Insulation value of 90 year old asbestos vs. modern fiberglass

ChrisJ

> @Jamie Hall said:
> The usual 4 axle car is around 140 tons these days. So... you're looking at somewhere around 35 to 40 tons per axle. The biggest diesels run upwards of 300 tons on 6 axles. Under good conditions, with high friction shoes and good track, you can get up to a friction coefficient of 0.3, although 0.1 is more common -- compared to a rubber tire on dry pavement of around 1. Despite that, a train just can't stop that fast -- dump a 10,000 foot, 10,000 plus ton train into emergency at say 69, and she'll take a couple of miles to stop.
>
> And it doesn't matter whether you're in front of it or not... be careful!
>
> Controllng the slack action which @mattmia2 mentions is a fine art.
> And indeed, @ChrisJ , they take a while to get up to speed, too -- even with upwards of 20,000 horsepower pulling and pushing!

What's the "Big Boy"'s horse power? 4884.

Hap_Hazzard

Braking without locking wheels is a fine art too, considering the small area of contact between wheels and rails and the relatively low coefficient of friction of steel on steel. All the things that give trains their low rolling resistance come back to bite them when they need to stop, and if they lock a wheel it gets flat-spotted instantly, and flat spots on train wheels are a real bummer.

Jamie Hall

The 4014's (Big Boy) horsepower is 6,290, with 136,000 pounds maximum tractive effort.

SlamDunk

This topic "went off the rails"!

ChicagoCooperator

Well, "You can't stop a Trane" apparently.

ChrisJ

ChicagoCooperator said:

Well, "You can't stop a Trane" apparently.

Believe it or not, a dog can single-handedly stop a Trane no problem. It just takes a while.

neilc

ChrisJ said:

ChicagoCooperator said:

Well, "You can't stop a Trane" apparently.

Believe it or not, a dog can single-handedly stop a Trane no problem. It just takes a while.

just gotta get a leg up on it