pantograph disengagement

[miyakoji]

In this video by youtube contributor RAILWAYMOVIES, you can see some dramatic movement of the pantograph which seems to start with some sparking (:17 to :33).

 

 

The headlights stay on, I assume that's some kind of auxiliary power, but there can't be any traction power at this point, right?

 

Also, enjoy the snow scenery! 

[cteno4]

Nice video! They refrain from trying to pan all the time and rely on nice framing and movement to do the work.

 

Must be some form of aux power. One of the othe sequences has the pantograph down as well.

 

Jeff

[westfalen]

The headlights probably switch to the batteries if overhead power is lost or cut momentarily when passing through a neutral section, all our units in Brisbane do this except the original EMU's which lose the headlights although the ditchlights stay on. All EMU's and electric locos have batteries to power vital systems for a time if the overhead power is lost and also for when starting up until the pans are raised, for example on our units the batteries run the auxiliary compressor to provide air to raise the pans.

 

The thing that alarmed me a bit on the video was that after dropping initially the pan raised to contact the overhead again which could be a recipe for entangling the wires and bringing them down, usually when a pan drops past a certain point automatically locks down until raised again, this one doesn't fully retract, it just bobs up and down. I wish the camera had panned around to see what happened next, did the train eventually stop after passing the camera? That aside, I wonder if the driver, intentionally or otherwise, hit 'big red' as we call the emergency button that drops the pans. If a driver sees an obstruction or problem with the overhead he can drop the pans and coast past, maybe this is what is going on here but we are told never to raise the pans again while in motion for the reason above. JR's rules may be different however, I have seen it done in France.

[Densha]

Nice video indeed!

 

But the pantograph scared me too, I'm curious about what happened next.

About those headlights: there are certain bridges in the Netherlands that don't have overhead wires and trains drop the pantograph also before they pass it, some of the new SLT EMU's here don't like that and sometimes just completely shut down after the pantograph has been lowered, but all other trains just pass it as if the wire is still hanging because of the batteries.