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Steam locomotive tractive effort vs diesel electric horsepower
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<p>[quote user="dinwitty"]</p> <p>old thread but curious. How can a simple thought get more confused </p> <p>sure, power varies at speed and torque, but so many steam engine ratings are noted at...like the nkp 765 64100 lbs tractive effort. All you want is a simple comparison to the diesel horsepower. So lets get a general ballpark figure than a rocket scientist description.[/quote]</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well if the original poster wanted a simple answer, he should not have based his question on comparing an apple to an orange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both steam and diesel locomotives have tractive effort and horsepower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is no formula to convert tractive effort alone into horsepower because horsepower is a measure of force and speed, whereas tractive effort is only a measure of force. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So the answer to the original poster’s question is no. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps the question could be revised to address what was being sought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a variety of ways to compare the performance of locomotives.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is possible to have high horsepower and low tractive effort, and vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example (if it were not for frictional losses), a lawnmower engine could pull a train, but just not very fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p>
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