Hmm... This sounds a bit complicated. Now I tell you how we did this when I worked as conductor at Lommedalsbanen, located in southern Norway. It is a 600mm museum railroad of decauville type. We have one gradient of 6,5%... Fifty percent of the train weight must be braked. First no airbrakes at all, the engine driver tells us when to brake with the whistle. We then apply the brakes with a brakewheel. When he wants us to apply the brakes he blows two short blows with the whistle. When he wants more brakes he blows another two short blows. Full stop is three short blows with the whistle. When we shall release the brakes he blow a long and a short burst. Emergency stop is many short blows in rapid succession. It is very important not to lock up the wheels. You hear that as it sounds like SSHHHHH. You will then accelerate downhill instead of stopping. So it is important to listen to the wheels. [ 13. July 2004, 14:39: Message edited by: greffern ] Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
How many brakemen do you have on a train to do this Jon? Or do you just move from car to car to apply the brakes? Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
50% of the trainweight has to be braked. So if you have five cars, three has to be brake cars. You can put two brake cars end to end with the platform against each other. Then one person can handle two brakes and another person is on the brake car in the other end. In all two persons for this consist. Of the cars in the train that don't have brakes one is a handicap car with ramp and one is a passenger car. Normally the conductor or "togfører" is at the rear end. The brakeman takes the front brake car. We do normally not walk between cars. The brakes has to be manned at least downhill. We do have steep gradients here. Up to 6,5 percent or 65 promille, 65 meter on one kilometer. [ 14. July 2004, 10:51: Message edited by: greffern ] Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
This is a true art guys! There is more too it then just applying the brake. Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
This is to add to the engine brakes, right? Also, stopping the engine without sliding the wheels is an art in itself. Thanks for sharing the insiders experience from Norway. Greg Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
Yup, Greg. Our diesel locomotives has the ability to at least control the descent as long as it's drivechain stays on. It does this by utilizing the gearbox. It also has normal brakes too. One clarification; to me, a brakecar is a passenger car with brakes on... We do have a "konduktørvogn" too, which you would call a caboose. It is not used that much as it only carry the the brakeman or conductor. The train personell can be divided into three: "billettør" a person that only does control your ticket. "bremser" or brakeman operates the brakes and does control tickets. "togfører" operates the brakes, control tickets and has responsibility for the train. He does give the "all clear" for departure. (Blows the whistle and waive the green flag.) In addition you have those on the locomotive. Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
Very interesting Jon. So you can stop a locomotive with its engine as well with brake shoes on the wheels. We have dynamic brakes on our locomotives, that turn the motors into generators, but the older versions couldn't really bring a train to a complete stop. When we switch in the yards, we use the brakes on the engine, the brake shoes on the wheels to stop the locomotive and any cars attached to it. Does the chain drive become disengaged often? Greg Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
I think you can do an emergency stop with the locomotive by killing the fuel while being in low gear and the engine at idle. It must use the fuel in the filter and pump first though. You can at least control the descent with the gearbox in low gear. Remember, it is a 600mm railway. Most of our locomotives have dieselhydraulic transmission. From the gearbox to the wheels there is a drivechain. It snaps sometimes, not often though. Then it's important that brakes are manned. Some of the locomotives have a flywheel brake used for stopping the heavy flywheel when shifting gear. The heaviest locomotive we have weighs 16 metric tonnes. The steam locomotive weighs 7,5 metric tonnes with water and coal onboard. It demands more of the engineer and train crew as it only has brake shoes. [ 18. July 2004, 11:10: Message edited by: greffern ] Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
Oupps, I have shown those to you before....... Look at the bottom of index, press those icons and you will access the rest of the site. Copyright 2008 Jerry DeBene
