Triple Crown Thriving....

[Modelcar]

...Happened to catch the Triple Crown train south through Muncie yesterday and a long one it was....Two 6-axle engines pulling 140 trailers. The thought went through my mind that the engineer would need to be gingerly on the throttle as it made it's way across Broadway {Street crossing}, and heading for the long sweeping curve and grade to loop around and go over another street in the distance on an overpass....This is the site of a major derailment, twice, within the past 12 months or less.....It seems the train becomes pulled off the inside of the curve as it negotiates that area....Perhaps with too much power and or some brakes still partly applied towards the rear as it came down a slight grade into Muncie from the north....[8D]

[Junctionfan]

I'm glad NS/ Triple Crown is doing so well. It really is a great business.

I hope they wi***o expand their Canadian services; I would like to see a roadrailer in my area.

[broncoman]

Were the derailments other Triple Crowns or some other type of train. It would seem that 140 trailers long would be prone to doing that . It would seem like a trailer w/bogey in the wouldn't be heavy enough to prevent this.

[Modelcar]

...Yes, they both were Triple Crown trains. I would think the area to be a bit tricky with said train operation....It makes a broad sweeping curve and is up grade to attain enough height to cross an overpass over another street and it make about 180 degrees turn in so doing but it is a broad sweeping curve.
Arriving into Muncie is a bit downgrade and then next is this curve and grade so it seems if too much power would be applied it might do as we are saying has happened recently. The track is in great shape with heavy CWR....and great ballast. No other types of standard rail units have derailed there recently that I know of....

[M636C]

The news isn't so good in Australia. Here Pacific National run services they call "Trailerrail", one from Melbourne to Perth and one from Sydney to Perth. The vans on the Sydney services have to be smaller, with a chamfer on the roof to fit the tunnels. They often run containers at the front of the train, but the vans are wearing out and won't be replaced, and "Trailerrail" will become just another container service. There was a clear indication of the problems in West Kalgoorlie yard last year when a fibreglass van broke apart, probably as the train restarted after a crew change. The coupling tongue and forward floor just parted from the van. They probably had it clear within the hour, since this was where all the equipment is kept for derailments. But the market in Australia is too small and none of the companies want to invest in new vans for a specialised service.

Peter

[Modelcar]

...Peter: Believe the trailers used on Triple Crown trains are of special design with more structure strength than a regular trailer pulled on the highway exclusively. But they are full size too.

[M636C]

Only the Sydney service are the trailers built to the reduced profile. Those intended for the Melbourne - Perth service are standard dimensions. All Australian Roadrailer vans have three road axles rather than the two on US vans. Most Australian standard trailers have three road axles, our permissible road axle loadings are less (as are the rail axle loadings). Apart from the extra axles, I think our Roadrailer trailers are the same as the US trailers. I was able to check out the Triple Crown trailers in the terminal in Alexandria, Virginia, before the service started locally. I saw a Triple Crown train under way in Ohio, just north of Cincinnatti, too. We never had the earlier vans with retractable single axles, which I had seen in the USA.

Peter

[Modelcar]

....I don't know if the single retractable axles are even used here anymore....All that I see now are of the 2 axle bogies supporting the trailers...One at each end between trailers. All of the 140 trailers on the train I saw this past Saturday were of that type.
I've always wondered how a long train performs with such a length of these trailers when operating in areas that have some serious grades to travel on...{around curves, etc....}. We here in our area don't have much of that even though the grade to attain the height for the overpass is an item and the location of the several derailments I mentioned at the beginning of this thread....and a thread in the past when we discussed these derailments.