Passenger Trains > Deadman switch/pedal ? (Metrolink/Chatsworth)

Do locomotives have "deadman switches" any more that put the train in emergency stop should it "sense" that the engineer is no longer conscious? I'm wondering about the health issue scenario with the Metrolink engineer. If he did suffer something that rendered him unconscious after the train was rolling out of the station, what mechanisms might be in place to keep the train from continuing?

Jamie

In a way, they do. The system must be "touched" during specific intervals, or the train will go into emergency. I am uncertain as to which items must be touched, and there is a manual reset button in case nothing requires a touch. The pedal system went out a long time ago.

From one of my all time favorite train movies........

"Keep your foot on the pedal!"

wjamief Wrote:
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> Do locomotives have "deadman switches" any more
> that put the train in emergency stop should it
> "sense" that the engineer is no longer conscious?

The deadman pedal on locomotives was something the engineer had to hold down with his foot. AHe couldn't just rest his foot on it, but had to physically hold it down. If it was released, it started a sequence of a warning whistle, then, if the pedal wasn't pressed down again, the brakes were applied at a service rate. Not an emergency rate. Once the brakes started to apply, the train had to be brought to a full stop.

On newer equipment, they use an alerter. This is an electronic device that requires a reset anywhere between every 20 seconds, and every 2 minutes or so. The reset interval is shorter, the faster the train is moving. Therefore, the 20 second interval only applies at the fastest train speeds.

The system is reset any time certain controls are moved, like the bell, whistle, throttle, and sometimes the brake. The system knows that if a control was moved, then the engineer is alive. If a control hasn't been moved during the required interval, then a light will start flashing, followed by an alarm sounding. While the light is flashing, or the alarm is sounding, which lasts a total of about ten or fifteen seconds, the engineer can either move a control, or push a reset button to avoid a penalty brake application. If he does nothing, at the end of the alarm period, a penalty brake will apply. Like the older pneumatic systems, once the penalty brake starts to apply, the train will have to be brought to a complete stop. The penalty brake is a service brake, not an emergency.

I think the pedal has largely fallen out of favor. The alerter however accomplishes the same task. The alerter is a time based system, when the engineer is actively using certain selected controls on the locomotive(Horn, throttle, engine brake, these are some that can be selected by the rr in the initials sytem set up), then the system's timer continually resets itself. If the engineer doesn't activate any controls over a specified period(which can vary in the system based on speed, throttle position, etc.)then the system begins an alarm sequence to notify the engineer(and anybody else in or near the cab)that it is about to activate. Once this begins, the system can still be reset through the operation of controls, or by pressing the "Alerter Button" on the engineer's console. If still no action is taken, the alerter will then open the PCS, allowing air to escape from the brake pipe at a service rate, interrupt power transmission to the traction motors, and drop the diesel engine to idle, resulting in stopping.

As to prevention of the incident on Metrolink, only if the engineer was not operating the controls for the allotted time, and if the system had time to activate, prior to entering the single track into the path of the freight train.

silagi Wrote:
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> From one of my all time favorite train
> movies........
>
> "Keep your foot on the pedal!"

Hello, Chicago! Hello! Gotta drink to that!

silagi Wrote:
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> From one of my all time favorite train
> movies........
>
> "Keep your foot on the pedal!"

Also: "If the engineer is dead, who's driving the train?"

TopCat

"I don't think there's anyone in the engine."

"No driver?"

TopCat Wrote:
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> silagi Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > From one of my all time favorite train
> > movies........
> >
> > "Keep your foot on the pedal!"
>
> Also: "If the engineer is dead, who's driving the
> train?"
>
> TopCat


Fred Buck

Boy, I guess you guys picked the wrong train!

"Geez it will be here in four minutes!"

"Well I left my Jag in Kansas City"

Helloooooo Chicago! I'll drink to dat! Yeahhhhhhhhhh.

silagi Wrote:
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> From one of my all time favorite train
> movies........
>
> "Keep your foot on the pedal!"
Excuse my ignorance, but which movie would that be?

Silver Streak with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. If you have not seen it, rent it. Great movie.

Most Caltrain cabcars still use the deadman pedal. Only the combo bike car/wheelchair lift cars, and the Bombardier cabcars are equipped with alertors.

silagi Wrote:
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> From one of my all time favorite train
> movies........
>
> "Keep your foot on the pedal!"


'Son of a B*****!!"

That always infuriated me. When Devereau was in the F9 cab with the appropriately attired hogger, in striped overalls, he tells him to "keep your foot on the pedal." Then, he goes to the fireman's side of the cab and looks out aiming his rifle at the chopper. At THIS TIME, the hogger could have pushed the bastard out of the cab splattering him along the ROW. Every time I watched that film, about 346 times, I always expected the engineer to do just that. Then of course Devereau ends up getting his head lopped off by a switch job..."Don't look...DON'T LOOK!"

There have been several types of alertors over the years: ones which sensed if you touched or let go of the metal part of the locomotive, ones with electric eyes which sensed movement, and ones which watch for events: blowing the whistle, turning the bell on or off, moving the throttle, bailing the engine, and so on. This last type are the most common today. In the 1970s on the NSWGR (New South Wales, Australia), they had a pushbutton which, when you pressed it, pressurized an air reservoir. When not pressed, the reservoir slowly bled off. The trick was to keep the pressure in the resevoir between a predetermined low and high value by pressing and releasing the button for the correct time intervals. If you were unable to keep the air pressure within the prescribed limits, a penalty application would result.

"I didn't know they were federal agents!"