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QUESTION:OB computers:
Modern loks are full of 'em. it was 10 years ago i was on an
EMD proto woth two, three if the 'laptop' for development interface
was counted (it wasn't what one would now call a laptop...). And
all the 'lets build a modernr steam lok projects call for 'puters
to 'optimize performance and emissions'.
ANSWER: I picked up a copy of "Railway Age", which is the professional magazine
for the railroading industry. In years past it would have many photos and
descriptions of heavy equipment used by the industry, from locomotives
and railcars to maintenance equipment (both for shop and track).
Dramatic photos of a heavy train tearing down the line.
But now it looks no different than an issue of PC Week. Lots of pictures
of computer systems, that now control and drive the heavy maintenance
equipment and trains. Even the newest locomotives have consoles that
look like an airplane cockpit. (Oh yes, airplanes are computerized too,
with joysticks and CRTs instead of the old style barage of dials.)
At an open house, one trolley system had displays of the logic
boards used in the streetcars. (They were upgrading from 1980's
boards that used a Z-80 chip to more sophisticated ones.)
In the old days, the control circuitry of trains and equipment had
big heavy power relay networks. The relays would operate in a
controlled sequence. The control "logic" for this sequencing was a
key electrical engineering invention and evolved into sophisticated
designs over the years, with GE and Westinghouse competing systems
as well as an industry lab (the PCC).
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