"MENTOR" Coach - What does it do?

[SpacePhoenix]

I believe the MENTOR coach is used for testing new OLE but what gets measured by it?

 

[broadgage]

Various parameters, including height of contact wire, amount of force exerted on the pantograph, the degree of left/right stagger in the contact wire. and also is equipped with several high quality cameras to "film" the contact wire/pantograph interaction.
IIRC the test coach can also impose a variable electrical load on the overhead so as to simulate the current drawn by different types of locomotive or EMU and measure the voltage under load.

 

[Harbornite]

This gives me an excuse to dig out my pic of it... taken today at Kings Norton on its way back from Reading.

It's getting on a bit, I saw in one of Philip Phlopp's posts that it's 61 years old.

 

[dubscottie]

There is a brief bit in this film about MENTOR. (12 min mark)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6PxAKuRBtI

 

[SpacePhoenix]

How much of it's functionality is covered by the Flying Banana?

 

[swt_passenger]

How much of it's functionality is covered by the Flying Banana?

IIRC most of the position measurements, cos the NMT also has a pantograph coach, although it doesn't take any power from the OHL.

However, I don't think Mentor actually emulates an EMU or loco electrical load in the way suggested above.

My reasoning is that it would have to be able to dissipate vast amounts of power in some sort of load bank to simulate a loco or EMU, and I don't think such a load bank is present in the coach. I'd expect the Mentor coach to be able to draw enough current to verify the contact is good, but that would be all.

 

[ainsworth74]

It's getting on a bit, I saw in one of Philip Phlopp's posts that it's 61 years old.

That would surely be that the coach is 61 years old but the equipment it uses is rather considerably newer?

 

[gsnedders]

How much of it's functionality is covered by the Flying Banana?

Or, at least for me, the more interesting question is: what functionality does it have that the Flying Banana doesn't?

 

[Domh245]

That would surely be that the coach is 61 years old but the equipment it uses is rather considerably newer?

Only if you count 21 years difference as considerably!

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=2634977&postcount=118

 

[Supercoss]

http://www.traintesting.com/Mentor.htm