Fitted, but with what?

It means the train had continuous brakes. Most steam era freight trains consisted of un-braked 4-wheel wagons trundling with a top speed of about

Which meant that the engine had more to do because it was pulling against the brakes but if a coupling broke going up hill the brakes were already on so the wagons wouldn't run backwards.

Similarly if the brakes were off going downhill, the weight of the train could push the engine and cause a runaway. But if they were on they would be providing braking effort that the engine had to overcome.

You used to see signs saying "freight trains must stop and pin down brakes" where it needed to be done.

These days I live in the USA and there are certain black spots where freights regularly run away in spite of having continuous brakes. El Cajon east of Los Angeles comes to mind. There have been several major (fatal) derailments there.

By that time I would think they were all fitted. And mostly air-braked rather than vacuum.

At roughly 15/09/2003 8:32 pm, the person described as Christopher A. Lee stated:

Damn prompt reply there, Christopher! Thanks for that.

Jim (his eyes, open!)

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Pester me, why not: whokid at flywheelnetwork .co .uk

In message , Christopher A. Lee writes

That wouldn't perchance be somewhere near Gilroy, California, would it?

The internet provider is in San Martin, between Gilroy and San Jose. I used to work in Silicon Valley, and when I moved to up-state New York I kept that account because my new provider doesn't carry the uk.* newsgroups.