class 66 coal train being banked up Lickey Incline

coal train etc at the Lickey Incline

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• class
• 66
• coal
• train
• diesel
• railway
• lickey
• incline

[ERA3733]

Question: what is the grade on this line? How many Percent?

[scruffwood]

@ERA3733 think its 1 in 37 hope that helps

[wollyxl]

@KWVRMAD In the UK on the Lickley incline the banking loco is not cupled the loco infact sits in a spur waiting for this train at the bottum and once it's past it runns up behind and simply pushes once at the summit it will then run back down light engine and wait for thr next. As I understand it loco's in the US that are cuppled to the back are used for banking and also for brake assistance as with trains at well over 2 miles long it can take it's time.

[wollyxl]

@Rocketboy1950 Just to let you know I agree it would be rare to see 5000 tonnnes being shifted anyware on out network but tug's are used oftenif not all the time now in Liverpool Docks to fiddlers ferry MGR and once loaded total all up wight is 2400 tonnes witch they then tackle a 1in45 at 10mph the class 66 out of intrest oftern have to but this limmit at 15mph so they don't get stuck.

[formidable38]

@Rocketboy1950 Well said Rod, unfortunately we have alot of foamers here that think they know every dam thing when it comes to "running a train" just because they sit on stations with a camera when in fact they know little or fuckall!!

[formidable38]

@EWS60500 - but flat ground with 5k tons. You also have only about 30% addhesion on that class 60, even an american 200 ton EMD SD70ace is only about 40% addhesion on a dry rail on a good day. Thats why you need lots of engines to climb hills, thats why the yanks use lots of engines, ok, your example of 3 on 5000 tons of train, you wana go up hills and you need to do more than 30mph on the flat LOL. By the way, an EMD SD70 has nearly 200'000 pounds of starting tractive effort at 35% addhesion!!

[formidable38]

@EWS60500 Im a Brit but that comment is pure crap! Yank trains can be anything upto 20'000 tons. There are alot of grades in the US, its comparitivly flat here. On a 1% grade, for every ton of train weight, there is a force of 20 lbs trying to pull it back down hill So for 15'000 ton train, thats 300'000 pounds pulling on that first car before you even move it forward! So, whats it like on a 2% grade! Thats why yank trains need alot of power and thats why the 60 would be useless on anything-

[Rocketboy1950]

@EWS60500 That's a bit of an outlandish statement considering you do not run 5000 ton trains in the UK. A class 60 might shift 5000 tons on the flat but in reality it's going nowhere serious with it. It might, and I stress might, take 1400 tonnes up a 1 in 50 solo. It's not a lot different to similar HP units we have down under and we do exactly what the yanks do. We stick three of them on the front of heavy trains. As to being the best...you can't even multi mixed classes, get a grip.

[ERA3733]

@scruffwood

Thanks. That works out to 2.7 Percent, which over here is quite heavy. The heaviest grade over here - without the help of a Rack and Pinion Drive - is 3.5%, and that is on the subway lines on NYC's Manhattan Bridge, and those trains are 100% MU. The normal grade limit on a Class 1 Line without helpers in America in not in excess of 2.0%, and that isn't a heavy coal train. Over here, such a train would be re-routed as much as possible to flatten the grade.