Heritage Units-Brake Stick Holder

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Thu Jul 26 07:08:43 EDT 2012


Jimmy,
I've never had a satisfactory answer, either. The best I've been able
to piece together (based in large part of the fact that cars with
constant contact side bearings are not restricted) is that empty hoppers
and bulkhead flats are fairly light and present a large sail area which
can lift one end of the car slightly. The lift reduces the weight on
the front truck enough to allow the car to rock and sway, increasing the
chance of the car derailing. Constant contact side bearings would help
to prevent that problem, which is why (in my theory) they are not
restricted.

Of course, that's just my un-scientific theory. I really do not know.
I do know that the 45mph restriction made a lot more of a difference
when the track speed was 60 rather than 50, so I think the restriction
is an overly cautious holdover from an earlier era. I have no
explanation for the lack of a restriction on a solid empty train, except
perhaps that in theory the crew would be able to see what was going on
and reduce the speed as needed, while they probably would not see a car
a mile back in the train.

Ken Rickman

On 7/25/2012 6:31 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> I still haven't gotten an answer as to why empty hoppers are

> restricted to 45mph if not in a solid train.

> Jimmy

--
Kenneth Rickman
Salisbury, NC
Fundamentalism: from "Fund" : Give me money, and "Amentalism": No brain.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20120726/5c0e80b2/attachment.htm>


More information about the NW-Mailing-List mailing list