Williamson to Portsmouth A s

[NW Mailing List]

There was a huge coal and watering point on the N&W at Prichard. Don Mills
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:48 PM
Subject: Williamson to Portsmouth A s



> Road mileage is less than 90 miles so where did they take a brake on the

> four hour trip (not including watering somewhere along the way?

>

> Just musing about this and realizing that 20 plus mph for a coal drag of

250

> cars (mid fifties w/lots of non rolling bearing cars was a damn good

result

> even if it was a prevailing downhill drag. I can honestly say that at Coal

> Grove I've watch thousands of these drags work their way west, and loved

> every second of the passing; day or night - Grandparents lived on US 52

> adjacent to R of W overlooking the Ice Creek bridge.The night was the best

> just to listen to the coming burst of overwhelming sound and the rail

> colicky - clack of 250 cars, great sleep sound.

>

> Now 65 years later this discussion does really add to the memory, to

> understand tech facts underlying what it took to create this great piece

of

> world history (the foundation of this part of world civilization's

> transition to the industrial/eco system of what we thought was the

> outstanding level we were living at in those decades. Surprising that

> today's resurrection of Rail will possibly have another great impact on

this

> century.

> Steam being used does not surprise me when you see what "chips" have done

> for all other forms of power generation/ecology. But I would suspect that

> the final package this new steam would arrive in will not resemble

anything

> you are visualizing in these discussions of  A,Y&Js.

>

> Fun thinking.

>

> Oakie G Ford

> IRONTON, OH

>

>

>

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:03 PM

> Subject: Re: [steam_tech] Re: TRAINS.com latest- can steam make a

comeback?

>

>

> > Let's try this again.  I posted most of this before, but I believe it

will

> > answer at least one or two of the questions posed here.

> >

> > The best I can do on an estimate of a Class A's capacity on level

tangent

> > track, at the total evaporation and firing rate N&W expected, is about

> > 4,200 trailing tons at 60 mph. This reflects a maximum of about 5,550

DBHP

> > at 40 mph, the usual high point on an A's DBHP curve.

> >

> > It is highly unlikely that an A every pulled 7500 tons at 60 mph on

level

> > track.  I believe that would take over 10-11,000 drawbar HP.  AnA is

good,

> > but not that good!

> >

> > Now if you give 1218 about a 0.2% downgrade and enough distance.....

> >

> > N&W rated its locomotives very conservatively, and the often quoted

5,300

> > DBHP is usually considered at the rear of the aux. water tank. Toward

the

> > end of steam, the A's were developing slightly more than this in order

to

> > get 16,000-18,000 ton trains from Williamson to Portsmouth in something

> > less than 4 hours. That's where the 5,550 figure comes from.

> >

> > There are many examples of A's running a steady 60 mph on time freights

> > nos. 84 and 85 (some of O Winston Link's recordings), but I've not been

> > able to directly relate a trailing tonnage figure to this speed. As a

> > result, the above estimate is derived from Davis equations commonly used

> > by the RR industry during the 1950's.

> >

> > Using the same estimating method as above, I changed the tonnage to 4500

> > and the grade to -0.022%, the average downgrade grade from Williamson to

> > Portsmouth. The estimated maximum speed was 60 mph. An A didn't average

> > this speed from point to point. This is the best guess I can make as to

> > why the A was rated at 4500 tons Wmsn-Ptsmth.

> >

> > I also agree with John, please sign your posts.  We would like to know

who

> > we're talking to.  Based on the Steam_Tech site I have a pretty good

idea,

> > but other on this board likely won't.

> >

> > Dave Stephenson

> >>

> >>> > Let's see if 1218 can do 60 mph or more with a

> >> 7500 ton train, as the Class A has been reported to do since an early

> >> test, and numerous times since> then.

> >> >

> > ,

> >

> >

> >

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