So let me get this straight, Sir Richard Branson
(I needed your trademark phrase, NFFC. Sue me.)
Virgin's chairman praised the train driver, who was ``quite badly injured'' after he tried to steer the train to safety for almost half a mile rather than try to protect himself by fleeing to another carriage. He did ``an extraordinary job,'' said Branson.
U.K. Train Crash Inquiry Will Focus on Points, Track
This was a train that left the tracks at approximately 95 mph.
At 95 mph to ZERO (scrrreeeeechhhh-thud!) mph, the average would be, say, roughly 50 mph. So "almost half a mile" goes by in approximately 30 seconds. Nor would the ride, with the train now derailed and clear of the tracks, be a particularly smooth one for a quick dash back to another car. Still, if the man stayed and tried to do anything, he should be commended.
Here's the part I stumble over: He "tried to steer the train to safety" --huh? "steer?" I've not seen steering wheels in locomotives, isn't that what the tracks are for? Otherwise, hell, they could just use the highway. Oh, wait, maybe he used body-english. That must be it. Kind of like a big skateboard.
You know, I thought exactly
You know, I thought exactly the same thing.
Thinking it over, I've
Thinking it over, I've decided that Sir B simply got his preprepared "Virgin crash" scripts mixed up. I'm sure the PR department will straighten him out, PDQ.
PRman:
Listen, Rich, can't you keep a damn thing straight!?! How many times have I told you that the Virgin AIR crash press meeting soundbites are in your breast pocket (Remember? Near to your heart? HEART! MONEY! HEART=MONEY! GET IT, DAMN IT!?!) and the Virgin RAIL crash scripts are in your hip pocket (Near your as... oh, nevermind!) Who the hell has heard of anyone steering a train? That script clearly said, "stayed at his station." Look that reporter got it right; Very British! See! THAT'S the image we wanted! Not of some guy franticly swaying back and forth trying to surf a million-ton train!
Sir B:
Ooops, sorry.
PRman:
Hell, get outta here, go back skiing or whatever. Now I've got to go clean this mess up.
..
?Modern Locomotives (trains) have the ability to put the breaks on the right side or left side, thus allowing the Engineer to have some limited steering ability (just like a Caterpillar Bulldozer ).
All Train Engineers in the United States are trained in this method of ‘steering’ a derailed train, I’m sure the Engineers in the UK are trained the same way.
Train Steering
and you learn something new every day
Next up a lecture about the
Next up a lecture about the dead man brake. Every train man knows these things. Don't you ride the LIRR Michael??
LIRR
I do but every time I ask to drive they say no ...
I think you will find the
I think you will find the driver was Scottish, mystery solved.
therapy time
Am I going to have to make you watch Braveheart, again, NF?
At 95 mph to ZERO
Wrong! This is a common mistake made by people who forget that objects travelling faster go further in the same amount of time. I've forgotten too much integration to give you a proper answer but you'll find it's a lot less than 30 seconds.
Consider this example which follows the same principles but doesn't require calculus to solve:
"A train travels from A to B at 20 miles an hour, then back from B to A at 10 miles an hour. What is its average speed for the journey A to B to A?"
Hint: The answer is not 15.
Call the distance from A to B (and back) s
speed = distance / time, or v = s / t
average speed = total distance / total time, or, V = S / T
We need to find S and T.
Well, the total distance S = 2s.
The time for each leg is distance / time, so the total time T = s/20 + s/10
=3s/20
Now we can find the average speed V = S / T
V = 2s / (3s / 20)
V = 2s / 3s * 20
V = 40s/3s
V = 40/3
V = 13.3mph (3.s.f)
The calculation for the Virgin train is much more complicated because decelleration happens over a smooth curve (supposedly).