What is Retarder?
{{Unsourced|date=August 2015}} [[Image:Balkenbremse1.JPG|thumb|300px|The retarders hold the sides of the [[wheel]]s on passing cars to slow them down.]] In [[rail transport]], a '''retarder''' is a [[device]]{{Disambiguation needed|date=June 2024}} put in a [[classification yard]] used to slow down the [[speed]] of freight cars as they are sorted into [[train]]s. Each retarder has a [[series]] of stationary [[brake]]s around a short section of each rail on the [[rail tracks|track]] that hold and slow the cars' wheels through [[friction]] as they roll through them. Modern retarders are [[computer]] worked to have the perfect amount of pressure on the wheels so that cars rolling down a yard's hump are slowed to a safe speed for coupling with cars already standing on the yard's tracks. {{transport-stub}} [[Category:Trains]]