Gregg posted:I think 3 minutes is a little on the long side, I'm now 75 and still could tie on a hand brake is about a minute or so . Crews don't have to climb to the top of the car anymore. Engine hand brakes may take a little longer.
However how would like to show up for work in really COLD WEATHER and the first thing you have to do is tie on a hundred hand brakes. After the train line is charged , a brake application applied, release the 100 hand brakes you just tied on.. .
I don't know what the answer is..... More engines for braking power?, retainers.? I wonder how many engines it would take to hold this train with either the independent or dynamic with the train brakes released.
I believe CN & CP do not use the metric system for mileage or speed. There was some reference to excessive speed at 32 kilometres per hour, That is only about 18 miles per hour.
The train had 112 loaded grain cars and 3 engines. Another post said it is CP policy to set the hand brakes on all the cars when a train is stopped on the hill for any length of time. At 1 minute per car plus the engines to set the hand brakes, it would take 115 minutes or 1 hour 55 minutes.
This accident happened at 1 am in the morning and an earlier post said the temperature was -36 C which converts to -33 F. That is cold even if there is no snow and the wind isn't blowing. Working continually for 2 hours plus under these conditions would be very difficult. It seems as if the new crew was faced with an almost impossible task to set all the hand brakes, do the required brake tests, and then release the hand brakes to get the train going.
Another post said the train was going at 47 mph when it derailed and that the speed limit for freight trains is 20 mph on this section of track.
NH Joe
