Re: "Day of the Roses"

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

Derek Woodlands wrote:

> I used to catch a 46 class hauled train between 1970 and 1975 (on the Central
> Coast to Sydney run) and I can only remember the locomotive having the rear pan
> raised.  I checked this with a couple of former 46 class drivers I know and they
> confirmed that generally only one was raised.  It was only when a big load was
> being hauled that the second one was used.

The pantographs are connected in parallel.  They only need to raise both when the
load of the engine could cause damage to the carbon strips or welding to the
overhead.  Generally, when very high speeds were employed, only one pantograph would
be raised to reduce the risk of tangling.  High speeds meant express passenger
trains, and therefore not enough load to really warrant both pans anyway.  The
condition of the overhead was another governing factor.  Even now, there are areas
where if you have two locos, both with pantos up, the maximum speed is 80 km/h.  The
current guidelines are in the Working Timetable Instruction Pages.

--
David Johnson
CityRail Guard
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/