Unique things about trains?

Question

Unique things about trains?

Answer 1

gm make motors for trains

the same company that makes cars

Answer 2

A gallon of fuel will move 1 ton of freight 400 miles.

They run equally well in both directions.

They run on rails.

Railroad companies must build and maintain their own infrastructure.  We subsidize the trucking industry through Federal, State, County and Municipal roadway maintenance costs in the form of taxes.

Each train handles differently, as no two are alike.

With very few exceptions, the people who are on the train crew never know with surety when they will be going to work.

People will play "chicken" with a train but would never do the same with a truck on the interstate.

Trains can move just as silently as they do loudly, with the former contributing to a high number of dead and/or dismembered.

Moving at nearly any speed, if the engineer can see you on the tracks, it is already too late to stop for you.

Speaking of stopping, there are four braking systems on a typical freight train:  Engine brakes, train brakes, dynamic brakes and hand brakes, but 1 source of propulsion that is the engine.  A true but little known fact is, if the retarding effort of the braking systems could be transformed into power, there is enough potential in the train to put that train into orbit.

An empty car will stop in 1/3 the distance of a loaded car.

Railroading has a language of its own.  For an example, when arriving at a terminal and being given instructions relative to "yarding" your train, you may hear the Yardmaster say something like,  "6116, line yourself into Rock Pile 23. We'll cut off your shorts and fill you from the rear.  Highball the brakes.  Highball the gates.  Power to the pit."

Translation:  "Put your train into track 23 in that area of the yard commonly reefrred to as the "Rock Pile" (in this particular yard).  A switch engine will take the cars that are staying here off the rear end of your train, and the cars going out with the train will be added to the rear end.  Do not tie any handbrakes.  You don't have to reline the switch after your train has passed over it.  Take your engine to the service facility."  

The slang is the shortest and fastest way to give out the info on crowded radio channels.

Trains don't go looking for people but they are both happy to kill them as well as being ambivalent about doing so.  There is nothing the engineer can do.  Taking action to stop the train in shortest possible distance only results in the engineer knowing he did everything he could to save your life.  It is up to people to stay in the clear...

Answer 3

There fast, long,,,and don;t stop on a dime