Bang capsule
A detonator is a small explosive device that is attached to railroad tracks and explodes with a loud bang as soon as it is run over by a rail vehicle. Three blast capsules, placed one behind the other, were used to give trains an emergency stop order.
commitment
Blast capsules are used when dangerous areas need to be secured and there is no longer enough time for other signaling or when there is a risk that another signal cannot be perceived by train personnel, for example due to fog or blowing snow. In order to give the bang signal , several (usually three) bang capsules are placed in quick succession at a sufficient distance in front of the danger point. Even the explosion of a single blast capsule was considered a stop signal.
history
Preforms
In the early days of the railway, train journeys were secured by driving at intervals. If a train in front got stuck, the next train had to be warned. One employee had the task of running towards the next train and giving it a stop signal with a flag or a light. That was very risky - especially when visibility was poor. In Great Britain some railways had the rule to warn the next train or if, for example, B. the track in the opposite direction was also affected by a derailment , to ignite a fire in the respective track with embers from the firing of the locomotive in the track. That wasn't particularly gentle on the wooden sleepers. These primitive procedures were superseded when Edward Alfred Cowper invented the pop capsule in 1841. It quickly spread to all railways, including mainland Europe.
Germany
On the Prussian State Railways , the bang capsules had to be carried in the baggage car . In 1903, for example, it was stipulated that two packs of six pop capsules each had to be kept in stock. Also gatekeepers keep had detonators stock.
Since the change in the railway signaling order on July 8, 1986, the Sh 4 bang signal no longer exists in Germany . A few years earlier, no blasting capsules were carried on the trains. In 1992 the signal was abolished for all of Germany.
Other states
In the UK, France and Belgium , trains still have to carry bangers. In the USA , they are even still used in timetable-and-train-order operations for following- up protection on trains that are slow to stop or slow down.
hazards
Popcaps are dangerous goods. They are classified in hazardous goods class 1 (explosive solid substances), the UN numbers for bang capsules are 0192, 0193, 0492 and 0493. Special regulations apply to storage and handling, so the storage containers for blast capsules in the locomotives are usually sealed .
Trivia
To say goodbye to train drivers in France, bang capsules are used in an ironic way. When entering the last train station, several bang capsules are placed and further emergency stop orders may be given. This is to indicate to the train driver that he should finally stop here and not drive any further.
Web links
- Use of bang caps for a celebration of the retirement of the train driver, which is common in France .
- Victor von Röll : Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1923 ( zeno.org [accessed on May 13, 2019] Lexicon entry "Knallsignale").
Individual evidence
- ^ Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt : Red for Danger . Edition: London 1978, p. 34.
- ↑ Announcement No. 207, p. 188. In: Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Collection of the published Official Gazettes 7 (1903). Mainz 1904. Official Gazette of April 4, 1903. No. 18.
- ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of April 18, 1931, No. 20. Announcement No. 294, p. 146.
- ↑ BGBl. 1986 I p. 1012
- ↑ When the detonator disappeared . In: DB World . No. 7 , 2016, p. 4 .