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DMiller

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The Milw Road power was Catenary System. Used DC 600v, current locomotives make 600v AC.

would be easier to rebuild a all electric rail system than rely on battery fed trucks.
 

digger doug

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A electric drive at 0 rpm has it's most torque, the faster it goes the less power it has. When a ev truck is at highway speeds it will be at it's lower power rating, hence my saying of electric hp is different than diesel hp.

You guys should watch a 80 HP stream engine do a sled pull, it will beat diesel engines with 2-3x more power. 80 HP at 60 rpm is quite a different monster than diesel, the same goes for electric.

If you put a 500 HP Tesla truck at 60 mph then have it take a hill and compare it to a 500 HP diesel with weights bring the same, the diesel will kill it, now put both trucks at the middle of the hill at 0 mph, the Tesla will kill the diesel
Doo you fully understand how a 4400 hp - 6000 hp locomotive works ?
 

John C.

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Horsepower is horsepower no matter how it is developed. Torque is the ability to turn or rotate. The difference between an internal combustion engine and an electric motor is the motor can produce 100% of its rated torque at zero RPM while an internal combustion engine has to be turning at some rotational speed in order to produce any torque.

I understand the limitation of the speed and torque output of an electric motor but a variable gear ratio device could be installed between the motor and the drive output to maximize that torque. There are also new motors coming out all the time now that may increase efficiency and control heat better. I've heard a couple of engineers say that "if it can be imagined, it can be built."
 

Truck Shop

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The Milwaukee line had transformer/storage buildings on both sides of a grade. Power used to climb
the grade was stored from the train that previously came down. Rejuvenation it was called at the time.
 

Steve Frazier

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LaGrangeville, N.Y.
On a smaller scale one of the national snack food companies replaced about half of their route trucks (think step van size) at the local warehouse with electric vehicles. The manufacturer looked at their routes and assured them these new trucks were up to the task. Not so much. A buddy had one of those routes and he told me 75% of the trucks were being towed or limped back with no heat or lights to the warehouse with depleted batteries.

The fleet of trucks where I used to work rarely sat more than 20 minutes before another driver was taking it back out on another run. They got pulled in for PM service when scheduled but other than that they ran hard. Having to sit and charge for several hours wouldn't have worked at this operation. These may have their place but I think it will still be some time before they outnumber fuel powered trucks.
 

Truck Shop

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The fleet of trucks where I used to work rarely sat more than 20 minutes before another driver was taking it back out on another run.

Called {Slip seating}.

Especially if you spell do with two "oo"'s. It lessens my confidence in your intellectual status when you misspell things.

Oh no a spel Nazi in our midst.
 
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redneckracin

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Speaking of diesel electric as a stepping stone, anyone have any first hand experience with that Cat D7E dozer with the electric drive? I know the locomotives use that setup and a dozer is a lot closer to a truck than a locomotive is.
 

digger doug

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Please, please tell me you're not the guy that's going to explain everything to us.

Especially if you spell do with two "oo"'s. It lessens my confidence in your intellectual status when you misspell things.
Nope, I won't spill the beans, google is your friend, why should I waste my time typing out a personalized response to an obvious ignorant ?
"Confidence" ? You have an odd way of vetting someone's information sir.

FWIW your posting is plain wrong, filled with several major mistakes. But not a single mis-spelling.

Spelling "Doo" that way is a joke. Over your head, but a Joke nonetheless.
 
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terex herder

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Kansas
I am told all trains have problems starting uphill when stopped on a grade. The slack in the couplers is an important feature to starting a train, it allows the engine to start one car at a time rather than starting all the cars at once. When the train stops on a grade, there is no slack in the couplers due to gravity pulling the cars down hill.
 

DMiller

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Railroads are using a new ideology, placing engines both ends and some center called distributed power where that seems to eliminate the slack coupler and ripped apart or failed couplers of the past. Also aids in getting long trains moving as are pulled and pushed.
 

John C.

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Huge haul trucks had trouble starting out in heavy pull years ago as they had DC systems. As far as I know now, most are AC systems. There was a coal mine in this state that couldn't run the larger trucks until the Haulpak line came in with the AC systems.
 

suladas

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Canada
I am told all trains have problems starting uphill when stopped on a grade. The slack in the couplers is an important feature to starting a train, it allows the engine to start one car at a time rather than starting all the cars at once. When the train stops on a grade, there is no slack in the couplers due to gravity pulling the cars down hill.

Also it's crazy how much more they can pull with 2 hooked together. I worked for rail company for a bit many years ago, and with less then 10 cars 1 locomotive wasn't able to do it, but 2 together can do far more then double. Granted they were really old engines only used in the yard for switching. It is insane how much power they have. 1 car weights almost double any non overweight truck on the road. The couplers would be a huge help getting it rolling, but still pulling that kind of weight up in the mountains it's all based on power. It's insane how much they can pull compared to a truck. Basically replacing 250 semis with 2-4 locomotives depending on the route.
 

DMiller

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Coal trains coming from Mid WY to here can be 150 cars long, will have two lead, one mid and two tailing engines. Each Car has 80 Long Tons coal in it(2200# LT) PRB dirt burns, just not very well, has 2/3 the btu value of Hard Coals and about twice as much contaminates that slag out.
 
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