Was looking at the big old hydraulic buffers at Waterloo when I was there on the weekend, and thinking about that recent accident in Argentina... I realised that the Waterloo buffers with their two cylinder design they were designed for older trains that actually had the traditional 2 buffers at the end, however modern rolling stock just has a central coupling connector.
I wonder, how efficient will these hydraulic cylinders be at stopping a train now? They have had a heavy beam welded between them, but surely, in the event of an impact, the beam would distort in the middle, as that is where the impact would occur, at the very least the hydraulic would possibly not be as effective as it is not receiving a direct impact along the line of the piston, but instead receiving an off-centre force... or am I wrong?
Would they be better replaced with a single, central cylinder, as you see often on stations elsewhere in the world?
p.s excuse my non technical vocabulary, I'm not an engineer (in case you couldn't guess!)
I wonder, how efficient will these hydraulic cylinders be at stopping a train now? They have had a heavy beam welded between them, but surely, in the event of an impact, the beam would distort in the middle, as that is where the impact would occur, at the very least the hydraulic would possibly not be as effective as it is not receiving a direct impact along the line of the piston, but instead receiving an off-centre force... or am I wrong?
Would they be better replaced with a single, central cylinder, as you see often on stations elsewhere in the world?
p.s excuse my non technical vocabulary, I'm not an engineer (in case you couldn't guess!)