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Center of Gravity

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  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 152 posts
Center of Gravity
Posted by Northtowne on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 11:56 AM

Was looking up c of g on certain loaded railcars; example, found that a UP loaded center beam ( I assume lumber) was 97, close to the max allowed of 98. Could not find c of g listed of locomotives, maybe this is not a relative statistic. Would think their c of g would be rather low, given their heavy frame and trucks.

  • Member since
    June 2012
  • 109 posts
Posted by David1005 on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 12:11 AM

I recall seeing a UP document where the CG of the 800 series steam locomotives was 84 inches ATR. They were concerned about the CG being that high. I do not know what the typical diesel loco CG is, but I would guess 50 inches ATR or less. 

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • 2,350 posts
Posted by timz on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 10:17 AM

So CG on full-height doublestack cars is supposed to be at least 12 feet below the top of the load?

If UP 4-8-4 CG was 84 inches above rail, that was probably typical for steam? Nothing unusual about them.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Bridgman, MI
  • 280 posts
Posted by bogie_engineer on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 11:54 AM

When doing dynamic modeling of locos at EMD, we used crankshaft height as an approximation of CG height. For an SD40-2 that is about 83.5" with new wheels.

Dave

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