I like popcorn!
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
zugmann oltmannd Happens to me all the time. Memory is the second thing to go. Don't recall what's first???? where are we going? Can I come?
oltmannd Happens to me all the time. Memory is the second thing to go. Don't recall what's first????
Happens to me all the time. Memory is the second thing to go. Don't recall what's first????
where are we going? Can I come?
Where did the butterfly come from?
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Back in the early 70's, before remote control of locomotives had been 'perfected'. There was a GE plant at the end of a several mile spur that was using a remote control locomotive to do their in plant switching between their storage yard and their plant tracks. My carrier delivered cuts to the storage yard and picked up cuts from the storage yard. The GE plant would be notified when our crew was enroute to perform their work so they could park their locomotive until our crew had done it's thing and departed. Occasionally we would receive calls from GE that their engine had gotten away from their control and they would notify us when they had 'retrieved' (rerailed it) and had it back on their property. Fortunately, the design of their plant and storage yard tracks would have the runaway engine heading away from the trackage we used to service other customers as well as having a split rail derail protecting their lead. At that time, many of the proximity sensors that exist in remote control operations today had yet to be invented and perfected.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
zugmann oltmannd Track transponder? Yes. Thank you. - I couldn't think of that word last night.
oltmannd Track transponder?
Track transponder?
Yes. Thank you. - I couldn't think of that word last night.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
zugmannOther methods are the "hockey pucks". There's a name for the things, but my brain is fried and I can't think of them. Basically sensors attached to the track that will slow and stop a RC locomotive if it goes too far down a track.
No signal, no go.
I was down at the BNSF yard in Mandan, ok, I *was* on their side of the fence, but whose fence it was was not really clear, and in any event I did not climb it, but simply waked around it.
I wanted to photograph or at least see the remote locomotive in action, but when the crew came out they chased me away. They do not want anybody standing where they cannot see them.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
They also stop if the battery falls out of the holder on the operator's control box.
Jeff
Randy hit the one method. RCOs have alerter reset buttons - don't press the button when you have to, loco stops.
Other methods are the "hockey pucks". There's a name for the things, but my brain is fried and I can't think of them. Basically sensors attached to the track that will slow and stop a RC locomotive if it goes too far down a track.
Then if a locomotive gets too far away from the operator and loses communication with the RCO operator's box, it will stop as well.
The Cattron remotes have a vigilance switch that works just like a locomotive crew alert. No response and the train or locomotive goes into a penalty brake application. This also happens when the train,man falls down , in addition the remote sends a radio message " REMOTE ?, MAN DOWN" (repeated 3 times).
Randy
I imagine railroads are required to install some form of runaway prevention in remote controlled locomotives, in case a controller stopped responding or became unusable in some way. What does this involve? For example, do the locomotives have a speed restriction, e.g. <10mph while being remotely operated? Or perhaps if the controller sends out a regular pulse of signals at intervals, and if one is not received after a certain amount of time, the brakes are thrown? Or is the operator required to stay within a certain distance of his locomotive, e.g. 20' or so?
I'm probably completely wrong on all my theories, but that's why I came here
Thanks!Acela
The timbers beneath the rails are not the only ties that bind on the railroad. --Robert S. McGonigal
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