Intersting to note that this line was finished so late in time. While most US transcons were finished in the late 1800's,a nd early 1900's, this line wasn't done till 1961. Truth is stranger than fiction! I imagine it is well-engineered, and built to the same specs as the flatland RR. What is the max. curvature in degrees? With that many tunnels, I presume there aren't many slow orders for sharp curves.
Could be "Jesus Cruz". Chinipas bridge was at KM 748.5. We see Km Post 746 in your last photo. Jesus Cruz is supposed to be at Km 748. "Santo Niño" (Holy Child) should be next at Km 737. Ed
There is at least one tunnel that pulls a 180 while climbing and trust me this train was moving at a nice clip. You can estimate the speeds by using the Km Posts and the timestamps in my video clip images all along the route.
The profile I have shows several sections with a max curvature of 9º, and a lot with 8º. What I'm not sure of is whether they go by the same chord length in calculating curvature down here as up north. Let me check on that. Ed
Fantastic! That would match the video perfectly. We passed that village just as we crossed the trestle. THANKS!!!!!!! :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
Okay, curvature NOB is calculated based on a chord length of 100 feet. Curvature SOB is calculated on a chord length of 20 meters, or 65.62 feet. So Mexican curvature is sharper than it appears. That 8º or 9º degree curvature that the profile shows would roughly correspond to 12º to 14º curvature in U.S. terms. I'll sit down and calculate the curvature in US terms tomorrow morning. But for now you can go with 12-14º as max curvature. Regards Ed
Okay, had a chance to some rough calculations. Using a chord length of 65.62', we get the following (approximate) radii for Mexican railway curves of 8º and 9º. 8º = 461' 9º = 418' U.S. railway design, using chord length of 100', gives the following (approximate) radii: 8º = 717' 9º = 637' 12º = 478' 14º = 410' So we see that the maximum curvature in the canyon section of the line would be stated as 12º - 14º in U.S. terms, which is what we swagged last night. I have no idea how that stacks up against modern max allowable curvature for Class 1 railroads in comparable territory. Regards Ed
Taking advantage of the break in the action in the narrative, I'll just mention that they had quite a dump of snow in the sierra over the weekend. Traffic on the line got interrupted, not directly due to the snow, but as a side effect. Anyway, here's a link to a photo of the bridge La Laja and the entrance to Tunnel #17 showing some of the snow. There are a number of shots of the area, (incl some at San Rafael), some good, some not so good, and I think you can move forwards and back using the 'next / previous' arrows. http://groups.msn.com/FerrocarrilesMexicanos/es44ac.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=6335 The captions are in spanish. Regards Ed
Holy cats! up to 14* curves! Wow! I like this footage, lots of tunnels. I gotta see this line someday!
While you're waiting for a chance to see it in person, you ought to see if you can get you hands on the Pentrex tape of the journey. Ed
About 12 km between tunnel #79 and tunnel #78. Then they come really fast..... (distances approx) 78-77 1.6km 77-76 100 meters 76-75 400 meters 75-74 1km 74-73 0.9km 73-72 300 meters
