Yeah I knew about the neutral thing, but in D I get engine braking down to a surprisingly low speed... I'd say 4 or 5 MPH. And you're certainly right about the friction thing... though a train has orders of magnitude more wheels than a car. I guess I was thinking more in terms of everyday things peo...

...and only once was there a significant failure. And I blame Tom Hanks for that one. I can't remember where I heard this but a funny story about that movie... The people that made it were screening it to test audiences so they could make tweaks before it was widely released. The feedback they got ...

On-topic sort of... I was talking to my wife the other day about the space program, specifically the 1950s-1960s part of it. I feel that one part of that program that doesn't get much credit is it proved that things can be made really farkin' reliable when we want to. Prior to that if your car didn'...

(Runs around room, agitated and waving hands) WHAT? I CAN"T SELECT JUST ONE!!!

There also could be an "optics" issue with that. "The train operator saw the bus full of nuns over a mile away, but didn't hit the brakes until the last second." would cause quite the media frenzy. Unrelated but possibly interesting: I wonder if I went out on the highway, got my ...

Ass-uming constant deceleration, what is the deceleration rate of a train that takes a mile to go 60 to zero. Don’t tell me, I’m going to get a pen and paper, and do some ciphering. I'll take a crack at doing this in my head... 0.5 MPH/second? I'm thinking if a train decelerates linearly (an ASSump...

I... don't recall there ever being an inspection! Though I only worked there for about a year and a half. The unit wasn't in any packaging... but I think it was in the bottom of a file cabinet covered in dust. I will say I've owned cars in this state for over 40 years and never had that test perform...

While I go grab some popcorn, I'll leave this here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/232.103 For what it's worth (approximately zero), around 1,000 years ago when I worked as a mechanic I used to do the annual automotive inspections required by my state. The law required, and we possessed, wh...

Thankfully, I had the lasagna.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/unit ... n-airport/

https://www.koin.com/news/alaska-airlin ... -portland/

Something I thought of re braking... take a look at this (what I think is typical for the USA) attachment of a railroad rail to a tie: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Dogspike-on-wooden.jpg The rail is restrained vertically by lying on the tie (downward) and the spike (upward, in...

When you thought that the 737-MAX was the Frankenstein of the planes... Here you have the new NASA / Boeing MD-C-152-737. https://www.infobae.com/america/ciencia-america/2024/03/08/la-nasa-mostro-un-anticipo-del-avion-cero-emisiones-que-prepara-junto-a-boeing/ That's very cool... NASA has figured o...

And it seems Boeing has joined the very exclusive FUBAR-itude club that is organizations featured on John Oliver's show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8oCilY4szc

To be fair, a lot of people have experimented with alternate means of stopping trains, like putting buses or tractor-trailers in front of them, and it never seems to work very well.

It's a bunch of people who have convinced themselves that all politicians are s**theads, and somehow think that electing the worst s**thead they can find to office will somehow improve things.

Hard to say who would want to buy it. It isn't really near anything, other than a muddy bend in the Missouri River.

In fairness, isn't that true of all of St Louis?

They do have this cool arch that according to at least one person, could be used as a runway if laid on its side.

Not aviation-related but funny: https://www.reddit.com/r/tires/comments ... s_to_pass/

Lots more in the same vein in that subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comme ... ine_flush/

The comments...

One excellent video here on the door plug accident. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROeGKs4xTfs Indeed! I know some are not fond of how drawn-out some of Mentour's videos are, but I have to say I'm impressed with the effort and research that go into them, and the production values have reached quit...

I wonder if anyone has checked to see whether the doors are properly attached.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shittyaskflyin ... _approach/

LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16loqtKr4So

Huge bonus: a pretty realistic AI-generated 3-holer.

Not a train expert, but I read that trains have brakes on all wheels which are spring loaded in the "max braking" position and the spring is resisted by air pressure. So for normal braking you release part of the pressure and then re-pressurize the lines to release the brakes (there are b...

I saw something last night that reminded me that, in spite of lousy customer service, relentless pushing, not_doors sometimes falling off aeroplanies, and squid-related conspiracies, flying can sometimes be enjoyable.

This is said thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSz0vhVOcGk

Good point! According to the intarwebz, COF is around 0.5 for a dry rail, 0.3 for wet, and a bit less if frost is present. I know leaves can also have an effect but couldn't find a number for that condition, probably because it's so variable. Dumb question but, do trains have brakes on all the wheel...