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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • It was, indeed, on the brake pedal. “Firm” pressure was, indeed, being applied, and the parking brake was set with enough force to prevent movement.

    Without the engine running, there is no vacuum boost on the brakes. “Firm” pressure on the brake pedal is not sufficient to overcome the high torque of a starter motor against first gear, even with an adequately set parking brake as well. If you’re going to insist on having the transmission in gear, the highest gear would be the best alternative to neutral, as it provides the lowest torque fighting the brakes.

    The amount of pressure on the brake pedal needed to stop the vehicle without boosted brakes would better be described as “standing on them like your life depended on it”, but you only asked for “firm”. The measure you have put in place to mitigate the observed danger is demonstrably inadequate, and you have yet to offer any sort of reasoning for your “first gear” suggestion.

    But, this is all a digression. Your position is that the vehicle should be in first gear. The only explanation you have offered for that is the possibility of failing a German driving test. “Preventing Injury or property damage” is a far higher priority than “appeasing some authoritarian twat”, so I’m going to need a better explanation from you for first gear.





  • No. If the clutch is in, there is no need to put in neutral.

    Disagree.

    It is possible for the clutch pedal to fail to disengage a malfunctioning clutch, or for a clutch cable to part while the vehicle is being started. In either case, the vehicle will lurch when in gear and the starter is actuated.

    I know it is possible, because I hit the back wall of a barn with a dump truck when it happened to me.

    Except for emergency scenarios (roll starting, or trying to use the starter motor to move an otherwise disabled vehicle), the transmission should be in neutral when starting, and not shifted out of neutral until the hand brake is released.




  • There’s room for batteries in the rail industry.

    Diesel electrics rely primarily on dynamic braking. To save wear and tear on friction brakes, they convert kinetic energy to electrical, and then to heat in a giant resistor bank.

    Add a couple battery cars, and dynamic braking becomes regenerative braking.

    Theoretically, you could back feed the grid with that electrical energy, but if you do that, the train’s primary braking system is now dependent on a connection to the grid, and that doesn’t seem like a particularly good idea to me. All of the “stop” systems need to be far more reliable than the “go” systems.