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Re: Save time "and" more trains? But, really back to the accident....
Author: ex-BN
Date: 12-22-2017 - 22:41
BOB2 Wrote:
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>
> When things don't respond as expected, or when you
> are confronted with a "new reality", there is
> often a time lag, or "delay" in assessing that new
> "reality". This is not unlike what happened to
> "Sully" and his copilot, over NY.... Unlike
> Sully, there was no time to recover, and only a
> freeway, and not a river, to "land" it on.......
>
This is a good point and may be part of the story as it unfolds. It reminds me of a time I was handling a freight pulling into a siding. I was going 25mph and at one mile from the end of the siding I set a minimum on long train with more empties than loads. The track was level and there was snow over the rail. On a normal day I would have stopped within half the distance but with the snow I started early. Expecting the brakes to take hold I cruised along until I realized the speed was still 25 and I was getting closer to the block. My reaction was to set more air (a lot) but then quickly put it in emergency. Even that wasn't bringing the speed down enough and as the oh so bright red signal approached I reversed the engines. We stopped short and had a painful long trip of extremely flat wheels. But this was of course the preferred alternative. My point is I know full well that feeling that you've done everything right and realize too late that things aren't working out as planned. I've run plenty of trains in snow but this was one of those that just wouldn't settle down. It happens. I can see perfectly the scenario that Bob2 has described yet it doesn't fully explain never dumping the air--even at the last moment.
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> When things don't respond as expected, or when you
> are confronted with a "new reality", there is
> often a time lag, or "delay" in assessing that new
> "reality". This is not unlike what happened to
> "Sully" and his copilot, over NY.... Unlike
> Sully, there was no time to recover, and only a
> freeway, and not a river, to "land" it on.......
>
This is a good point and may be part of the story as it unfolds. It reminds me of a time I was handling a freight pulling into a siding. I was going 25mph and at one mile from the end of the siding I set a minimum on long train with more empties than loads. The track was level and there was snow over the rail. On a normal day I would have stopped within half the distance but with the snow I started early. Expecting the brakes to take hold I cruised along until I realized the speed was still 25 and I was getting closer to the block. My reaction was to set more air (a lot) but then quickly put it in emergency. Even that wasn't bringing the speed down enough and as the oh so bright red signal approached I reversed the engines. We stopped short and had a painful long trip of extremely flat wheels. But this was of course the preferred alternative. My point is I know full well that feeling that you've done everything right and realize too late that things aren't working out as planned. I've run plenty of trains in snow but this was one of those that just wouldn't settle down. It happens. I can see perfectly the scenario that Bob2 has described yet it doesn't fully explain never dumping the air--even at the last moment.
