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

I wonder if they could retrofit the M-7A's with blowers on the ends of each married pair and have the leaves get blasted away before they get crushed by the train wheels.

Most of the problems are with the slimy residue already on the railhead from previous equipment...not leaves immediately coming down in front of that train, so blowers wouldn't work out well. Best way to combat it is plenty of sand (standard equipment), or maybe it's time to get both waterworld trainsets out and about!

FL9AC wrote:

I wonder if they could retrofit the M-7A's with blowers on the ends of each married pair and have the leaves get blasted away before they get crushed by the train wheels.

Most of the problems are with the slimy residue already on the railhead from previous equipment...not leaves immediately coming down in front of that train, so blowers wouldn't work out well. Best way to combat it is plenty of sand (standard equipment), or maybe it's time to get both waterworld trainsets out and about!

I think I read this before but isn't that slimy residue because of the crushed leaves? I would think that blowing away the leaves that cause the problem in the first place would be a good practice on top of the sanding.

Have you ever seen a train go through leafs in woods ???
A Boeing 747 could not blow them far enough, they twirl around and under the train.
rear of train has a cloud like a snowstorm around cars.

DutchRailnut wrote:Have you ever seen a train go through leafs in woods ???
A Boeing 747 could not blow them far enough, they twirl around and under the train.
rear of train has a cloud like a snowstorm around cars.

Yet another good reason not to electrify the Danbury.

Sometimes "Slip/Slide" is so bad, there is little anyone can do about it. Yes, MN has done as much as can be done, but no one has yet found a way to keep leaves from falling on the tracks. There have been (and will be) many instances of trains sliding by stations when the conditions are bad enough.

capecodlocoguy wrote:Sometimes "Slip/Slide" is so bad, there is little anyone can do about it. Yes, MN has done as much as can be done, but no one has yet found a way to keep leaves from falling on the tracks. There have been (and will be) many instances of trains sliding by stations when the conditions are bad enough.

Would it be a total waste of time to equip a track truck with a snowplow-like scraper to go over at least the worst parts of the tracks (near stations) during the peak leaf-dropping weeks, especially on rainy days? You can't keep the leaves from falling on the tracks, but you can scrape them off now and then.

Trainer wrote:Would it be a total waste of time to equip a track truck with a snowplow-like scraper to go over at least the worst parts of the tracks (near stations) during the peak leaf-dropping weeks, especially on rainy days? You can't keep the leaves from falling on the tracks, but you can scrape them off now and then.

You never heard about Waterworld have you?

Do a search.

mkm4 wrote:

Trainer wrote:Would it be a total waste of time to equip a track truck with a snowplow-like scraper to go over at least the worst parts of the tracks (near stations) during the peak leaf-dropping weeks, especially on rainy days? You can't keep the leaves from falling on the tracks, but you can scrape them off now and then.

You never heard about Waterworld have you?

Do a search.

No, thank you.

I do know about Waterworld, and it's a wonderful thing, but I also know that with hundreds of miles of track to maintain that it can't be everywhere at once during the leaf season. If it could, then slip-slide wouldn't be an issue at all.

How has the slip/slide conditions been on the territory this year? On the New Haven Line it looks like the leaves haven't impacted travel much as none of my trains have had any trouble.

For the whole week about a week or two ago I remember my upper Harlem direct train having some very rough stops, particularly at Goldens Bridge and Croton Falls. It sort of felt like an equivalent of ABS for a car with the brakes rapidly engaging and releasing accompanied by a loud air hiss. Is that a typical symptom of slip/slide or likely something else?

Yes, that is an indication of the problem.

Last week, one of my morning trains, went past six stations. We kept having to backup.

It's been a typical fall season so far. Haven't had anything really bad so far on my trains, but heard a few other guys sliding all the was past stations here and there. A few years ago was really bad until they updated the software on the M7's.

Is slip/slide more troublesome for MU's or diesel hauled equipment?

The diesel equipment usually fairs a lot better because they are equipped with sand, but nothing is guaranteed depending on weather patterns and how many leaves are grounded already...so far it's been fairly mild in comparison to past seasons.

I guess there haven't been as many flat spot OOS issues as in the first year(s)? Or do they have more capacity for quicker fixes now?