by Kelly&Kelly
When the M-1s first came, many attempts were made at operating two car trains. That didn't go well. For many years,four car units were regularly run, but as the battery and motor-alternator conditions of the cars deteriorated, brakes would sometimes apply (and wouldn't release) when the units gapped, so four-car trains were eliminated.
The MP-54's were very simple machines and any motorman/engineer could coast them through long gaps. The M-1/M-3 electrical systems tend to make brake applications when gapped if battery voltage isn't sufficient to maintain the release in control circuits. It's safe to say, though that a modern MU train in good condition is capable of coasting long distances also, but there are just too many variables in their complexities (motor/alternators, inverters, control circuitry, a/c pumps) involved to tolerate the risk.
Gap jumpers (snakes) were stored at many interlockings which were named in the Special Instructions. One particularly sorry set we were called to use was stored in the salt box at Valley. The asbestos insulation was crumbling off it as were the rotted and split wooden handles at each end. Or once, in Hall, a newspaper was stuffed to bridge a small gap between a third rail shoe and the third rail. A pail of water was thrown on it and with a smokey exploding flash from hell, it provided enough of a path to propel the cars a couple of feet back onto the rail. The Mechanical Department manager responsible for this pyrotechnic technological fete was, for the remaining 30 years, known to everyone as "Flash".
As we used to say, "That's railroading"
The MP-54's were very simple machines and any motorman/engineer could coast them through long gaps. The M-1/M-3 electrical systems tend to make brake applications when gapped if battery voltage isn't sufficient to maintain the release in control circuits. It's safe to say, though that a modern MU train in good condition is capable of coasting long distances also, but there are just too many variables in their complexities (motor/alternators, inverters, control circuitry, a/c pumps) involved to tolerate the risk.
Gap jumpers (snakes) were stored at many interlockings which were named in the Special Instructions. One particularly sorry set we were called to use was stored in the salt box at Valley. The asbestos insulation was crumbling off it as were the rotted and split wooden handles at each end. Or once, in Hall, a newspaper was stuffed to bridge a small gap between a third rail shoe and the third rail. A pail of water was thrown on it and with a smokey exploding flash from hell, it provided enough of a path to propel the cars a couple of feet back onto the rail. The Mechanical Department manager responsible for this pyrotechnic technological fete was, for the remaining 30 years, known to everyone as "Flash".
As we used to say, "That's railroading"