Regenerative train braking, was one for the theologians out there

[Robert Leone]

Dear Randonneurs:
I am informed by knowledgeable sources (it came up during a facilities
tour at the main San Diego Trolley base) the most recent two generations
of San Diego Trolleys feed their regenerative brake energy back into the
power grid. The first generation of trolley cars do have dynamic
braking, but they don't feed the energy anywhere -- these cars are still
in service, some of them are almost thirty years old.
That's not a real problem -- as your local railfans can tell you,
rolling stock can last, in service, for decades with regular upkeep.
Sort of like bikes.

Robert Leone

[Charles Coldwell]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 1:03 PM, Robert Leone <rob_...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Dear Randonneurs:
>        I am informed by knowledgeable sources (it came up during a facilities
> tour at the main San Diego Trolley base) the most recent two generations
> of San Diego Trolleys feed their regenerative brake energy back into the
> power grid.

Some electrified railroads would schedule their trains such that one
was going up the mountain at the same time another was going down, and
the regenerative breaking from the latter would supply some large
fraction of the power required for the former. I don't think this
worked very well outside of Switzerland, because nobody else could
keep their schedules with the required precision.

--
Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
Winchester, Massachusetts, New England (FN42kk)

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