kick if the dynamic brake feature failed. This would bring the airbrake online even at high speeds where the dynamic would normally operate alone. 'You got to have something,' he said.

452 Card wrote:To get back to the basic question of the post: The Zip cars had a lousy brake whether they were on an MU train or in a push-pull train after conversion. 'Nuff said. I think were done here. Anyone else?

this may have been said earlier but if my bad memory is correct.The zip cars only had 1 brake shoe per wheel(in the center of the truck) essentally giving you half the braking effort. maybe this setup was due to their relative lightweight, When you ran (i think) train 560 back then the consist always had doubleheaded mp15ac's and you had to be careful if there were zip cars in your train,out fo habit I'd bailoff the engine and uh-oh there go's making sea cliff

One night we came down the hill from sea cliff to glen street, engine ended up next to the burger king drive through window, because we had a few zips. Was low platform at the times so the people just got off on the crossing

northpit wrote: this may have been said earlier but if my bad memory is correct.The zip cars only had 1 brake shoe per wheel(in the center of the truck) essentally giving you half the braking effort. maybe this setup was due to their relative lightweight

When the various railroads that operated intercity passenger service converted their tread brake passenger cars from cast iron brake shoes to composition brake shoes, two of the techniques they used to reduce the braking force applied to the wheels were to remove the outer brake shoes for each wheelset (leaving only the inner 2 brake shoes for each wheelset) and/or to insert a bushing/sleeve into the truck mounted brake cylinders to reduce the volume of air that pushed the brake shoes against the wheels. The second private car that I once owned was a former C&O Chessie coach built by Budd in 1948, which had been converted to comp shoes using those techniques.

With a disc brake car with a more modern 26-C air brake, it is easier to modify the braking force applied to the disc brake rotors by substituting a different J relay valve.

Did the LIRR Zip cars have decelostats?