Login
or
Register
Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Longest train pulled by a steam engine
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by gabe</i> <br />[ <br />Sure its possible. Just make sure she's pushing instead of pulling the train. <br /> <br />Gabe <br /> <br />P.S. However, perhaps one should reference the 500-car N&W coal drag. Apparently there were 250 cars without an engine behind them, I wonder how long that would be? I do know that broken knuckles did occur with some regularity on the N&W though. Apparently, they would just bull doze the car right off the tracks and worry about it later so as not to tie up the main. <br />[/quote] <br /> <br />If you remember the 500 car N&W train was operated in the 1960s when the coupler drawbars were 6 by 8 inches or larger, not the 4 by 6 inch common in the 1940's and early 50s. The doubling of drawbar size, in addition to the improvements in the metalurgy allowed the longer trains to be operated safely. <br /> <br />I do not in any way see how one could possibly justify a statement like a 10 kilometer long train being pulled (or pushed) by one locomotive. People we are talking about a train in excess of six miles long. Put another way, this train would have had over 800 forty foot long cars in it. Very few, if any, would have had roller bearings like most of the N&W hoppers had in the 500 car demonstration train. <br /> <br />Maybe the entire run was downhill with a 50 mph tailwind. But then why use a Big Boy, an 0-4-0 would have done just as well.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Join our Community!
Our community is
FREE
to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Login »
Register »
Search the Community
Newsletter Sign-Up
By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our
privacy policy
More great sites from Kalmbach Media
Terms Of Use
|
Privacy Policy
|
Copyright Policy