Long Train

The amusing part of this story to me is...

10,000 foot trains ... misbehaving trackside warning detectors ... Conductor Only train crews:

Does anyone really think a sticking brake/hotbox will still be warm once the Conductor actually reaches the offending axle 6600 feet deep in the train? LOL!

The detector picks up a bonafide defect, but the time delay walking back that far will be sufficient time to cool the journal/wheel in question, rendering the physical inspection useless. No defect will be found, the train takes a 4 hour delay for the useless inspection, then proceeds with the defect anyway. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the journal doesn't burn off before the next defect detector...

SooLineRob wrote:The amusing part of this story to me is...

10,000 foot trains ... misbehaving trackside warning detectors ... Conductor Only train crews:

Does anyone really think a sticking brake/hotbox will still be warm once the Conductor actually reaches the offending axle 6600 feet deep in the train? LOL!

The detector picks up a bonafide defect, but the time delay walking back that far will be sufficient time to cool the journal/wheel in question, rendering the physical inspection useless. No defect will be found, the train takes a 4 hour delay for the useless inspection, then proceeds with the defect anyway. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the journal doesn't burn off before the next defect detector...

I hear ya! Rumor has it that Omaha has software now in the TDD that monitors the temp variations in the axles as trains pass over each TDD. In the event that an axle is showing an increase in temps as it passes over consecutive TDD, the "backroom" will notify the dispatcher who will have the crew stop and look it over and possibly set the car out. I have heard the TD do this once.

Predator Drones to do the inspection

Don't laugh... I wouldn't be surprised at all as to what comes along as far as remote control and robotics. A thermal sensor on an autonomous solar/electric UAV that responds to the detector. locates the axle, hovers and reads the bearing temperature, zooms in a hi-res camera for an image on the operator's screen in Omaha or wherever, flags the car for set out at "x" stores and routes all the info for the area's "vehicle technician" and sets up a "service call", then programs the train and dispatch system to perform the set out after the operator clicks "OK" . Crews won't "die on the law" anymore, it'll just be a "shift change". The technology is either here or damn close.

I wouldn't be surprised if cars get temperature sensors on the axles soon. With the electro-pneumatic brakes, they will have all kinds of wiring which could transmit the information to the locomotive.

they will have all kinds of wiring which could transmit the information to the locomotive.

As in similar to USB? Should be relatively cheap for that.. I've a feeling that crewless
(and maybe locomotiveless) trains lie in the not very distant future.