CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT OF THE SPEED OF WAGONS SHUNTED OVER HUMPS. REPORT OF ENQUIRY

This enquiry report contains a brief description of the known methods of measuring the speed of wagons in marshalling yards continuously or semi-continuously and a summary of the replies to the questionnaire sent from ORE to all the European Railway Administrations. There are at present only 10 marshalling yards in Europe in which wagon speed is measured and of these five are in Britain. In eight yards the wagon speed is measured by radar and the remaining two use devices placed at intervals in the track. It would appear that both these methods give reasonably accurate and reliable measurements which enable a wagon to leave the retarders at the calculated speed. The measurement of speed at this point in the yard presents no real problem. The problems which present difficulty at present in marshalling yards are the measurement of the other factors which influence the speed of impact of the wagon when it reaches its final siding. Such factors are the rollability, wind, sun, snow and frost. These factors often vary as a wagon is passing through a yard thus increasing the difficulty of accurately assessing them. For these reasons some Administrations are now thinking of the Dowty system, which although more expensive to install will control the speed of wagons without the necessity of measuring all the above variables. It is therefore suggested that the study of the present question should be incorporated in a new question entitled: "The control of wagon speed in modern marshalling yards".

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Restrictions on the use of this document are contained in the explanatory material.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Union of Railways

  Office of Research and Experiments
  Utrecht,   Netherlands 
• Publication Date: 1963-4

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures;
• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axles; Braking performance; Control systems; Doppler effect; Hump yards; Questionnaires; Radar; Retarder control; Speed control; Traffic counts; Yard operations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Axle counting
• Old TRIS Terms: Dowty retarders; Question d74
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00053098
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Union of Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: D74/RP 1/E Intrm Rpt.
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 8 1994 12:00AM