Lead truck wheels on Disney locomotive(s)

[dealemeout]

I was recently watching a video on YouTube showing the locomotive Roy Disney from one of the Disney parks.  While watching, I noticed that the wheels on the lead truck didn't appear to be turning, (they were a spoked pattern that made it easier to see this).  My question is does this locomotive, (or any other Disney engine), have some sort of mechanism that guides the front of the locomotive but keeps the truck wheels above the rails or can this be attibuted to either my poor eyesight or the quality of the video.  I know that the riverboats at the parks are on a guideway but the sight of these apparently stationary truck wheels has me puzzled.  Thanks. 

[Mr_Ash]

wow thats strange! I just watched a few of the videos on youtube and the sure dont look like there moving

[REI]

I was recently watching a video on YouTube showing the locomotive Roy Disney from one of the Disney parks.  While watching, I noticed that the wheels on the lead truck didn't appear to be turning, (they were a spoked pattern that made it easier to see this).  My question is does this locomotive, (or any other Disney engine), have some sort of mechanism that guides the front of the locomotive but keeps the truck wheels above the rails or can this be attibuted to either my poor eyesight or the quality of the video.  I know that the riverboats at the parks are on a guideway but the sight of these apparently stationary truck wheels has me puzzled.  Thanks. 

I am the self-proclaimed expert on the Disney Railroads around here, so I'm really glad someone brought this up. To answer your first question, this had to do with a camera flaw the person was using, not the locomotive. And the second question, no, all the Disney engines' pilot wheels have 100% contact with the rails. The other thing I'll point out is that the first three engines on the Walt Disney World Railroad are six-wheelers, in other words, they have six drive wheels. The middle pair of wheels on them are not flanged, the front pair and the last pair are flanged.

 

 

[dredmann]

[T]hey have six drive wheels. The middle pair of wheels on them are not flanged, the front pair and the last pair are flanged.

This was relatively common. I believe the drivers without flanges are referred to as "blind". When you've got a rigid-frame locomotive and tight curves, sometimes something's got to give. 

 

[REI]

Yeah, I forgot to say they are called blind wheels, thanks.

[spikejones52002]

Question does blind driver wheels give the same "TE" as flanged wheels?

[vsmith]

The flange has no contribution to TE, its entirely based on the weight above the drivers on the rails.

[dredmann]

As vsmith said, the flange makes no contribution to tractive effort, or even factor of adhesion. The loco is supposed to grip between the very top of the rail and the very bottom of the driver. The flange is just there to keep the loco on the rails. Indeed, unless the main rod connects to the middle drivers and/or you could not successfully connect the rods between the first and last pairs of drivers, (theoretically) you could take out the pins connecting the middle drivers and the side/connecting rods and the tractive effort would not change (but the factor of adhesion would go down, probably making the locomotive "slippery").