Patent ID: 7152888

Claim:
A system for assessing a health and functionality of a locomotive friction modifying system wherein the locomotive has a friction modifying applicator associated with a wheel of the locomotive for applying a friction modifying agent to a rail on which the wheel is traversing, the system comprising: a sensor for detecting a predetermined operational condition of the locomotive; a controller associated with the sensor and responsive to input from the sensor for determining a per unit creep of an axle of the locomotive, determining a tractive effort of the axle of the locomotive, determining a friction modifying applicator state for the applicator associated with the axle, and comparing the determined per unit creep of the axle, the tractive effort of the axle and the state of the friction modifying applicator associated with the axle to an adhesion characteristic indicative of whether the friction modifying agent is being applied to the rail to provide a desired level of adhesion and providing an indication of whether the locomotive friction modifying system is applying friction modifying agent to the rail as a function of the comparison.