The railroad thread...

[digger]

Here ya go Tom, LOL

 

[dschwandt]

At the Allegheny Portage R/R museum near Summit, PA

 

[tsteinman]

The LAFAYETTE steam locomotive built by Norris was THE locomotive in it's day. All others followed it's lead. There's older, but the LAFAYETTE model is an engineering marvel. The Norris Co. folded after the Civil War. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Heading DOWN the mountain from Whitehorse to Skagway, Alaska. June 2011. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Ethanol can't be shipped in Pipelines. It's called 'Stress Corrosion Cracking'. Railcars are specially made to withstand the Chemistry of Ethanol. Think about THAT the next time you fill up with Cornahol. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Railroad Ties made of Pre-stressed Concrete. What's the deal? They last a very long time and handle the heavier Railcars of the 21st Century. Weighing about 800/lbs each, they contain a lattice of reinforcing wires. They are laid down by a huge machine on rails that injects them beneath the rail on-the-go. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[kide]

They did a lot of updating of the road in the Bushnell to Dade City to Plant City Florida stretch a year or so ago, first I'd seen of the concrete ties. BTW, that's the route the Orange Blossom Special runs...

 

[tsteinman]

Can Something be TOO good? Concrete Railroad ties are brutally hard. That was a problem. Roughened on the bottom to grip the underlying rocks beneath them wasn't enough. Coal dust, when wetted by rain, acted as a lubricant, making the concrete ties 'scoot' out on the curves when a speeding train passed over them. Massive train wrecks resulted. Back to the drawing boards. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

#4 Back to the Roundhouse for the night. A Vulcan Locomotive built 1916. Working near Laona,Wisc. in 2008. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

This Railcar, a drop-deck weighs about 250,000/lbs. Can carry a load of 685,000/lbs. Bumping 1Million/lbs loaded. Owned by Kasgro,'Red n Ready' is their motto. Nuclear reactors, Turbines, refinery loads usually. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Off-center loads need to be counter-balanced. Easies way is too fill drums with Redi-mix concrete til everything balances 'just right'. Tricky. This one grossed at 900,000/lbs on the wheels. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[wshytle]

Tom-

Here's a video that came up and I thought about this thread. I'm sure you've seen it but I found it quite interesting/impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofaQ2DdhN3k

.

 

[tsteinman]

Wayne & others. Most people do NOT know that Railroads in USA are totally private companies, like a Wal-Mart or Delta Airlines. All that land crisscrossing the Continent is taxed, the rails and ties and Locomotives and workers are paid by them. We railroaders don't pay into Social Security...and the list goes on. Then AMTRAK..formed by the US Gov't. pays a small fee to run AMTRAK trains on that private track. And AMTRAK still can't make money. Jeeze, anyway.

 

[joligschlaeger]

I was impressed, could watch all day!

 

[kide]

Tom - there's got to be some kind of weight limit - right? Based on per axle or something??

 

[eford]

My understanding is its mostly the rail. I've heard 100 pound rail before and have been told its weight of rail per foot, how much it can handle per square inch and much more that doesn't make sense. I'd like to hear from a pro for sure

 

[tsteinman]

ANSWERS: Yes. and Yes. Axle load is THE issue of course. That is 286,000/lb. for a plain vanilla 4-axle railcar. Bridge limit and Rail strength/weight is the ultimate stopper for extreme weight loads. In about 1991 North Amer. Railroads upp'ed the bearing and wheel specs effective immediately to allow bigger standard railcars from 268,000 to 286,000/lb. Whyso?? The Big Boys laid heavier rail and fixed a Helluva lot of bridges. Lotsa little Railroads sold out to the Big Boys or got tore up as a result. Modern, heavy rail is 133/lbs per yard. Union Pacific and BNSF buy 'Premium' Rail that weighs 141/lbs per yard of length. Switchyard rails are still about 90/lbs. per yard, so we go slow there. GOOGLE up Schnabel Car. It 'Grosses Out' at 2,800,000/lbs. Hauls Nuclear Reactors etc. etc. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

This is about it for Heavy Axle Loads. Bigger than this gets spooky because they need 'Side-shift' capability when rounding curves. Back-of-Napkin guesstimate sez 420/Ton gross when loaded?? Locomotiveman Tom

 

[aschumacher]

Aw Tom, those little things are no fun at all! People have to look up that Schnabel car to see something gigantic! As a point of reference, an HO scale of that car is $329 dollars in a hobby shop!

 

[tsteinman]

Good a time as any for Railroad Bridge stories. If you don't wanna believe em'. Fine. Don't believe em'.
#1. A Big load came thru town, 'Ooops'..it won't fit thru the Curved Overhead Steel Truss River Bridge'. Quick-thinker called HQ and then HQ called a local road builder with coupla CAT excavators. With 2 very strong cables they literally pulled the top of the Bridge over 6" so the load could squeeze thru.
#2 When extremely high Floodwaters threaten to topple Railroad Bridges into the river Railroads park a very long train loaded with rock on the bridge with the train extending well beyond the bridge's ends. Then we tie the brakes REALLY, REALLY tight. 'If she goes..she goes'. But usually it works. If not, all they lost is some rocks and junk rock cars. Locomotiveman Tom