AMSTAM/Tree of life/JB Hunt/Northstar foods

Yeah, dynamic braking is what it's called. The excess electrical energy gets bled off into a bank of thin metal sheets and dissipated into the air when the train starts to slow. This system really does work like a radiator. The only thing is, the sheets must get pretty hot. I'd guess those fans on the tops of locos keep them cool. I always thought those were for cooling the engine compartment and engine coolant only.

 

A real ingenious use, though, would to be to wire the Dynamic Brake Excess into the Rails, then ground the rails into a Power Transformer and into the Power grid....If someone could make it economical, it'd work...You'd only really have to wire the rails on a downhill slope, where dynamic and airbraking is used.

Plus, You see on these new GE and GM locos, the Left side (or port side), just behind the cab is a big Radiator unit..Also in new engines you see the Radiator Wing/Flange in the rear, also for coolant. and if they get too hot (or if that GE toaster goes up after only 100k miles) you see the doors open on the engine compartment while going down the rails.

 

That would be a good idea. Especially on stretches of rails going into towns when the trains have to slow down. There could be a separate rail in the center of the the track that a "roller" could contact and feed the electricity into. This rail could charge the local power grid, sure.

 

Anybody can learn to drive a truck.....very few will become truck drivers.

It's a way of life....some will accept it, some will not. The amazing thing about our country is that you can do anything you want. Don't like truck driving? Become a doctor. Or a accountant. Find the job that makes you happy.

That being said, most of the OTR companies suck. That's why I'm local, driving 55-60 hours per week, home every night. What company I work for? Southwest Petroleum Transport in Denton, TX.....however, most of the companies hauling fuel have happy drivers...

I make around a grand per week, +/- a few.

Now their are other who make alot more cash, but this is enough for me, and it beats OTR.

I posted only after reading the first page....didn't realize that it got to talking about choo-choos.