#locomotive-mechanics

#locomotive-mechanics

Have you ever watched a mile-long freight train rumble by and wondered how one locomotive can pull more than a hundred fully loaded cars? The locomotive weighs maybe 150 metric tons, and each car is about 100 metric tons, which means it's hauling 10,000 tons. I mean, if you weigh 170 pounds, this would be like pulling three SUVs totaling 12,000 pounds.

Take these gates at Polegate station. They are equipped with a barcode reader, a place to tap a card, and even a slot for inserting a ticket. However, it all appears to have come to naught, and the gates opened wide. Windows is slumped in the corner like someone on the last train home after a night out that involved drinking too much booze.

Sit down with Hannah Bowler and the Story Catchers and Network Rail team where they discuss their wins at The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA for their 'You vs Train' campaign. Hear about the success of the campaign, how changing behavior was its ultimate goal, and how they reached difficult target audiences.

Ray contracted polio as a child while living in Oakland, a disease that had no preventative vaccine nor definitive cure at the time. Due in large part to the tenacity of his parents following treatments prescribed by specialists, Ray survived this mostly debilitating and deadly disease. While confined to his bed, Ray waved to the engineers on the trains that passed by outside his window every day.

Footage of the incident, which took place January 15, shows the robot sitting motionless on the tracks, seemingly making no attempt to get out of the way as the unmistakable blare of the train horn gets louder and louder. "Oh it's gonna crush it!" the onlooker taking the video can be heard saying moments before the train, operated by Brightline, flattens the unfortunate bot into the tracks. Sparks can be seen flying from beneath the train before the video cuts off.

The railroad industry is a logistics artery, but the companies supplying the equipment that moves freight are where the real money gets made. Locomotives, railcars, tank cars, and digital rail systems are the picks and shovels of modern logistics. These companies capture recurring revenue from manufacturing, leasing, and maintenance contracts, benefiting from regulatory replacement cycles, nearshoring tailwinds, and the simple reality that freight must move.

Personal Track Safety refers to the rules, procedures, and behaviours that allow workers to operate safely on or near live railway lines. It's designed to minimise risks from moving trains, electrical systems, and environmental hazards. PTS is not just about memorising rules. It's about understanding why they exist and how they apply in real working conditions. When workers grasp this early, they're far more likely to act decisively and safely when situations change.

Three of London's mainline terminus stations have announced more dates for the Railway 200 themed heritage tours that they were running last year. The tours will run once a month from January to March next year at London Bridge, Victoria, and Waterloo stations and will be led by Network Rail and historian-author Rachel Kolksy. They will last around two hours and involve walking around each station and the surrounding areas. The tours will cost £25 per person and dates are below. London Bridge station Tickets

Tube trains of the future may soon know exactly where they are underground - even in places where GPS is blind - by tapping into the strange rules of the quantum world. Most modern tracking systems rely on satellites to pinpoint location, backed up by accelerometers that measure tiny movements between GPS updates. It works well enough above ground, but those accelerometers gradually drift, which is why they constantly need satellite corrections.

The new trains are the first of a fleet of 94 new trains being built in Yorkshire at the moment, and will eventually replace the Piccadilly line's existing 50-year old rolling stock. However, before passengers can ride the new trains, they need hundreds of hours of testing and assurance that they will work as expected. And testing has been underway ever since the first train arrived in London last year.

LNER has unveiled the name and interior design of a new fleet of long-distance trains, which will be the first to carry the new Great British Railways branding when it launches in a few years time. LNER says demand on its East Coast Mainline route has continued to grow since the pandemic, with more than 24 million passengers travelling in 2024-25.

From Boston headed home, I met up in the club car with members of a rock band, a secretary, a Peace Corps guy just back from India, and a retired dentist, and we partied night and day, telling stories and laughing our asses off. The Peace Corps guy had a sitar, and would play morning, noon and evening ragas as America rolled by outside.