Alpo Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 How does a steam locomotive go? The movie Silver Streak, the diesel locomotive appeared to have a "gas pedal". At a point when they wanted no engineer in the cabin, so they put a heavy toolbox on the pedal, to keep the train moving. With steam, does the engineer have to stay there doing something - pushing or pulling a lever, or stepping on something - or can the engineer turn away from driving and let the train run by itself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Perhaps is was a dead man's switch. Tie back the throttle and put a weight on the dead man's switch? Just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace_of_Hearts Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 On a diesel locomotive only one person was typically in the cab operating the controls. The floor pedal is a dead man switch which automatically brings the train to a halt should the engineer be disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 On a diesel locomotive only one person was typically in the cab operating the controls. The floor pedal is a dead man switch which automatically brings the train to a halt should the engineer be disabled. Hmmmm, what about the Americans with Disabilities Act? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastmaster Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Hmmmm, what about the Americans with Disabilities Act? They can use their own tool box... Lunch bucket is an option. LOL Or Railroad would have to retrofit the deadman switch to something that the disabled engineer could operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Railroad would have to retrofit the deadman switch to something that the disabled engineer could operate. If you ask me, a feller don't get much more disabled than when he's dead. A deadman switch sounds like the ultimate disability accommodation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffield, SASS #23454 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Ask any steam hog head about the Johnson Bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastmaster Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 If you ask me, a feller don't get much more disabled than when he's dead. A deadman switch sounds like the ultimate disability accommodation. Engineer could fall asleep and fall of his pearch, have a stroke or gets conked over the head with coal shovel by bandits. LOL. But I know what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastmaster Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I don't know any steam hog heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Steam locomotives used a throttle controlled by the engineer. It had a locking lever to hold it in place so the engineer could remove his hand and the throttle would not move. In addition to the throttle the engineer also had a Johnson Bar that controlled the valve timing of the pistons. This was adjusted to provide the most efficient use of the steam. It also allowed the Locomotive to back up. Once these were set set the locomotive would continue running with no one at the controls. With the advent of diesel locomotives the basic dead man's switch came about. This was usually a pedal on the floor that had to be depressed or the locomotive would stop. Problem was engineers were always using something other than their foot to keep it depressed which defeated its purpose. Modern locomotives have an "alerter" that requires the engineer to acknowledge it or the train will go into self braking mode and come to a controlled stop. It can be reset by any number of operator actions including moving the throttle, ringing the bell / blowing the horn, applying the brakes, turning lights on or off and many other actions that require an operator at the controls. When the locomotive is just cruising down the track the operator can acknowledge it by pushing a button. Typically every 90 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Thanks Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 IIRC, the actual train used in "Silver Streak" was Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr #9900. Because it was used in regular service, the railroad wouldn't have wanted to permanently disable the "Dead man's switch!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 There was at least one instance where the dead man's switch was overridden by applying brakes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 There was at least one instance where the dead man's switch was overridden by applying brakes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident Thanks for the link I never knew the actual story that the movie was based on. The unusual way that locomotive brakes operate was one of the reasons that Extra 7551 East ran away and derailed into a subdivision in San Bernardino Ca. At the time locomotives were designed that the dynamic brakes were disabled when emergency braking was selected. In my limited mind I cannot fathom why a train would be designed to disable one form of braking (dynamic) when emergency air braking was selected. I would think that if you selected emergency all available braking would be activated. The root cause is that the true weight of the hopper cars was never entered into the system. Several individuals significantly underestimated the weight of each car and as a result the actual weight of the train was over 2500 tons greater that what was reported to the train crew. San Bernardino train disaster from Wikipedia Railroad accident report—Derailment of Southern Pacific Transportation Company freight train on May 12, 1989 and subsequent rupture of Calnev petroleum pipeline on May 25, 1989—San Bernardino, California Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Ron Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Howdy, A friend of mine rebuilt a steam engine. I got to drive it a couple times, real slow while he adjusted stuff. I was warned not to drive over cars or small trucks. No handicapped person would ever want to climb on one of those. Amazing feeling of power. Rivaled only by shooting a gattling gun. Ok maybe driving around 150..... Best CR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Silver Streak was a really good movie. Forty years old, now.... I need to watch it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Bit of a non sequitur, but until about a year or too ago you could buy "Reverser Handles" on Ebay. No more... not allowed, for fear someone might steal a train. Now I wish I had one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Bit of a non sequitur, but until about a year or too ago you could buy "Reverser Handles" on Ebay. No more... not allowed, for fear someone might steal a train. Now I wish I had one! Me to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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