At 12:23 PM 10/12/99 -0700, you wrote:
>actuating the air brakes. Electropneumatic air brakes have been a dream of
>RR people for years. If you have a mile long freight and you open the train
>pipe
>that runs the length of the train, it'll take some time (during which the
>train is bearing
>down on a school bus) to empty the air from the rear car.
>Unfortunately, the difficulty of making a reliable electrical connection
>that won't
>be a maintainence nightmare for the approximately one million RR cars out
>there
>has proved beyond solution.
>


This is going to sound like a really odd idea, but I will throw it out
there anyway ;-)

I always wondered why no-one tried (or maybe they have?) to develop some
kind of breaking system for RR cars that didn't depend on the wheels (for
example, solid-fuel rocket motor) that could be used in an extreme
emergency to stop the train QUICKLY. I realize that this is changing the
subject slightly from the safety concern you mentioned, but it made me
think of it.

Sean

|
| Sean Breheny
| Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM
| Electrical Engineering Student
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