Oh, the modeling connection. I'm modeling the Eurostar (Kato N). They are stunning models. Right now I'm working on detailing the interiors a bit.
Jim
Can you get the wrong kind of snow in the tunnel?
Eurostar can
Chris
Does anyone remember when Metro North was shut down for a week because a super fine powder snow got sucked into the traction motors? I wonder if this is what happened to Eurostar.
According to the original article it was electrical problems inside the tunnel brought about by condensation It disn't say whether the actual problem was inside or outside the tunnel. There were five trains inside it when power was lost.
20 or more years ago there had been electric train failures when motors had ingested snow through cooling fans, It was supposed to have been fixed the following winter but they had even more failures due to unusually fine, powdery snow.When a reporter asked the BR spokesman why the fixes hadn't worked he was told "it was the wrong kind of snow" - and the remark passed into railway folk law.
Tread brakes didn't have the problem because the brake blocks scraped the wheels clean. Newer units with disk brakes slipped. Somebody asked the same BR spokesman if it was the wrong kind of leaves.
That's "folklore", unless you're from down east.
(In which case, "folk law" is a perfectly correct phonetic spelling.)
Merry Christmas!
~Pete
A radio report today said that problem was caused by snow getting in through the air grills on the rear power car. When the train entered the tunnel, the snow melted and caused condensation in the motors. This shorted the rear power car causing the break downs. They are now retro fitting finer mesh on the grills and should cure the problem. The spokesman then added "Oink oink squeal snuffle squeak oink wings".
Chris
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