RWM,
Thanks for the correction.
- Erik
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.
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.
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.
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
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/)
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)
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!
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