"Wolf Kirchmeir"
I was reading a technical article on line and it seems even my 2" of slack was conservative. The article quotes up to six inches of slack per car or
50 feet 15.24 metres of free slack plus buffing and drawbar slack.When starting a 100 car freight with the locos in notch one, it is quite possible for the front end of the train to be moving at between 10 to 15 mph before the last car begins to move. In the days of cabooses, crewmen were expected to be seated, facing forward, with their backs and heads firmly against the back of their seat in anticipation of the violent snatch of the slack running out. Crewmen were known to be suffer serious injury or even death caused by slack action.
-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -