From yesterday we have something a little different to report, going back to our main responsibility, the CA&E wood cars. The 36 has been out of service for a while because its compressor was making a loud knocking sound, and that obviously has to be addressed. There are lots of various Car Dept. projects going on, but this has risen into the active queue, and today we were able to drop the compressor and start working on it.
In the morning, I switched around the cars in Yard 8, so I could couple the 36 to the 309 and run it over to the shop. The 36 still has functional motors, and can be operated in tandem with a car that has a working compressor. The brakes work just fine -- the only drawback is that you can't blow the whistle, so I just shout "Toot! Toot!" whenever necessary. There's a child in all of us. I hope.
Anyway, here it is on the pit lead. Look closely. Can you see what's missing?
But that's all I had time to take pictures of.
I've wondered about this. It seemed from my distant memory that the compressor chugging happened in any car that I rode. So the brake system is obviously connected to that the brake would operate on each car when braking was applied. But did the compressors operate independently or did they feed a common system where all compressors would operate when the braking pressure dropped? Not a huge issue, but I've wondered for many years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking. I'll try to explain as simply as I can. This applies to all of our MU interurban cars and the older L cars with air brakes, the 4000's and wood cars.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, each car will have a compressor to supply the brake system and any other things such as whistles that need air. When you have a multi-car train with automatic brakes, not every car needs to have a compressor; the air is supplied through the brake piping and hoses between the cars, in the same way that a locomotive supplies the air for all the brakes on a freight train. In an interurban train, most or all of the cars have a working compressor, and each one turns off and on independently. So they share the load of keeping the air pumped up.
In the case of the 36, if the pump isn't working, the whistle won't work. The car could still be used in the middle of a train, but that increases the load on the other compressors, so we would like to have it fixed. I hope that helps!
Randall,
ReplyDeleteDid you ever show the new ticket office in the 50th avenue station building? It is a neat project and I would like to see it in its location.
Ted Miles, IRM Member