What is the sharpest curve an SD 50 and an SD40-2 will get around coupled to another unit or coupled to a train? Since they are very close in overall length I would think the radius would be the same. Thanks in advance for the help!
SD40-2 oper manual says 25 degrees for two units (if no footboards) and 16 deg for a unit coupled to a 50-ft car.
timz SD40-2 oper manual says 25 degrees for two units (if no footboards) and 16 deg for a unit coupled to a 50-ft car.
Coupling to anything much beyond a 12 degree 30 minute curve would be a recipe for bypassed knuckles. EMD's were so much more forgiving than GE's and god forbid you had a passenger unit.
The only SD50's I ever saw on Santa Fe were demo/test units or foreign road units. Their coupler throws were more restrictive. Don't automatically assume they are the same....it's a function of coupler throw, distance from the center pin to the coupler, draft gear and trucks.
Footboards were legal when SD40-2's were first introduced?
EDIT:
25 Degree Curve = 231.01 Feet of Radius
16 Degree Curve = 359.26 Feet of Radius
12 Degree 30 Minute Curve = 459.28 Feet of Radius
REAL RAILROADERS DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' RADIUS!
(Corollary: Arc definition is for lowlife highway surveyors and engineers)
mudchickentimz SD40-2 oper manual says 25 degrees for two units (if no footboards) and 16 deg for a unit coupled to a 50-ft car. Coupling to anything much beyond a 12 degree 30 minute curve would be a recipe for bypassed knuckles. EMD's were so much more forgiving than GE's and god forbid you had a passenger unit.
That would explain why the D&RGW used only four axle power on the La Veta Pass line, sharpest curves are 15 or sixteen degrees.
For an SD50, it's 29 single, 24 MU. Don't know the "coupled to 50' box car".
As a practical matter, Conrail did have trouble with the pilot plows on SD40-2s striking each other on what was supposed to be a 12 degree curve connecting the Harrisburg Line to the Lurgan Branch, so....
"your mileage may vary"
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
erikemmudchickentimz SD40-2 oper manual says 25 degrees for two units (if no footboards) and 16 deg for a unit coupled to a 50-ft car. Coupling to anything much beyond a 12 degree 30 minute curve would be a recipe for bypassed knuckles. EMD's were so much more forgiving than GE's and god forbid you had a passenger unit. That would explain why the D&RGW used only four axle power on the La Veta Pass line, sharpest curves are 15 or sixteen degrees.
Not so. D&RGW has 16 degree curves on the main track on the Moffat. D&RGW, SP, and now UP run every type of six-axle power they own around those curves -- and the DDA40X too. The Veta Pass restriction was to avoid having to put in a lot of new ties. Six-axle power uses up the life that's left in an old tie on a sharp curve a whole lot faster than four-axle power.
RWM
RWM,
Thanks for the correction.
- Erik
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