From: bmoss@grinch.sim.es.com (Brent "Woody" Moss)
Subject: Re: Do trains have radar?
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In article <x!fvt=b@dixie.com>, jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
|> hhtra@usho72.hou281.chevron.com (T.M.Haddock) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> > While taking an extended Easter vacation, I was going north on I-45
|> > somewhere between Centerville, TX and Dallas, TX and I came upon a 
|> > train parked on a trestle with its locomotive sitting directly over
|> > the northbound lanes.  There appeared to be movement within the cab 
|> > and out of curiosity I slowed to 85 to get a better look.  Just as I
|> > passed from underneath the trestle, my radar detector went into full 
|> > alert - all lights lit and all chirps, beeps, and buzzes going strong.
|> > I thought I had been nailed good but no police materialized.
|> 
|> Some, but not all, locomotives have doppler speedometers.  The radar head is 
|> mounted looking down at the ground (to minimize intereference sent and 
|> received) but looking tangentally at a wheel.  These are low power units
|> and typically won't trigger radar detectors unless an unusual situation
|> such as yours arises.
|> 
|> John
|> 
|> -- 
|> John De Armond, WD4OQC               |Interested in high performance mobility?  
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This makes sense(radar pointed down), because almost every train I pass head-on that triggers
my radar detector does so more just after I have passed the front of the engine.
I get a little of the reflections as I am approaching and the instant I get to
the side of the first engine the detector receives a fairly strong signal for
a short time. It happens with just about EVERY train I see.
