Double Traction: chapter five accompanying blog post

Because these are fun to write as well. Yay for nerding.

And we're finally back where the whole saga began, out on the tracks, bound for Frankfurt. About time, really.
Even the soundtrack from back then fits :)

First of all, here is the Gevrey-Chambertin hub that is our departure point this time:

The train setup for this chapter that was described at the end of chapter four: double traction with two Traxx 186. I don't have any nighttime or automotive transport pictures, but the configuration (the ECR engine in front of the DB engine) looks like this:

And an image of Trax and Schencker, having a daytime nap.

For those who want a high-res view, it's here and it's beautiful ;)

I also found a nice image of Trax's driver's cab view.

And last but not least, something I also put in the author's note on top of the new chapter:
an explanation of a train safety feature that has a role to play in this chapter. Since I don’t want Nightline to launch into a technical explanation of something that is second nature to her, as if she knew there was someone reading her inner monologue, I’ll do it here:

While the fully automated ETCS (European train control system) is currently being rolled out EU-wide, many countries still retain their own, simpler systems for now. Germany’s system is called Sifa (the acronym for 'Sicherheitsfahrschaltung, which translates to ‘safety drive switch’), intended to bring the train to an immediate halt if the driver loses consciousness for whatever reason.

The driver has to press a pedal in  short, regular intervals. If it’s not done on time, the system will give a single warning in the form of a loud “Sifa!” (pronounced see-fah), before it initiates an emergency braking a few seconds later. Trax is equipped with both ETCS (for all French tracks and German ICE corridors) and Sifa, exclusively for Germany.

P.S.: I hope I'm not getting on my dear readers' nerves with railway signalling details in the text. It's very hard to resist constantly filling those in, especially since I have two countries' systems to play with. I usually end up removing two thirds during editing.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy/did enjoy the chapter.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

And what does “Sifa” mean? "Hey!"?

[Celefin]

5148967
Sifa means "Sicherheitsfahrschaltung betaetigen!"
But yeah. "Hey!" is the actual meaning in this case I guess. Or "Hey, press that button you numpty!"

[Reese]

Thanks!

re the PS:
I mean, part of the reason I'm following the story is for the railway stuff... :)

[Venerable Ro]

5148971

Ah, good old German, never use one syllable if twenty will do.

[DiscoPanda84]

Germany’s system is called Sicherheitsfahrschaltung (translates to ‘safety drive switch’), intended to bring the train to an immediate halt if the driver loses consciousness for whatever reason.

The driver has to press a pedal in short, regular intervals. If it’s not done on time, the system will give a single warning in the form of a loud “Sifa!” (pronounced see-fah), before it initiates an emergency braking a few seconds later.

Sounds a lot like a fancied-up version of a dead-man's switch. (Or would that be a dead-mare's switch, in this case?)

[Celefin]

5148978

I mean, part of the reason I'm following the story is for the railway stuff

Heh, just trying to keep a balance here. But yeah, researching and correctly implementing the railway stuff is more than half the fun of writing this story. At least I got some remote control magnetic relays into it this time around!

5148980
I love German. It is so incredibly exact and organised.

[Celefin]

5148984

fancied-up version of a dead-man's switch

Which it is. It is also called a 'Totmannschaltung', a direct translation. But that word is easier to spell and has fewer syllables than 'Sicherheitsfahrschaltung' and is thus just not good enough to be used in an official safety application...

[MrZJunior]

5148986
One of the things Joseph Conrad said he liked about English was that you did not need to be precise. You could just sort of say whatever you like and it will probably work out.

[Aster Viridian]

I think the signalling is probably just about right as it is. It's funny that you're removing so many though. I'm a pretty big train geek myself, but as you said, balance and all that.

But anyway, I love all these little tidbits about the train systems! I mostly know about American systems, so this is really interesting.

[Alkarasu]

Oh noes! The nerding!
Totally worth it for "Sicherheitsfahrschaltung" word alone, though.

[Andrew-R]

Sicherheitsfahrschaltung

from what I can see (from wikipedia) this is actual word o.O Sounds like trainwreck o.O At least from written form and function (well, this should prevent them). And this is human language! (I mean simplest explanation for dialects sounds easy - just small accumulating difference in how we say things, imperfection of some sorts. But why some languages developed themselves in such strange manner??)

[Celefin]

5157734

But why some languages developed themselves in such strange manner?

Well... the same could be said about English, couldn't it? How do you even communicate in something so vague, frequently ambivalent and mish-mashed together from so many other languages. Yet I find it elegant and beautiful in the brevity it can achieve. Also best language to sing in.

Just like I love German for its accuracy and the way it's so systematic, perfect for science writing. And poetry, actually.
Oh, one of the best things that you'll totally love... Modular nouns.

See, Sicherheitsfahrschaltung is built with three words: Sicherheit, fahren, Schaltung (safety, driving, switch). You want to describe the manual for the use of the pedal in front of the driver's seat that the driver has to press in regular intervals but don't want to use a whole sentence (but still be neat and exact)? German has you covered.

Behold: Sicherheitsfahrschaltungspedalbedienungsanleitung.
(Safety-drive-switch-pedal-manual). Yes, this is grammatically correct and you could use it without (most) people batting an eyelid. You probably wouldn't, but you could. You can play a game between people where everybody tries to add another noun to the starting word while still producing something that is correct and has an actual meaning.

Behold #2: Sicherheitsfahrschaltungspedalbedienungsanleitungausgabenverzeichnisnummer.
(Safety-drive-switch-pedal-manual-version-registry-number). Stupid, but entirely correct.

Anyway.

[Andrew-R]

5157980
Last one looks a bit too long to pronounce with just one breath :D
guess such word-building actually depend on context - so you can dissect super-long-word in mostly deterministic way?

[Celefin]

5157987

Last one looks a bit too long to pronounce with just one breath

Practice :b

guess such word-building actually depend on context

Pretty much, at least the longer ones. Whenever you need very specific words to remove ambiguity or would otherwise need a whole descriptive sentence. The massive thing from my example is just for fun, no-one would ever use a monstrosity like that. Not even half the length.