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[quote user="schlimm"] Charts are a useful guideline, such as the CN's.  If these CN guidelines had been followed in Nantes, 34 hand brakes would have been applied — 29 on the tank cars and five on the locomotives. Maybe some here prefer guesswork or trial and error, but if the CN rule had been followed, and verified, it seems likely the accident would not have happened.[/quote] Yes, I understand your point, and 34 handbrakes instead of 11 surely might have made a difference in whether or not the train moved.  But I wonder why there are such radically different standards between CN and MM&A.  I also wonder if both roads require enough handbrakes to prevent movement regardless of guidelines.  As many have said, the only way to know if you have enough brakes to prevent movement is with a push-pull test.  I assume that is what you are referring to when you mention "guesswork or trial and error."  The push-pull test is trial and error, but it is not guesswork.  It takes the guesswork out of setting handbrakes.  But then I wonder why the TSB says such tests do not work on mountain grades.  There would be a difference in resistance between the push and pull of the push-pull test on a grade because pushing is uphill and pulling is downhill.  But why not just pull down grade and see if the handbrakes stop you when you stop pulling?
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