SHOCK RECORDERS. INTERIM REPORT AND ENCLOSURES

At the request of the 2nd, 4th and 5th Commissions of the UIC, the Control Committee of ORE, at its 26th Meeting, placed the question of shock-recorders on the work-programme of ORE. Two problems were propounded, viz., determination of the permissible speed limit of the impact between two vehicles, and comparison of the different shock-recorders used by the Administrations. The restricted B47 Specialists Committee arranged laboratory studies at the TNO Institute at Delft and buffering tests at the SNCF test installation at Vitry-sur-Seine. In addition tests on the ramming apparatus have been carried out. From the tests and studies it would seem that the relation between the deflections given by the shock-recorders and the difference in speeds of two vehicles at the moment of impact depends, above all, upon the load of these wagons and upon the types of buffers with which these wagons are equipped. Utmost caution should be taken in assessing afterwards the impact speed, when taking the recording of the shock-recorders as a basis. Bearing in mind this remark, the following conclusions may be formulated. The buffering tests on wagons containing a typical load and a reputably fragile load have shown that the permissible speed limit of impact below which normal loads, correctly stowed and packed, are not subjected to harmful impacts is, in the most favourable case, 7 km/hr. But shunting yard staff experience much difficulty in estimating this speed, and certain tests have shown that the staff consistently and systematically underestimate the actual speed of a vehicle. For this reason, in any instructions given to the staff, the permissible speed limit of the impact would have to be limited to 5 km/hr, namely, to walking speed. The 4 recorders most currently used by the Administration, namely, the British Railways, Cornet, Peiseler and Stout Recorders, have been subjected to test and to laboratory research. It would seem that: the Stout Recorder lacks reliability and only reacts at accelerations greater than 3 g; thus it is not suitable for checking the permissible impact speed referred to above; the british Railways apparatus, though capable of registering the impact speed indicated above, shows however a limited sensitivity to the lower speeds; the Cornet apparatus has, on the whole, shown a satisfactory behavior, but its maintenance in service must be very closely watched, and the Peiseler apparatus shows itself to be at the same time sensitive, reliable and strong.

• 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: 1959-7

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 25 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Hump yards; Impact loads; Instrumentation; Loss and damage; Measuring instruments; Switching
• Old TRIS Terms: Impact loading; Question b47
• Subject Areas: Design; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00053126
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Union of Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: B47/RP 1/E
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 8 1994 12:00AM