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Re: More bad press for the Nevada Northern
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 04-26-2009 - 01:26
>Further, if CFR applied, then no antique streetcars could legally operate.
The CFR does apply, it's just that the FRA doesn't want to be bothered with railroad museums. Should the day come when the FRA "starts regulating" streetcar museums, they would operate quite legally, although there would be a whole bunch of procedures and paperwork that museum types will definitely not like.
The FRA has said it will assert its statutory authority over any rail operation which 1) comes within 30 feet of a general system carrier, 2) crosses a navigable waterway, and 3) operates on what was once part of a general system carrier (there are one or two more conditions, but I forget them at the moment). Since most museums don't fit any of these categories, they aren't "regulated". If the museums start having serious accidents, then they will find themselves regulated.
Generally speaking, transit operations don't fit any of these categories, and there is the FTA, but 1) brings things like the South Shore and the San Diego Trolley under FRA jurisdiction, although the nighttime hours for freight operation when there are no passenger trains thing is a work-around for many of the passenger car compressive strength standards and so on.
>Why? because it could not meet the Federal standards for a certifiable air brake test and inspection because 90% of the pre-formed gaskets and seals are not made- which must be "in-date" not later than (7) seven years old, not to mention very few, if any, certified air brake portion test racks exist.
Now you're confusing AAR standards with CFR requirements. Last I heard there were strict [AAR] standards for freight car air brake repairs and air brake shops, but none for locomotive airbrakes. The AAR isn't concerned with passenger cars -- Amtrak more or less wrote the current passenger car airbrake stuff for the CFR.
Gaskets aren't required to be "preformed". The AAR is the one with the date specification, and the it could care less about museums.
Any brake system not listed in the CFR requirements has a 736 day cleaning and testing interval for locomotives, MU locomotives, and cab car locomotives. A streetcar or interurban [motor] would be considered an "MU locomotive". COTS for a "trailer" is 1,104 days. "Systems not listed" covers all the traction brake equipments: AMM, AMR, AMT, AMU, ATU, SME, SM-3, and on and on. It also includes car airbrake systems like HC, HD, KC, KD, PM, LN, and UC, and locomotive systems like A-1, SWA, #6-all types, 14-EL, 8-ET, 8-EL, 24-RL, and so on. You can apply for a waiver if you can provide an alternative maintenance program.
Nor does the CFR require valves to be tested on a rack -- they may be tested with a single car tester or by a locomotive with the apparatus on the applicable vehicle.
The CFR does apply, it's just that the FRA doesn't want to be bothered with railroad museums. Should the day come when the FRA "starts regulating" streetcar museums, they would operate quite legally, although there would be a whole bunch of procedures and paperwork that museum types will definitely not like.
The FRA has said it will assert its statutory authority over any rail operation which 1) comes within 30 feet of a general system carrier, 2) crosses a navigable waterway, and 3) operates on what was once part of a general system carrier (there are one or two more conditions, but I forget them at the moment). Since most museums don't fit any of these categories, they aren't "regulated". If the museums start having serious accidents, then they will find themselves regulated.
Generally speaking, transit operations don't fit any of these categories, and there is the FTA, but 1) brings things like the South Shore and the San Diego Trolley under FRA jurisdiction, although the nighttime hours for freight operation when there are no passenger trains thing is a work-around for many of the passenger car compressive strength standards and so on.
>Why? because it could not meet the Federal standards for a certifiable air brake test and inspection because 90% of the pre-formed gaskets and seals are not made- which must be "in-date" not later than (7) seven years old, not to mention very few, if any, certified air brake portion test racks exist.
Now you're confusing AAR standards with CFR requirements. Last I heard there were strict [AAR] standards for freight car air brake repairs and air brake shops, but none for locomotive airbrakes. The AAR isn't concerned with passenger cars -- Amtrak more or less wrote the current passenger car airbrake stuff for the CFR.
Gaskets aren't required to be "preformed". The AAR is the one with the date specification, and the it could care less about museums.
Any brake system not listed in the CFR requirements has a 736 day cleaning and testing interval for locomotives, MU locomotives, and cab car locomotives. A streetcar or interurban [motor] would be considered an "MU locomotive". COTS for a "trailer" is 1,104 days. "Systems not listed" covers all the traction brake equipments: AMM, AMR, AMT, AMU, ATU, SME, SM-3, and on and on. It also includes car airbrake systems like HC, HD, KC, KD, PM, LN, and UC, and locomotive systems like A-1, SWA, #6-all types, 14-EL, 8-ET, 8-EL, 24-RL, and so on. You can apply for a waiver if you can provide an alternative maintenance program.
Nor does the CFR require valves to be tested on a rack -- they may be tested with a single car tester or by a locomotive with the apparatus on the applicable vehicle.
