Questions about emergency stopping

HiBaller

19 Years of Trainz
I watched an "FBI" episode last night. It featured a train taken over by a group of disgruntled individuals. The leader intended to crash the train into a consist of hazardous cargo in a yard. In the process of stealing the train, they had a henchman who changed the switch settings to cause the train to divert from it's intended destination. There were shots of the train barreling through red lights. The onboard FBI agent decided to disconnect the train just behind the engine. He used a very just-out-of-reach switch set on the end of the first railcar to cause the couplers to open and the brake hoses pop loose.

I have several questions. I know that procedures/policy differs between countries, so this is the US.

1. Is there such a switch located on the outside of a railcar that allows someone to uncouple? And, if so, why make it so hard to reach (it couldn't possibly be reached from the ground)?

2. Once the brake hoses popped apart, wouldn't the whole consist come to a screeching halt? In the show, the trailing cars slowly drifted away from the engine (which was still powered) and eventually came to rest.

3. All sorts of alarms should have been yelling their electronic hearts out in the control cabin. None were.

4. The FBI agent managed to break through the "hardened steel" door to the control cabin by using a defibrillator to cause the electronics to fail and open the lock. I doubt this very much.

5. At the controls now, he is told to use the "train brake" (a yellow-handled lever, which he pushed forward - nothing happened)

6. Then, he is told to use the "emergency brake" (a red-handled lever right next to the yellow one. When pushed forward THEN the fake sparks fly from the wheels and he stops just short of a tiny little derail on one rail that wouldn't stop a handcar, much less a big piece of motive power, and the engine comes to rest.

I think that as soon as the brake hoses came apart, the whole shebang would have come to a rapid halt after decelerating hard enough to cause everyone aboard to hit the front bulkhead of the cars.

EDIT: Forgot to add that somehow the "Emergency cord/lever in each car had been disconnected. Is this possible?

Bill
 
2. Once the brake hoses popped apart, wouldn't the whole consist come to a screeching halt? In the show, the trailing cars slowly drifted away from the engine (which was still powered) and eventually came to rest.
Not an expert on US things but this definitely correct. As soon as you disconnect a brake hose the whole train comes to a grinding halt surprisingly quickly. I've been on a train that lost a vacuum brake connection as it went round a tight corner and the rate of deceleration was significantly greater than any normal brake application. An emergency brake application also just dumps the air/vacuum out of the pipe so once a pipe has been disconnected an emergency brake lever won't achieve anything in addition... This is essentially the whole point of automatic brakes on trains. The separation of couplings does the same thing as pulling a brake lever so that any separation causes an emergency stop.

This is a pretty common error in films/TV. Once anything decouples it should all stop...
 
Ah. I see now why the car emergency brakes seemed like they were disconnected. But, the whole thing should have stopped the instant the brake hose came loose. Just some cinematic license. I saw the same thing in a Bond movie when a truck brake line was cut. Air under pressure blew all over the place, but the brakes were never applied to the trailer. Same principle.

Bill
 
I agree, the consist should've stopped due to the blown hose. The US @edh6 uses the same George Westinghouse braking system today with modern additions such as electronic monitoring and controls, but the same airbrake cylinder system is still there.
 
Well these are movie props, where weapons almost never need to be reloaded unless the plot requires a dramatic pause, trains don't derail going around corners at insane speeds and other laws of physics are suspended for "narrative" reasons. But was it a good story?
 
Yes. It was. Quite dramatic, in fact. I was reminded of "Unstoppable" and their efforts to get the runaway train stopped. They had a whole line of derailers set up and it blew through every one of them.

It's a shame that the FBI series is being cancelled.

Bill
 
Just my two cents.... Remember that movies and TV sometimes intentionally change information, not just for dramatic effect but also sometimes to obscure what might be information that may not be wise to put out there. The last 20+ years have seen a different attitude towards security and things that can be interpreted as nefarious (don't make the bad guys job easier).
However, once that air hose parts and IS OPEN and venting.... It will come to a screeching halt, excepting some special circumstances (like the air being bled off). If you are in the cab, once that air starts (and you will know fast it's noisy), you have a few seconds to hang on and bail the engine brakes if your the engineer. Bad things can happen when a train goes into emergency, in fact most operating rules require the train to have a walking inspection or "be walked" when the is an unintentional emergency application. Not fun in deep snow in the middle of a subzero night...
 
Bill, I learned about the "security" angle back in the 80's and 90's watching tv/movies with some Viet Nam vets, a beer or two unleashed a LOT of knowledge that a young man probably didn't need to know (and thank heavens I never put most of it to use).
 
I was in the Naval Security Group for 20 years, from 1961 to 1980. We were so security-conscious we squeaked. Most of my career (except for 5 tours in Vietnam) was spent behind cipher-locked and guarded doors. Looking for breaches was a way of life for me.

Bill
 
I was in the Naval Security Group for 20 years, from 1961 to 1980. We were so security-conscious we squeaked. Most of my career (except for 5 tours in Vietnam) was spent behind cipher-locked and guarded doors. Looking for breaches was a way of life for me.

Bill
Thank you to all Vets for your Service. Security should always be respected and followed, a saying from long ago?

Loose Lips Sink Ships...

Especially with all the Data Breaches I see going on...
 
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