The general feeling here is

Post #377,737 by jake123 7/8/13 5:41:20 PM Reply	The general feeling here is that a lot of the missing will never be found. Surete du Quebec is treating it as a crime scene; they want to know how the train started moving if the driver set the brakes as he says he did.
Post #377,738 by a6l6e6x 7/8/13 6:28:52 PM Reply	I had heard some people may have been "vaporized". Not sure what temperatures are required for that. Even the Auschwitz crematoriums had remaining ashes. Alex
Post #377,743 by jake123 7/8/13 8:02:22 PM Reply	Hard to separate ashes of people from the ashes of the buildings they were in.
Post #377,754 by a6l6e6x 7/8/13 10:38:15 PM Reply	Agreed. And some will go up in smoke. Alex
Post #377,756 by static 7/8/13 11:14:37 PM Reply	It seems firefighters may have shut the engines down. Due to an engine fire. And, of course, that means the air-brake system slowly lost pressure. http://www.smh.com.a...130709-2pn1q.html Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #377,953 by CRConrad 7/12/13 12:15:27 PM Reply	But don't train airbrakes work "backwards", like on lorries? That is, I'd have thought "airbrakes" means it's actually steel springs that apply the brake shoes to the wheel (or disc or drum, as the case may be), and the engine needs to be running to provide air pressure to DIS-engage the brakes. So shutting off the engine shouldn't have made it impossible to engage the brakes; on the contrary, after all the air's bled out, it should have made the brakes be engaged permanently. At least that's how it works on "big rigs" on the road (and I've actually always assumed this "bass-ackwards" -- compared to cars -- system was copied straight off from the railroads). -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #377,959 by drook 7/12/13 1:03:05 PM Reply	Agreed When a car becomes disconnected from the rest of the train the brakes apply. It takes pressure to keep the brakes disengaged. Somebody doesn't know what's going on here. -- Drew
Post #377,965 by folkert 7/12/13 2:20:46 PM Reply	Then... how come... Trains cars can be "hump switched and sorted"? I know the answer. So does this guy: http://www.treehugge...rake-failure.html -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #377,968 by CRConrad 7/12/13 2:38:20 PM Reply	How utterly idiotic. Did Westinghouse actually come up with that second apply-the-brakes air tank? What the fuck was wrong; hadn't steel springs been invented in his day?!? -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #377,970 by folkert 7/12/13 3:03:35 PM Reply	Re: How utterly idiotic. You forget they have a need to switch the cars in yards and have them travel "X" Distance... to couple with the next cars in the line. Therefore they brake have to be released after a certain air pressure so they free-wheel. Locomotive brakes are the same way. The use "chain loops" around a wheel and the track to "block" them in. Much the same way you use a wedge to hold a door open. Its a hold over from the 1800s and they had to allow it to happen with the automatic brakes, otherwise the Union wouldn't have ever alowed the brake systems to get onto the railroad cars... taking away jobs. And now you know why. -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #377,972 by drook 7/12/13 3:25:27 PM Reply	So they took away the jobs anyway, without fixing the brakes -- Drew
Post #377,974 by folkert 7/12/13 3:43:11 PM Reply	Sure did. a hundred years later. And yes it is NOW policy and tradition to have those brakes on the trains like that now. This little crash and burn ain't gonna change that... nope. -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #377,976 by CRConrad 7/12/13 4:38:02 PM Reply	Guy who shoves... Air tank on his back to open steel springs
Post #378,012 by folkert 7/13/13 9:02:37 AM Reply	Nonono... That would be a "per task bonus"... Sort of like a switch crew getting $40 per switch to clean them out in the winter. Plus they HAVE to stop the locomotives and everything while they clean them. So, nooooooooo way would the Railroads allow that to happen. -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #378,017 by CRConrad 7/13/13 3:15:23 PM Reply	Yeah well, if they WANT shit like this to happen, then OK...
Post #378,018 by folkert 7/13/13 3:30:11 PM Reply	Evidently... they think it's acceptable and very costly... to retro fit all the Railcars and locomotives. -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #378,051 by static 7/14/13 11:21:58 PM Reply	I simply posted the link. But, yeah, I would've thought they worked the other way around. Yet they still failed... :-/ Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #378,098 by jake123 7/15/13 4:13:34 PM Reply	Apparently that's by design and is intended to stop the cars if they become detached from the locomotive. The problem here was that the hand brakes on the individual cars were not set when the engineer turned in for the night, and were not set after the locomotive fire either by the MMA employees that were on hand when the Nantes fire dept. left. I suspect Rail World's going to be having a bad year.

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