Electric-Pneumatic Braking

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Saturnalia
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Electric-Pneumatic Braking

Unread post by Saturnalia »

http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/fred-frailey ... rakes.aspx

Curious as to what you operations people have to say about this. Who is probably closer to reality, in your estimation: Frailey or the AAR?
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CSX_CO
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Re: Electric-Pneumatic Braking

Unread post by CSX_CO »

Just another system to go wrong. Get a broken wire, good luck finding it. Ground or a short, good luck finding it. Corrosion on a contact, good luck finding it. Plus I bet all those cables get heavy if you have to "lace" a train.

I'm sure it's one of those great ideas on paper things that would work in a perfect world.

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Re: Electric-Pneumatic Braking

Unread post by Saturnalia »

CSX_CO wrote:Plus I bet all those cables get heavy if you have to "lace" a train.
If the all operate at the same time, wouldn't it just be a single, rather small wire? I don't see what they would have to be in parallel if they're all receiving the same signal.

Not questioning you...just wondering how the wiring actually works. :)
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Re: Electric-Pneumatic Braking

Unread post by CSX_CO »

MQT3001 wrote:
CSX_CO wrote:Plus I bet all those cables get heavy if you have to "lace" a train.
If the all operate at the same time, wouldn't it just be a single, rather small wire? I don't see what they would have to be in parallel if they're all receiving the same signal.

Not questioning you...just wondering how the wiring actually works. :)
Just going off what I've heard from people in the field who have experience with it.

Even if a small wire the connectors are going to have to be pretty robust. You've obviously never had to carry much copper wire with any gauge to it. Even 100' of coiled 14 or 16 gauge wire is heavy. That's without any connectors on it.

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Re: Electric-Pneumatic Braking

Unread post by Bulby »

I like the concept (graduated release possible, quicker applications, quicker release, etc), however the technology needs more refining and testing before it is practical for everyday use. With the approaching shortage of skilled mechanical dept. people on most Class 1s, is it really a good idea to add another thing that requires constant care and feeding?

What isn't mentioned, is software problems on the locomotive. I saw a unit coal train that was delayed over 3 hours by a software problem in its electronic brakes last week. That's over 3 hours of crew time wasted by a failure, and the associated loss of productivity at the shop when mechanical people get called out to the train.

I will grant tracing wiring problems would be different from doing so on a locomotive; but no one will tell you finding a short, ground, or corroded connection on a locomotive is easy.
Apparently I work on GEs now...

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