Patent ID: 7299751

Claim:
A releasable retarder for resisting movement of railway cars moving along first and second running rails of a section of railway track, said releasable retarder comprising: first and second shoe beams supported adjacent to said running rails; a plurality of pairs of shoes carried by said shoe beams in a parallel, spaced relation with the first and second running rails; a bias structure biasing the shoe beams toward the running rails, trapping wheels of a railway car entering the retarder between the running rails and the shoes carried by the shoe beams and applying a frictional force to the railway car wheels for slowing or stopping the railway car; and an operating mechanism for moving the shoe beams between a home position in which the shoes are positioned to engage the railway car wheels, and a release position in which the bias force is released, allowing the railway car to move freely through the retarder.