What is the difference between derailing and decoupling?
A Derail is when the cars come off the tracks, usually it's an accident. There is also a device they stick on the tracks called a Derail, it's yellow and can fold over the track so trains can go by that spot.
Uncoupling the cars is to seperate the cars from each other.
What is involved in decoupling a train?
You pull the lever attacted to the coupler knuckle and they unhook and voila! railcars unattached.
Why are the stwitchmen so important?
Switchmen are the guys (and gals!) who manually throw switches, uncouple trains, and other fun stuff (which I dunno cause Im no expert), prolly does tons of paperwork too.
What is a fireman (on a train)?
Steam days had a guy who controlled the fire in the firebox, he fed & watered the engine. And also probably did lots of paperwork,
What was a train yard like?
It's big, has lots of tracks that switch into each other. Lots of cars & engines. Sometimes there's a hill where railcars are pushed down to roll on their own and get auomatically sorted into a train, the only thing slowing them down are trackside braking. It's kinda neat to see. Called a Hump Yard; thats just one kind of yard though.
[This message has been edited by coach34135 (edited 10-04-2002).]
[This message has been edited by coach34135 (edited 10-04-2002).]
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