FXE 4667 in the consist of XSASI today on the Iowa Interstate. Oxford, IA Iowa City, IA Video- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Buddy- If I recall correctly, Silvis was simply by that name? "Yard" was not appended, at least during RI days?
Wouldn't a Steerable truck have better adhesion than a High Adhesion truck? My thinking is that being steerable, a Steerable truck would have more metal in contact with the rail as each wheel was allowed to follow the curve of the rail. Whereas the High Adhesion truck appears to have a rigid frame forcing the leading and trailing wheels to follow the truck frame rather than the rail. OK, I admit I'm just an engineer overthinking this, but could someone with design knowledge explain this? Thanks, Hank
Ah, thank you. The new radial truck. Hadn't seen any of those yet here in BNSF country. Well, if the design that allows the end axles to change their angle affects the weight per axle, then that would outweigh any advantage. But I'm not sure the Hi-Ad truck does have higher adhesion. The High Adhesion tagline dates way back to when they cost more than the old Tri-Mount and AAR Type B trucks, and now the Hi-Ad is the old-style, cheap truck and the 'steerable' (radial) is the extra-cost option. Just because that's the leftover name doesn't mean it has that advantage over the latest design. It would be interesting to see comparative tractive effort ratings, especially on curves.
Yes, I would like to see those test results also. Though I doubt we ever would. The locomotive market is very competitive, and the slightest advantage means many millions of profit.
On my former carrier - the tonnage rating for the CW44AC's were the same no matter which truck was used. The Steerable Truck units could be used to service mines and other industries that the Hi-Ad trucked engines were prohibited from operating on.
Thank you. That not only makes perfect sense, it explains why a Mexican railroad, despite their reputation for pinching pennies until they scream, would spend extra for that particular option.
Of course...the non-movable outer axles on the rigid Hi-Ad frames would tend to open the gauge on tight radius curves. Thanks, makes perfect sense.
Colorful, Buddy, but then, you photograph the Iowa Interstate, which has some pretty colorful units of their own.
Not that new. It has been designed for maybe 20 years, and you find it for example on CSX or CP AC4400CWs. Dom
