Leaf Residue (Pectin, Slip/Slide, Waterworld, Sanders, and Lasers to Prevent Flat Spots

Erie-Lackawanna wrote:Just to set the record straight: modelers are one group who would care about the car numbers. There may be other reasons why someone would care.

Didn't think about that. RTC needs to know the number and type of cars in the consist but not the individual car numbers, which would be known by the freight chief and fleet management. Would someone really want to model waterworld? If it helps, the air compressors are portable Ingersol Rand units.

Thanks

The two Waterworlds are Railwasher 1 consisting of 2 tank cars numbered MNCW 607 and MNCW 605, the flat car with the control station and compressor is the MN 20. This has the low level control station.
Railwasher 2 consists of 2 tank cars, the MNCW 603 and MNCW 608 the flat car is the MN 21. This is one has the elevated control station.
The both use the Ingersoll Rand XP750 compressors. It is a 750 CFM 250 PSI Diesel powered 7050 lb monster, hardly what one would call portable.

grabber wrote: The both use the Ingersoll Rand XP750 compressors. It is a 750 CFM 250 PSI Diesel powered 7050 lb monster, hardly what one would call portable.

If it wasn't portable, it wouldn't have wheels! They are definitely designed to be moved to locations where they are needed. We used the same type of compressors to make snow at Belleayre Mountain when I worked there. They would bring them in on Nov. 1 and take them away on Mar. 31 every year. I didn't intend to imply that they were your Home Depot variety.


por·ta·ble
1 a: capable of being carried or moved about

Waterworld is designed to moved about on slippery rails, washing them with water and air under high pressure. It has also been used to wash the rust off the rails on the Beacon Line so the Sperry car could do an inspection. It was not designed to be used in GCT, but that's another story.

Penn Central wrote: If it wasn't portable, it wouldn't have wheels!
por·ta·ble
1 a: capable of being carried or moved about

Well using that definition we can call just about anything portable.
Here we see a "portable locomotive" being placed on its 250 ton capacity trailer

Air compressors are not exactly something that you pack in your
suitcase to carry with you on a trip. Especially around the railroad they
are a piece of heavy equipment. The presence of wheels and a hitch
determine that the compressor in the picture is indeed portable. I am
sure that Harmon shop and the other M of E facilities on Metro-North have
air compressors that are not portable, they are built right into the shop
floor and not able to be moved. This is the difference, in my opinion.
Even a locomotive air compressor could probably be considered as
portable because at least in the past, if an air supply for an industry or
facility was need and the existing system was down for one reason or
another, a locomotive could be brought to the location and hooked up
to a ground air line to supply needed air for the purpose.
Noel Weaver

I thought about adding this to the Waterworld topic, but thought it deserved its own thread:

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/p ... p?id=11906

Congrats to the great folks who make the railroad run, especially at this time of the year!

True, MN did much better this fall that last year. But, keep in mind this leaf season was very short and thanks to a record warm October followed by a quick chill in November, (throw in a few wind storms to) the leaves fell very quickly. This is not to diminish the work done on modifying the braking on the M7s as well. MN has adjusted how often they implement their special "Slip/Slide" instructions, as well as how severe the instructions can be.

Let's see how MN handles the next few leaf seasons before claiming success against the slippery rail conditions.

Today while going down to Botanical Garden
the 3:17 PM Local train missed the Scarsdale station
and had to come back and I asked the Conductor
what happened to the train and said because of
wet leafs on the track.

This is the time of year when the dreaded "Slip/Slide" rears its ugly head. Yesterday (10/25) was a terrible day with the falling leaves and light rain making train travel very difficult. In such conditions it's not at all uncommon for trains to literally slide by stations. There is little an engineer can do put put the brakes on and hope.

And off course singing Simon & Garfunkles song : Slip sliding away, while event is happening

I think of that song quite often when I blow by a station. Gotta love the line of the song that goes ..........."the nearer your destination, the more you're slip/sliding away"

Quick questions:

Are different trainsets more/less likely to be affected by wet rail/leaves ... would an EMU consist suffer sliding more often than a diesel push-pull set?



Does consist length affect braking characteristics ... would an 8 car EMU consist handle the rail conditions better than a 4 car set or a 7 car diesel consist versus a 3 car diesel set?



Do push-pull diesel sets handle the rail conditions better in pull or push mode, or no difference?



Thanks.

SooLineRob wrote:Quick questions:
Are different trainsets more/less likely to be affected by wet rail/leaves ... would an EMU consist suffer sliding more often than a diesel push-pull set?

MNR's M7's have fared badly in during the wet leaf season.

SooLineRob wrote: Does consist length affect braking characteristics ... would an 8 car EMU consist handle the rail conditions better than a 4 car set or a 7 car diesel consist versus a 3 car diesel set?

The longer the train, the better it can handle the situation -more braking surface, but despite train length when it's bad, it's bad.

SooLineRob wrote: Do push-pull diesel sets handle the rail conditions better in pull or push mode, or no difference?

No sure on that one.




Thanks.[/quote]

I could solve this problem and make photographers and commuters and train operators happy: cut more trees back away from the tracks! I think the railroads used to call it a "right of way" or something.

-otto-