Given their length, freight train locomotives are often far from the caboose or EOT/FRED. When a train without a caboose is passing through an area with a low speed limit, can it start to speed up when it passes the point where the engine passes a point where a higher speed is allowed, or does the engineer have to estimate when the end of the train has passed the point where the higher speed limit is in effect?
I would think that, if the speed limit is in effect for a sharp turn, a bridge, or a similar hazard, that the last car would have to pass the danger point before it could speed up. OTOH, if the slow speed is for a blind crossing, then it would seem that once the engines passed it, the train could start to speed up, since anyone approaching the crossing would be able to see the train already moving through it.
Although I've put this in the miscellaneous discussion area, I would suppose it would also apply to Auto-Train, since it is rather long.
I would think that, if the speed limit is in effect for a sharp turn, a bridge, or a similar hazard, that the last car would have to pass the danger point before it could speed up. OTOH, if the slow speed is for a blind crossing, then it would seem that once the engines passed it, the train could start to speed up, since anyone approaching the crossing would be able to see the train already moving through it.
Although I've put this in the miscellaneous discussion area, I would suppose it would also apply to Auto-Train, since it is rather long.