by Nasadowsk
Maybe someone should make an adaptor for trains with automatic couplers?
(Nahhh... that would make too much sense)
(Nahhh... that would make too much sense)
Railroad Forums
Moderator: John_Perkowski
Nasadowsk wrote:Maybe someone should make an adaptor for trains with automatic couplers?Why would that make sense? Having cabs on both ends of a locomotive isn't what is ultimately desired, having cabs on both ends of a train is. There's plenty of ways to do that, and Amtrak does it using all the ways at one place or another. None of the ways requires using an automatic coupler, or a yet to be invented adaptor for one.
(Nahhh... that would make too much sense)
Nasadowsk wrote:Maybe someone should make an adaptor for trains with automatic couplers?http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c63/b ... /mtv/1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(Nahhh... that would make too much sense)
Backshophoss wrote:Changing ends requires a brake test,however whenever you break/make connections to the brake pipe,a more extensive brake test routine is
required.
diburning wrote:Even in Europe, most trains are double ended and/or use cab cars. The only trains that use the autocouplers are the MUs. Double ended locomotives are common, but even then, most trains either have another engine on the other end, or use a cab car. The double ended locomotives are mainly used for freight, and I'm willing to bet that passenger locomotives are built double ended to have a second life as work units or freight units.The Swedes definitely use their Rc4 electrics and later derivatives in both passenger and freight service, and some passed from passenger operators to freight operators during overhaul. Freight operator Green Cargo has the largest installed base of them, second only to passenger Swedish Transport. So that's definitely why the AEM-7 came stateside dual-cabbed. Don't know if the Rc's were ever dual-used for alternating passenger or freight assignments with the same operator, though, or if they only swapped roles after being re-geared in an overhaul.
TomNelligan wrote:As a historical note, in the early years of cab units diesels, many railroads operated their F-units and such as de facto double-enders in that they were always run in A-A, A-B-A, or A-B-B-A configurations. In fact in some cases these lashups were semi-permanently coupled and never broken up. The original question is a good one, though. At the dawn of the diesel age, the large electric locomotives used by railroads like the Pennsylvania, New Haven, and New York Central were double ended so there was a US precedent for twin-cab non-steam power, but the practice didn't carry over to individual road diesels except in the sense of these cab unit assemblages.I wouldn't confine that practice to the early years. MNRR through trains from GCT to Danbury, Poughkeepsie, and Wassaic were pulled by two FL9's coupled back-to-back until they were bumped by the GE P32AC-DMs in the early '00s. Basically the practice lasted as long as the cab unit itself.
Tadman wrote:3. Someone implied there is a regulation about not mixing transit couplers on mains with freight. The above would imply this is wrong. Some members have told me that the reason NJT carries adapters on every MU is because of an FRA reg, but then why doesn't South Shore or Metra Electric carry such adapters on their MU's?Could it be to enable a failed trainset to be rescued by a diesel from a freight railroad? (Presumably not likely on Metra Electric, but I'm sure an NS diesel might be within call on NJ Transit.)
Tadman wrote:3. Someone implied there is a regulation about not mixing transit couplers on mains with freight. The above would imply this is wrong. Some members have told me that the reason NJT carries adapters on every MU is because of an FRA reg, but then why doesn't South Shore or Metra Electric carry such adapters on their MU's?I suspect FRA regs, which are of course printed in the CFR, thus freely searchable, are not as random as the NASCAR rulebook seems to be at times...