5 ms·

Slip coach

39 points by mxfh 11y ago

Animats 11y ago
Is there some spambot that randomly picks an article from Wikipedia and posts it to YC? (The subject is one of the older bad ideas from British railroad practice, along with brake vans, buffer and chain couplers, and two-axle boxcars. In the US, Congress passed the Railroad Safety Appliance Act in 1893, and by 1900, all railroad cars and engines had to have air brakes and automatic couplers. Because of this forced standardization, boxcars could become much bigger and heavier. The UK and much of the EU still don't have fully standardized automatic couplers for freight trains.)
- beefman 11y ago
  That's interesting but for commuter trains I reckon England has us soundly beat, and has always done. And I hope so. They've been better than the links they've displaced 100% of the time.
- morgante 11y ago
  > Is there some spambot that randomly picks an article from Wikipedia and posts it to YC? If random Wikipedia articles routinely get a lot of upvotes, I'm not sure it's a spambot.
  - mxfh 11y ago
    I'm not sure either; it's kind of random, yet loosely related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10632961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10632961
- karmacondon 11y ago
  Whenever I see wikipedia.org on hn, I know it's going to be something good. So they used to detach cars from moving trains with passengers in them in order to keep the express running? Like, in real life and not in a cartoon? Hacker news, indeed.
guard-of-terra 11y ago
In Russia I believe there are still coaches that are detached from one train and attached to another. This way you can go from Moscow all the way to Bar, Montenegro all in one coach (unless they changed something). Of course, trains do stop before detaching-attaching takes place. They also change axles at gauge border.
- gtufano 11y ago
  In Italy this (not with moving coaches, of course) is business as usual for long range trains going to Sicily. A single train is break up in two after being ferried to Messina by ship, a part going west towards Palermo and a second part going southwest towards Catania.
- atomwaffel 11y ago
  Oh yes, but those are through coaches[1] and they're still fairly common, especially for sleeper trains. The whole fun with slip coaches is that they'd be detached while the train was moving. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_coach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_coach
samdb 11y ago
There must be some form of this still in practice in the UK, though maybe it doesn't do it while in motion. I frequently have to get into a particular set of carriages on my journey home from central London, as the train divides en route.
- arjie 11y ago
  I believe that's a dividing train: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividing_train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividing_train
jgc195 11y ago
Someone's been watching Thomas the Tank Engine! http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duck_and_the_Slip_Coaches http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duck_and_the_Slip_Coaches
mbrownnyc 11y ago
Video of last slip coach in service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NEwrjQtrKo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NEwrjQtrKo

39 points by mxfh 11y ago

Is there some spambot that randomly picks an article from Wikipedia and posts it to YC? (The subject is one of the older bad ideas from British railroad practice, along with brake vans, buffer and chain couplers, and two-axle boxcars. In the US, Congress passed the Railroad Safety Appliance Act in 1893, and by 1900, all railroad cars and engines had to have air brakes and automatic couplers. Because of this forced standardization, boxcars could become much bigger and heavier. The UK and much of the EU still don't have fully standardized automatic couplers for freight trains.)

beefman 11y ago
That's interesting but for commuter trains I reckon England has us soundly beat, and has always done. And I hope so. They've been better than the links they've displaced 100% of the time.
morgante 11y ago
> Is there some spambot that randomly picks an article from Wikipedia and posts it to YC? If random Wikipedia articles routinely get a lot of upvotes, I'm not sure it's a spambot.
- mxfh 11y ago
  I'm not sure either; it's kind of random, yet loosely related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10632961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10632961
karmacondon 11y ago
Whenever I see wikipedia.org on hn, I know it's going to be something good. So they used to detach cars from moving trains with passengers in them in order to keep the express running? Like, in real life and not in a cartoon? Hacker news, indeed.

guard-of-terra 11y ago

In Russia I believe there are still coaches that are detached from one train and attached to another. This way you can go from Moscow all the way to Bar, Montenegro all in one coach (unless they changed something). Of course, trains do stop before detaching-attaching takes place. They also change axles at gauge border.

gtufano 11y ago
In Italy this (not with moving coaches, of course) is business as usual for long range trains going to Sicily. A single train is break up in two after being ferried to Messina by ship, a part going west towards Palermo and a second part going southwest towards Catania.
atomwaffel 11y ago
Oh yes, but those are through coaches[1] and they're still fairly common, especially for sleeper trains. The whole fun with slip coaches is that they'd be detached while the train was moving. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_coach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_coach

samdb 11y ago

There must be some form of this still in practice in the UK, though maybe it doesn't do it while in motion. I frequently have to get into a particular set of carriages on my journey home from central London, as the train divides en route.

arjie 11y ago
I believe that's a dividing train: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividing_train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividing_train

jgc195 11y ago

Someone's been watching Thomas the Tank Engine! http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duck_and_the_Slip_Coaches http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duck_and_the_Slip_Coaches

mbrownnyc 11y ago

Video of last slip coach in service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NEwrjQtrKo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NEwrjQtrKo