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Fighting the Grade, the Spanish way

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Posted by steve m on Monday, August 24, 2015 7:24 PM

Lovely video. Fun to watch. The track and scenery so perfect it looks like a model railroad!

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Posted by groomer man on Friday, August 21, 2015 8:55 PM
Very informative thank you Mario
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Posted by groomer man on Friday, August 21, 2015 8:51 PM
Thank you NorthWest
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Posted by Mario_v on Friday, August 21, 2015 7:31 AM

NorthWest

 

 
groomer man
What was the loco?

 

Vossloh Euro 4000, basically an SD70 with a few minor differences in a different carbody.

 

Actually it's basically an SD70M2 (I think the engine  power output is even the same), with different trucks and carbody (designed by Vossloh). These engines are built in Vossloh's Albuixech factory near Valencia Spain. There are both passenger and freight versions (I think the only costumer that bought the passenger version was Israeli Railways), and also of different gauges. See more here ;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vossloh_Euro

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Posted by NorthWest on Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:23 AM

groomer man
What was the loco?

Vossloh Euro 4000, basically an SD70 with a few minor differences in a different carbody.

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  • From: Flint or Grand Rapids, Mi or Elkhart, It Depends on the day
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, August 20, 2015 10:50 AM

Did not know the european style couples were that limited - explains a lot for me.

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Posted by Mario_v on Thursday, August 20, 2015 8:59 AM

On this side of the 'big Bathtub' things, altough looking similar, are indeed worlds apart. First of all, with the ruling grades on this line, that runs Northeast - Southwest, are quite tough (lots of interstation sections with 2% reaching a maximum of 2,4% just right after Teruel, and in terms of alignment it's sort of 'bi-polar', having very good and straight sections good for 125 Mph - the present 'faster' trains there, wich are series 599 railcars, reach a maximum of 100 -, but with lots of tight curves limiting the speed, and others wich have so many tight curves that the speed must be limited to 45 or 60 Mph). Then there's the 'european coupler' that's limited to a maximum of 2000 trailing metric tons, and after that, almost all the sideings are not big enough for all of these 'big' trains

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, August 20, 2015 7:18 AM

Understood, spent the last 40 years paying for shipping. I just missed the math calc. since it was soooo complicated, 25 x 100 = 2500. 

It costs me more to get a T/L of loosefill (peanuts) @ class 300, than a truck of steel strap @ class 50 - same 53 footer.

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Posted by groomer man on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 6:19 PM
Great video! Really enjoyed it. I see they still use cab over tractor trailers over there. Very rare in the US. What was the loco?
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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 6:18 PM

BOB WITHORN
Rated as 49 TFE's (twenty Foot Equivalents) wouldn't 24 1/2 40 footers be 20 tons each or are they lighter in Europe?

If you look at the load limit on containers - foreign and domestic - 20 foot to 53 foot - they all have a load limt in the 34 tons (68000 pound) vicinity.  Larger containers are for commodities that cube out before they weigh out; smaller containers are for commodities that weigh out before they cube out.  A ton of steel and a ton of styrofoam have very different cubic footprints.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 5:29 PM

BaltACD

By US standards, not much of a train.  25 40 foot equivalent containers and one empty - probably a gross tonnage of less than 2500 tons.

 
The question becomes at the train speed it is going  ---  is the tractive effort close to the draft gear load limit ? 
 
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 4:46 PM
Rated as 49 TFE's (twenty Foot Equivalents) wouldn't 24 1/2 40 footers be 20 tons each or are they lighter in Europe?
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 3:01 PM

By US standards, not much of a train.  25 40 foot equivalent containers and one empty - probably a gross tonnage of less than 2500 tons.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Mario_v on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 12:52 PM

That's really a sound problem of the original video, maybe the author, while converting it or recording it had it in a 'lower than usal' setup

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Posted by NorthWest on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 11:50 AM

Very nice, thanks!

That horn doesn't seem very loud, even for European horns. Interesting.

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Fighting the Grade, the Spanish way
Posted by Mario_v on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 9:59 AM

What happens when one gets together an heavy train (for european standards, and long too), tough grades (reaching 2,4 % in some parts of the line shown) and tight curves? A really slow climb (to the point the the passenger operator using the line complains about delays caused by such trains), and with a  familiar sound 

Hope everyone likes it

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