I’ve been told stopping precisely is probably the hardest part of doing all this. You need to be delicate with cars or otherwise you can damage the cargo, not to mention endanger the people (called brakemen?) doing the coupling and decoupling.
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BTW The Wikipedia page on train coupler designs is, somewhat unsurprisingly, very exhaustive: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_coupling …
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Going forward is easier, although it feels really precarious, with the locomotive feeling rather wobbly? Maybe that disappears if you go faster. This one tops out at 90mph, which I’m told makes it relatively benevolent.pic.twitter.com/EJ0x80dSWQ
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Oh, yeah, if you stop too fast you can literally flatten the wheel, which makes your boss very unhappy. (I’ve heard a lot about unhappy bosses today!)
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You probably already noticed it is REALLY LOUD inside a locomotive. This here is actually in the engine compartment, which is even worse, and this is with the engine just idling. Also, no, that place wasn’t scary at all.pic.twitter.com/EYYBxwWbZv
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And this is Bill doing the parking with me observing from the passenger seat. A lot of the locomotives we’re passing are also operational!pic.twitter.com/l1bvjBBoZJ
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This is passenger view, another look at the main UI, and finally one thing I could somewhat relate to: a row of buttons!pic.twitter.com/rtEeGOexn4
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Speaking of which, here’s a funny thing. When I was volunteering at the Computer History Museum a decade or so ago, I got certified to operate Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2. (Here’s an old photo.) It was a 5-ton calculating machine that felt unlike any other.pic.twitter.com/lk6P9XIbzE
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But today I know exactly what it feels like, and it’s mind blowing to me, and I feel lucky to be able to have had both these experiences to compare them. Babbage’s Engine is a calculator that feels like a locomotive. (!!!!!)
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