A cooling system (100) for a retarding grid (118) having a plurality of resistors (120) and insulators (122) is provided. The cooling system (100) may include a blower (130) configured to actively cool the retarding grid (118) and a controller (134) configured to selectively enable the blower (130). The controller (134) may enable the blower (130) based on thermal characteristics of the resistors (120) and the insulators (122) of the retarding grid (118). The thermal characteristics may include a current resistor temperature and a projected insulator temperature.
