Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on either side of the track and equipped with sensors that look
for overheated journal bearings, referred to as hot boxes by the
railroads. Potentially, a hot box is big trouble. These bearings
connect the railcar to the axle—when one goes bad, it means
steel is in contact with steel at high speed. The axle and wheel
become hot and, left undetected, can fracture, causing an instant
derailment.
As soon as the train has passed over one of these detectors,
an automated spoken message is broadcast on the train's radio
frequency and heard by both the crew in the head end and the
conductors, wherever they are within the train. Here's a typical
transmission from a detector, along with an explanation of what
it all means:
“UP detector”
The detector belongs to the Union
Pacific railroad.
“Milepost one, six, two”
This identifies the train's location.
“Train speed: six four”
We're traveling within the 65-mph
speed limit.
“Track one”
Where there's double track, this
eliminates any confusion in case
there's another train passing on the
second track at the same time.
“Number of axles: four, four”
Yes, it's talking about us; and
furthermore we're now sure the
detector is functioning properly.
“No defects”
Good! Our train has no hot boxes
and nothing is dragging on the track.
“Repeat: no defects”
Just making sure we got the critical
information.
“Detector: out”
The message is over.
The conductor will usually radio the engineer following a
detector's report just to be sure the message was heard in the
head end. The following is typical:
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