Less Load, More Trouble

Puzzler time.

This one is from long time ago.

Here it is.

Years ago, when railroads still ran steam locomotives, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had a busy freight line running south from Rochester.

On that line, they used a 2-8-2 steam locomotive — two wheels in front, eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels.

A locomotive like this could normally pull a train of 80 fully loaded cars. No problem.

But on this particular run, something strange happened.

If the train had 80 cars, it could make the trip just fine.

But if it had only 60 cars, it couldn’t make it at all.

It needed more cars to succeed.

Not fewer. More.

And the hint is: there was something unusual about the route south of Rochester.

So the puzzler question is:

Why did the locomotive need 80 cars to make the trip, but fail with only 60?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Phantom Battery

Puzzler time.

This was a letter, written to us long ago.

Here it is.

My wife owned a 92 Old Achieva with a five speed manual transmission.

One morning, she's heading out to work, and she comes back into the house and says the car won't start.

I go out and I listen. She tries to start the car. She turns the key, zippo, not even a click.

Being in a hurry, she takes my car, so I put the battery charger on her car, and later in the day, I go out and I started right up. I drive it around a bit to charge the battery. Everything's fine.

The next day, the exact same thing happens. She turns the key, and nothing.

I visit a website, and I find instructions for determining if there's a drain on the battery, There isn't. There is no battery drain.

I go get a new battery and install it. The next day, same problem with the brand new battery.

So we jumped her car to get it running and we take it to the shop.

They call back later to day they could not find anything wrong with the car at all. We told them to let it sit there overnight and try it in the morning, since that is when it always dies for us.

So they did that. They call the next morning to report that the car started right up with no problem.

So we go down to the shop, my wife gets in the car, turns the key, and it won't start for her.

And we're standing there scratching our heads. I don't believe it.

At which point I asked her, did you just buy something for your car?

And she said, yes she did.

And the puzzler question is, what did she buy that was preventing the car from starting?