I love the fall. But I hate the leaves!

Sure, they look pretty as they change colors, but when those leaves are spent and fall to the ground, they present real problems for travelers.

Whether you rake your leaves yourself or have someone “blow” them for you, disposing of leaves is a hassle.

Growing up (many years ago) I remember we used to burn our leaves, heedless to the air pollution and health effects. A better alternative is to use a mulching-mower and just grind up the leaves on your lawn, providing much-needed nutrients to your soil. Or try composting them on your own property.

In most towns leaves must be bagged and left curbside for pick-up. In other towns, like Stamford, Middletown and Farmington, you can just rake the leaves into a pile at the curb, loose, and the town will vacuum them up… eventually. Often however, the piles of leaves left curbside get rained on, creating a giant soggy mess, blocking parking and leading to slippery roads. At speeds of 40–45mph, it can take up to three times longer to stop on wet leaves compared to dry pavement, with stopping distance increasing from about 80 feet to over 200–250 feet.

But the slippery, almost winter-like driving conditions caused by wet leaves also affect our trains. Their wheels also slip on wet leaves and the trains’ “brains” sense it and go into emergency braking. You’ll know this is happening when the trains suddenly “dump their air”, and brake quickly.

Usually it’s just a minute or so to reset the computer and you carry on. But as in a real emergency, braking and stopping distance are quickly diminished. Which is why railroads take a number of defensive steps to literally clear the tracks.

So bad was the leaf slime problem in years past that Metro-North would have 25% of its fleet out of service as the trains’ brakes locked the wheels to a stop, grinding flat spots on the wheels, requiring repairs.

This is especially a problem on the Danbury branch, a 397-foot uphill climb from Norwalk to “The Hat City”. Often, locomotive-pulled trains couldn’t get enough traction so that they had to skip stations like Cannondale just to keep momentum to climb uphill.

You see, on a diesel locomotive there are only eight traction wheels making contact with the rails. But on the electric M8 cars, every car is a locomotive, so contact with the wheels is spread across the entire train, increasing traction…another good reason to re-electrify the Danbury branch.

In years past the railroad used high-pressure water jets to blast the slippery leaf pectin from the rails. But now they have resorted to lasers.

Metro-North’s Laser Train uses high-intensity lasers to remove this contaminated layer in a single pass at speeds up to 60 mph, allowing Metro-North to clean the entire network at least once a day. The train is a rare sight, usually operating overnight to clear the tracks in time for the morning rush hour.

Last year the Laser Train saw a 40% reduction in leaf-related “slip slide” events, leading to the lowest wheel-regrinding costs on record.  

So enjoy the fall and the beauty of the foliage. But beware the dangers, whether driving or training, of “slip sliding away.”