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Helper Engine
A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional Engine power, power or tractive effort, traction to climb a Grade (slope), gradient (or ''bank''). Helpers/bankers are most commonly found in mountain divisions (called "helper districts" in the United States), where the ruling grade may demand the use of substantially greater motive power than that required for other grades within the division. Historic practice Helpers/bankers were most widely used during the steam locomotive, age of steam, especially in the American West, where significant grades are common and trains are long. The development of Diesel locomotive, diesel-electric or electric locomotives has eliminated the everyday need for bankers/helpers in all but a few locations. With the advent of dynamic brakes on electric or diesel-electric locomotives, helpers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank Engine SZ Taurus
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks play an important role in financial stability and the economy of a country, most jurisdictions exercise a high degree of Bank regulation, regulation over banks. Most countries have institutionalized a system known as fractional-reserve banking, under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure accounting liquidity, liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, the Basel Accords. Banking in its modern sense evolved in the fourteenth century in the prosperous cities of Renaissance Italy but, in many ways, functioned as a continuation of ideas and concepts o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grade (slope)
The grade (US) or gradient (UK) (also called stepth, slope, incline, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line is either the elevation angle of that surface to the horizontal plane, horizontal or its tangent. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontal plane, horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which ''run'' is the horizontal distance (not the distance along the slope) and ''rise'' is the vertical distance. Slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, bank (geography), stream and river banks, and stream bed, beds are often described as grades, but typically the word "grade" is used for human-made surfaces such as roads, landscape grading, roof pitches, rail tracks, railroads, aqueduct (watercourse), aqueducts, and pedestrian or bicycle routes. The grade may refer to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Heading
In railroad terminology, double heading indicates the use of two locomotives at the front of a train, each operated individually by its own crew. The practice of triple-heading involves the use of three locomotives. The practice of multi-heading involves the use of multiple locomotives and so on. Double heading is most common with steam locomotives, but is also practised with diesel locomotives. It is not strictly the same practice as two or more diesel or electric locomotives working ' in multiple' (or 'multiple-working'), where both (or all) locomotives are controlled by a single driver in the cab of the leading locomotive. Advantages Double heading is practised for a number of reasons: * In the UK it was usually to gain traction on steep inclines, twice the amount of driven wheels – twice the amount of grip. * The need for additional motive power when a single locomotive is unable to haul the train due to uphill grades, excessive train weight, or a combination of the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soldier Summit, Utah
Soldier Summit is the name of both a mountain pass in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, United States and an unincorporated community that is a near-ghost town located at the pass. Soldier Summit has been an important transportation route between the Wasatch Front and Price, Utah, since the area was settled by the Mormon pioneers. It is on the route of both U.S. Route 6 and the old main line of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW), now the Provo Subdivision of the Central Corridor. Located where the road makes a brief bend through the extreme southwest corner of Wasatch County, Soldier Summit historically had more to do with nearby Utah County. At one time both the state highway department and the railroad had operations at the summit, but with the exception of a gas station that is sometimes open, the town site is now abandoned. Today it is a popular rest stop and photo spot for railfans. Many railfans also take pictures of the Gilluly loops, a series of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helper, Utah
Helper is a city in Carbon County, Utah, United States, approximately southeast of Salt Lake City and northwest of the city of Price. The population was 2,201 at the 2010 census. The city is located along the Price River and U.S. Route 6/ U.S. Route 191, a shortcut between Provo and Interstate 70, on the way from Salt Lake City to Grand Junction, Colorado. It is the location of the Western Mining and Railroad Museum, a tourist attraction that also contains household and commercial artifacts illustrating late 19th and early 20th-century living conditions.. Helper is at the western end of the 250 mile long Book Cliffs Escarpment, the longest continuous escarpment in the world. The eastern end of the Book Cliffs Escarpment is by Grand Junction, Colorado History With the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) in 1881–82, Helper began to develop as a population center. By 1887 the D&RGW had erected some twenty-seven frame residences, with more built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derailment
In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially serious hazard. A derailment of a train can be caused by a collision with another object, an operational error (such as excessive speed through a curve), the mechanical failure of tracks (such as broken rails), or the mechanical failure of the wheels, among other causes. In emergency situations, deliberate derailment with derails or catch points is sometimes used to prevent a more serious accident. History The first recorded train derailment in history is known as the Hightstown rail accident in New Jersey that occurred on 8 November 1833. The train was traveling between Hightstown and Spotswood, New Jersey, and derailed after an axle broke on one of the carriages as a result of a journal box catching fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brake
A brake is a machine, mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for Acceleration, slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background Most brakes commonly use friction between two surfaces pressed together to convert the kinetic energy of the moving object into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example, regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, which may be stored for later use. Other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as Compressed air energy storage, pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert kinetic energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail, which is converted into heat. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, for example by transferring the en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Train Whistle
A train whistle or air whistle (originally referred to as a train trumpet or air trumpet) is an audible signaling device on a steam or gas locomotive, used to warn that the train is approaching, and to communicate with rail workers. Modern diesel and electric locomotives primarily use a powerful air horn instead of a whistle as an audible warning device. However, the word ''whistle'' continues to be used by railroaders in referring to such signaling practices as "whistling off" (sounding the horn when a train gets underway). The need for a whistle on a locomotive exists because trains move on fixed rails and thus are uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by a train's enormous weight and inertia, which make it difficult to quickly stop when encountering an obstacle. Hence a means of warning others of the approach of a train from a distance is necessary. As train whistles are inexpensive compared to other warning devices, the use of loud and dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caboose
A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting; as well as in keeping a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles. Originally flatcars fitted with cabins or modified box cars, they later became purpose-built, with bay windows above or to the sides of the car to allow crew to observe the train. The caboose also served as the conductor's office, and on long routes, included sleeping accommodations and cooking facilities. A similar railroad car, the brake van, was used on British and Commonwealth railways outside North America (the role has since been replaced by the crew car in Australia). On trains not fitted with continuous brakes, brake vans provided a supplementary braking system, and they helped keep chain couplings taut. Cabooses were used on every freight train in the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Air Brake
A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms, it has been nearly universally adopted. The Westinghouse system uses air pressure to charge air reservoirs (tanks) on each car. Full air pressure causes each car to release the brakes. A subsequent reduction or loss of air pressure causes each car to apply its brakes, using the compressed air stored in its reservoirs. Overview Straight air brake In the air brake's simplest form, referred to as a ''straight air system'', compressed air is directed to a ''brake cylinder'', causing its piston to apply force to mechanical linkage, which linkage is conventionally referred to as the ''brake rigging'' (see illu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Coupling
A coupling or coupler is a mechanism, typically located at each end of a rolling stock, rail vehicle, that connects them together to form a train. The equipment that connects the couplers to the vehicles is the draft gear or draw gear, which must absorb the stresses of the coupling and the acceleration of the train. Throughout the history of rail vehicles, a variety of coupler designs and types have been developed worldwide. Key design considerations include strength, reliability, easy and efficient handling, and operator safety. Automatic couplers engage automatically when the cars are pushed together. Modern versions not only provide a mechanical connection, but can also couple brake lines and data lines. Different countries use different types of couplers. While North American railroads and China use Janney couplers, railroads in the former Soviet Union use SA3 couplers and the European countries use Scharfenberg coupler, Scharfenberg and Buffers and chain coupler, screw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
