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both, actually, along with the restriction on how hard you can pull on the coupler/drawbar before it fails. Another consideration is also bridges and their cooper (axle loading) ratings. If you are talking total train weight, the primary restriction is coupler/drawbar strength which can be negated through the use of distributed power. Theoretically you could, (using dp power) run an incredibly heavy train, however it would be so long that it would overwhelm all the facilities (yards,sidings, loading/unloading points). They have on occaision done this very thing in Australia, I have read about a test run where it was something like 500 cars, 30-40,000 tons, had several sets of dp's, etc. Currently on the UP, the norm for our heaviest trains is around 18,000 tons, 135 or so cars, dp power, coal train. I read some of the other replies where someone said something about heavy stack trains, actually these are relatively light for their lenght, generally you almost never see a stack train much over 7000 tons and that would be a pretty long stack train. If you are talking about heavy cars, then it is almost always bridge restrictions as far as the absolute max, now for everyday service the limiting factor is rail and tie condition. For example, the line I work (actually UP's system standard as well, with exceptions) has a max of 143tons/car with 2axle trucks. However, there are lot's of times where individual cars way over 143 tons come through (like turbines, cooling units, etc) but these cars are on 6,8 or more axle truck assemblies. Like I said before, the limiting factor in these heavy car's case is axle loading on the bridges, as well as the bridges absolute max loading for a given section. <br />Hope you found some of this helpful
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