Question about scenario in movie

[MMLDelete]

zugmann

Pulling a draft of cars with no air, he probably wouldn't be able to stop it in time with just the engine brakes.

I've been trying hard to learn (I read a long article last night), but railroad brakes still confuse me. I thought if a train was detached from its engine, then (unless the air was "bottled" by closing the angle cock) all the train brakes in effect "go into emergency:" the train line suddenly unloads its air, so then the reservoirs apply all the brakes.

Are you telling me that when the air rushes out with the big pfffffffft, that's not just air from the brake pipe, but rather it's also from all the reservoirs?

[adkrr64]

Convicted One

But why leave the throttle engaged?

 

 From my understading, he thought he had applied the dynamic brake lever and instead applied the throttle lever. Plausible for certain types of control stands, especially if one is in a panic.

[Convicted One]

But why leave the throttle engaged?

[BaltACD]

zugmann

Pulling a draft of cars with no air, he probably wouldn't be able to stop it in time with just the engine brakes.  And since RR's have draconian discipline policies and lose their collective (crap) when someone runs through a switch... well... 

A 4K to 6K ton track of cars easily overpowers the braking power of a locomotive even at very low speed - inertia, just keeps on moving and overcomes the braking resistance of the locomotive. 

[zugmann]

Pulling a draft of cars with no air, he probably wouldn't be able to stop it in time with just the engine brakes.  And since RR's have draconian discipline policies and lose their collective (crap) when someone runs through a switch... well... 

 

 

[steve-in-kville]

Not an answer to your question, but the engineer was quite experienced and had a flawless record up until that incident. Perhaps he had done it before and never had a mishap? FYI- The locomotive was originally called Crazy 8's and the movie it was called Triple 7's or something like that.

[Lithonia Operator]

I asked this question in a different forum, but it really belongs over here. I was referring to the movie Unstoppable, with Denzel Washington.

At first I thought the basic premise was bogus, but then I read about the actual case.

I never dreamed that any engineer, who was the only one on the engine, would ever get off a moving train and run ahead to line a switch! Is that in any way a common practice? 

Can someone tell me why the engineer wouldn't just stop the train, then line the switch. The movie gave the impression that he couldn't stop the train (actually a yard cut, I think, with an engine), so had to run ahead. But if he could outrun the train, then it sure seems like it was going slowly enough to stop. Or was it that the engines's brake hose was not connected to the cut, and therefore the only brake available was the independent, which he knew would not suffice (I think even in the yard there was some downgrade). Did the cut maybe have "bottled air," but there was no way to initiate a train-line brake application?

What the hell would posses him to run ahead?

(For those of you not aware of the story, the engineer tripped and fell, and could not get back on the train, which then became a serious runaway. This happened in real life, and the movie was based on tat incident.)