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Bus overload
Again not quite the right location, but about twenty years ago a work colleague was sent 'out East' to investigate brake 'failures' on buses supplied by our company (CKD).
On his return we were keen to hear of his findings. For a couple of hours he sat speechless, shaking his head. Eventually we learned that the terrain was 'severe' with extremely long steep gradients. The passenger (and freight) loads greatly exceeded the design specification, but, in addition, because the operator had experienced brake-fade (not surprising given the overload and extended steep downgradients) he had fitted tanks to carry water which was piped to each wheel and discharged onto the brake drums in an attempt to cool the overheating brakes.
My colleague admitted that he just didn't know where to start as the logic involved by the operator was difficult to fault except that it resulted in the vehicle being grossly overloaded, even before the manner of driving (high speed and out of gear of course) was taken into consideration. How do you persuade the operator to half his GVW?
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