Posted by thoughtcriminal |
5/26/2005 7:23 AM | remove |
Actually, this is called a "tell-tale," which warned brakemen riding on top of the cars that they were approaching a bridge. It's been a long, long time since crewmen have been allowed to ride on top of cars.
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Posted by scribble |
5/26/2005 1:20 PM | remove |
Wow, that's right! Before air brakes could distribute braking power to all the cars, brakemen would manually apply braking on individual cars, this thing must be seriously old!
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Posted by IIVQ |
9/11/2005 9:31 AM | remove |
Yeah... All railway infrastructure is high enough to let all railway cars go under it (except maybe doublestack and other out-of-profile cars), but that doesn't go for the people riding on top of it.
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Posted by defacto |
2/25/2006 3:18 PM | remove |
I was told that those things would seriously hurt, but knowing to get down in time to not become like wylie coyote was worth it. The brakeman had to be facing the opposite direction (the back of the train) so that he would not know the bridge was coming.
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Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
6/30/2006 1:50 AM | remove |
You go back far enough and that brakeman doesnt even have a radio or walkie talkie.
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Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
9/25/2009 12:39 PM | remove |
scribble, its actually because back in the days brakemen would ride the tops of cars to set the brake retainers. The retainers control how fast the brakes release. Dynamic brakes up front did away with this chore
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Posted by scribble |
1/18/2010 7:40 PM | remove |
Cool, thanks for the clarification...
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