Re: East/West ends [Was - Re: [Vic] Geelong Line CLOSED]

[Eben Levy <tkid@ozemail.com.au>]

On the South Coast of NSW CPH had to all be the same way, this was because of the
fueling of these could only be done from one side.... So same makes sense for shore
power and also watering of cars.

chris 'fufas' grace wrote:

> Anamul wrote:
> >
> > I was in the Cars Office when we did a move around the Reversing Loop.
> > I was told it was becuase of access to shore power at some outstations.
> > But then I don't always beleive what I am told! :))
> >
>
> > On 10-Oct-2000, "Samuel Eades" <seades@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> >
> > Snippage
> >
> > > > This is the reason you once saw a Sprinter going around the reversing
> > > > loop, because of an accident on the Newport line, and ARTC a sprinter was
> > > > sent to Sunshine, change ends, and off to Geelong.  (so it ended up the
> > > > wrong way around).
> > > > Alas I think you can't join the No.1 end of one sprinter to the No.1 end
> > > > of another sprinter (or maybe the cars office just doesn't want to).
> > > I have never heard of this, and I can't see why it would be a problem, but
> > > then again sprinters are turned so rarely that it could be possible... But
> > > why would it be that way? Surely you would want your rail fleet to be as
> > > versitile as possible....
> > >
>
> It really depends on the couplers and brake hoses. If they are
> asymmetric around the centre line of the car the car becomes 'handed'
> and csn only couple to a car of the opposite 'hand'.
>
> When fully automatic Wedgelok couplers were introduced on the London
> Underground they were handed. These couplers included electrical
> contacts, one per circuit. If you think about this with one contact
> per circuit there is no way you can arrange them without some being in
> the left hand side and others on the right thus:
>
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
>
> Now, if you reverse this coupler by turning the car round they become:
>
> 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
>
> and you therefore can't couple ends together.
>
> In the early days of automatic couplers like this they weren't that
> reliable, so duplicating the connector studs (which would have made
> the thing symmetrical) was a maintenance liability, and also involved
> extra expense, so they didn't do it. This is why older London
> Underground trains had A and D ends, denoted by little plates next to
> the end door.
>
> In addition the pipework  was asymmetrical, with the main reservoir
> pipe on one side of the car and the brake pipe on the other. Thus if a
> car got turned you could not couple the brake pipes without some
> piping adaptors which crossed from one side to the other.
>
> This was something unique to London Underground where they could not
> have the pipes mounted centrally because the negative  conductor rail
> was in the way. There are many stories about goods wagons shorting the
> negative rail to earth with 3 link couplings.
>
> The UK Southern Railway EMUs solved this problem by having central
> brake pipes because they didn't have a centre rail to worry about.
> They also duplicated the electrical jumpers on each side of the cab
> front. Many of their services were circular and it was impossible to
> operate a service where units didn't become turned, so they had to
> invest in the extra cost of duplicated connections.
>
> --
> For a dining "experience" visit the "Killer Prawn" in Whangarei!
> Be served and charged for food *without even ordering it*!
> Let the staff treat you with undisguised condescension and contempt!
> Experience the total incompetence of the management! Book today!

--
Bye for now,

Eben

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~tkid/

I feel like I'm in a rut.  Every time I go to bed at night,
I find myself just getting up again in the morning.
     ---Brad Stine