Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
  [quote user="schlimm"] And the airbrake?  In widespread use for 20 years on passenger cars before mandated adoption on freight cars.  Why such a long  delay?  [/quote] I don't know about the air brake mandate.  But both the coupler and air brake conversions were complicated by the need to maintain car compatibilty and use both the old and the new on the same trains during the changeover.  This has always been a problem with interchageability standards in widespread use.  There was also a considerable risk in getting ahead of the natural pace in making a committment to adopt a certain version of these improvements because a better mousetrap might win out, and leave your attempt to get ahead of the game as being an expensive mistake.  Whatever invention won the contest required eveyone to adopt it.  So it was very risky to try to get too far out in front.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag