EW> I'd
 EW> love to listen to a hot box detector when a steam enging goes by.
 PK>  When the SP (o.b.m.) used to allow the 4449 to run on the main
 PK>  line in California, they would have a signal maintainer disable
 PK>  the hotbox detectors before the engine arrived.  Turned out that
 PK>  the rulebook did not authorize the dispatcher to allow the crew
 PK>  to disregard a hotbox detector which was set off by a train, and
 PK>  the crew would have had to stop the train and make an inspection.
 PK>  The DS did have the authority to authorize the train to disregard
 PK>  a detector which was out-of-service.
 PK>  It was a full employment act for signal maintainer overtime,
 PK>  because they had to leapfrog each other to keep up with the
 PK>  train.
 
Hi 
I'm a signal maintainer and i can't think of any reason they would have to 
disable a hbd because of a steam engine. the only part which would screw up 
is in the post train analysis where the detector determines what type  of car 
or locomotive went by ( the spacing of the wheels  determines general type of 
car) the only thing it might do is record a speed error. the steam from the 
engine wouldn't really affect it as lots of passenger cars are still steam 
heated. but then again i've never personally seen or heard of one going over 
a hbd as there are no steam trains running in the area i work.
--- Maximus 3.00
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