Flashing Rear-end Device
The flashing rear-end device, "F.R.E.D. or "FRED," (also called an end-of-train device, ETD or EOT) is an electronic device mounted on the end of freight trains in lieu of a caboose. They are divided into two categories: 'dumb' units which only provide a visible indication of the rear of the train with a flashing red taillight; and 'smart' units which also send back data to the crew in the locomotive via radio-based telemetry. They originated in North America, and are used elsewhere in the world.
Read more about Flashing Rear-end Device: Design and Use, Evolution, Railfan Usage, Other Countries
Famous quotes containing the words flashing and/or device:
“Elvis’ disappearing body is like a flashing event horizon at the edge of the black hole that is America today.”
—Arthur Kroker (b. 1945)
“Irony, forsooth! Guard yourself, Engineer, from the sort of irony that thrives up here; guard yourself altogether from taking on their mental attitude! Where irony is not a direct and classic device of oratory, not for a moment equivocal to a healthy mind, it makes for depravity, it becomes a drawback to civilization, an unclean traffic with the forces of reaction, vice and materialism.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)