Another VGN article from Ohio State Engineer magazine

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Fri Aug 27 15:10:14 EDT 2021


The January 1926 issue of Ohio State Engineer magazine has an article titled
"Wheeled Giants: One Hundred and Twenty-Ton Coal Cars in Service on the
Virginian." It has a nice photo of a battleship gondola, one of its 6 wheel
trucks, and some diagrams explaining how the truck's suspension works. The
last paragraph of the article is: 

 

"Shortly after the cars were placed in service a test run was made with a
train of 100 of these 120-ton cars, loaded to capacity. This train, 5,300
feet long, represented a gross weight of 16,000 tons behind the
loco[1]motive. The train was handled by a 2-10-10-2 type Mal[1]let
locomotive. This locomotive, weighing 898,300 pounds and with a tractive
effort of 147,000 pounds, seems to be about the limit in size for steam
locomotives. The maximum speed of the train was around 25 miles per hour.
For the person interested in large figures, we might say that at this speed
the train has a momentum of 1,210,352,320 foot pounds per second. Motorists
in 3,000-pound automobiles who like to play tag with railroad trains might
profitably ponder over this figure." 

 

The article can be downloaded from Ohio State's archive here:  The Wheeled
Giants : One Hundred and Twenty-Ton Coal Cars in Service on the Virginian
(osu.edu) <https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/33763> 

 

Rob Doorack

Guilford, CT

 

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