"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General......
The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it.
It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it.
And then, neutraling gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.
It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor."
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
Regulation carried to excess insures conformity at the expense of all else.
zugmann edbenton: It is not going to freaking happen. I want to know what Looney Planet he lives on. There is no way in Hell that class 8 rig is going to be able to get 18MPG at all times. And we'll never send a man to the moon, either. I know us americans like to take pride in our ignorance, but c'mon... I bet we could do it pretty darn easily if we wanted to.
edbenton: It is not going to freaking happen. I want to know what Looney Planet he lives on. There is no way in Hell that class 8 rig is going to be able to get 18MPG at all times.
And we'll never send a man to the moon, either. I know us americans like to take pride in our ignorance, but c'mon... I bet we could do it pretty darn easily if we wanted to.
It is not as if nobody has been trying to increase fuel economy until now. There is only so much energy in the fuel, and it takes a certain amount to move a given weight at a given speed. You can tinker at the margins, but for the most part, you either have to reduce the weight or increase the energy in the fuel. You can reduce the weight by making the vehicle smaller or making it lighter, but the latter drives up the cost of the vehicle. With passenger cars, there is room to reduce the weight by making them smaller. It comes with the penalty of inconvenience, safety, and carrying capacity, so there is market resistance. But the force of government can simply overcome that.
With big trucks, the point is the load they carry, so fuel economy has already been maximized to make the largest transport profit possible when moving a given payload. There is great reward to anybody who can come up with an economically viable way to use less fuel. The best engineering minds in the world are constantly working on the problem.
But if government steps in and forces them to meet a higher mileage, the payload must get smaller. So it leads to two small trucks with better fuel mileage doing the work of one big truck with half the fuel mileage. In the minds of government and its advocates, the solution to the limitations of fuel and energy economies lies simply in more research, preferably with the government doing the research. To them, you just push the research button and you get what you want.
When the railroads were using GP7's & 9's the nominal fuel milage was 2 gallons to the mile.
Todays SD70ACE & CW44AC's have a nominal fuel milage of approximately 4 gallons to the mile.
Of course where the GP7's & 9's were maxed out with 1500 trailing tons, todays AC's are hauling 6000 tons or more and faster than the old engines were able to do.
When is come to freight hauling vehicles, the fuel economy is in how many tons you can haul with how little fuel. Not the absolute fuel economy of the vehicle itself.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
edbenton Zug Before the EPA mandated all the Current Emissions Bullcrap onto OTR trucks Peterbilt did a Test with a 387 model their Most Areo truck with Full Fairings equipped with a 9 direct and 470 Detroit 60 Series a truck that is Known to be the BEST for fuel mileage. They then had the Best Fuel savers added to the Trailer such as Whale tails Super Singles and belly sheilds. This was back in 1999. The Best they could get at 60 MPH to avoid being a target on the road was 9.5 MPG. That was with the drivers sleeping in a Hotel everynight and a 3% idle time. Freighliner shows their Cascadia their Most Areo truck they can Come up with will only get 8.5 MPG that is Less than what we could get 11 years ago. Why EPA emissions crap takes more fuel to Regenarate the DPF that they mandated 4 years ago. Yet the President wants something that can not be met. The only way this might be met 100 hp engines and chains to help pull trucks UP the HILLS all across the nations.
Zug Before the EPA mandated all the Current Emissions Bullcrap onto OTR trucks Peterbilt did a Test with a 387 model their Most Areo truck with Full Fairings equipped with a 9 direct and 470 Detroit 60 Series a truck that is Known to be the BEST for fuel mileage. They then had the Best Fuel savers added to the Trailer such as Whale tails Super Singles and belly sheilds. This was back in 1999. The Best they could get at 60 MPH to avoid being a target on the road was 9.5 MPG. That was with the drivers sleeping in a Hotel everynight and a 3% idle time. Freighliner shows their Cascadia their Most Areo truck they can Come up with will only get 8.5 MPG that is Less than what we could get 11 years ago. Why EPA emissions crap takes more fuel to Regenarate the DPF that they mandated 4 years ago. Yet the President wants something that can not be met. The only way this might be met 100 hp engines and chains to help pull trucks UP the HILLS all across the nations.
Dan
CNW 6000 Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win.
Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win.
Who would have thought the year 2011 would be the end of technological improvement?
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
That was the refrain of the early 70's when the first emission controls were place on automobiles - the end of performance as it had been known, the performance and economy of the cars in the 70's were abysmal. Once the engineers learned more about the combustion process the controls improved, performance improved and efficiency improved - and they are continuing to improve today. Most of that effort was directed to the traditional gasoline engine. Now we are at the start of emphasis on reducing emissions from from the diesel combustion process. I am certain in the coming years not only will the controls improve but the performance and efficiency will also improve.
In the world of auto racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans diesels are ruling the roost in the form of Audi and Peugeot prototypes.
zugmann CNW 6000: Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win. Who would have thought the year 2011 would be the end of technological improvement?
CNW 6000: Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win.
No truckers have been improving Emissions and Performance since the Early 80's when the first Electronic Motors came out. However the Current EPA Mandated Stuff was a HUGE Step BACKWARDS in Reliability Performance and ECONOMY. 11 Years ago when trucks Produced just 3% more NOX and 2% more CO2 and 1% more Particulates in their Exhaust for an OTR truck making 450 HP than they do today they would be getting over 7-8 MPG. Now with the Current EPA regulations they are lucky to see 5-6 MPG. BTW they get that with an APU or EPU for the Drivers 10 hour Break and hotel loads like the TV most carry and other driver comfort stuff in the cab. 11 Years ago we would have Idled the motor and still have gotten 7-8 MPG.
Yet with the Current EPA crap we are Burning MORE FUEL overall for a MINUTE reduction in emissions so how is that helping the Enviroment. It is like saying a 251 Alco is Better than a 244 even though they both smoke like a Chimney at all times.
Found the following comment in a Railway Gazette Internatonal News in Brief:
http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/news-in-brief-63.html
CNW 6000 zugmann: CNW 6000: Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win. Who would have thought the year 2011 would be the end of technological improvement? At least for truckers anyway. The sky must not be falling over the rails.
zugmann: CNW 6000: Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win. Who would have thought the year 2011 would be the end of technological improvement?
CNW 6000: Sounds pretty bad. Looks like the truckers should/will all quit and everything will go to rail. Win. Who would have thought the year 2011 would be the end of technological improvement?
I don’t think Ed is against technological progress. What he is objecting to are ham handed technological mandates put into place by people having the power to do so, but no technological expertise. Ed’s points are really right on the topic of this thread, if you read the first post.
Right when you get someone that Has NEVER been in a Truck or Locomotive the only thing they know about RR's or OTR trucks is they are BIG and they are all of a suddent told you have the Power to REGULATE these things. They all of a sudden devol the as I call it the Dispatcher Complx. I had a Dispatcher the man had been a Driver for 10 years then he wanted to stop driving he was the Best dispatcher I ever had. My second best one I ever had was the one whose Husband was an OTR driver. The Flat out WORST and I mean the Worst one I ever had was the one that 3 months out of College was hired to be one. These IDIOT and he was one thought a SOLO driver could do 1500 miles in a DAY with a 65mph truck going across I-15 and I-70. He also told me one time with a Federal DOT audit of the Company I was driving for going on with a DOT INSPECTOR sitting in the Dispatch room that I SHOULD IGNORE the 70 hour rule and SCREW THE LOGBOOK. Either I ignored that rule or he would break my career with that company. I was refusing to run a load Illegally to Chicago.
He is Now their VP of Operations only because he Married the OWNERS DAUGHTER. The company has yet to get rid of that Conditional Saftey rating that got hammered with 13 years ago because of him. There needs to be a Rule in Goverment for Regulations yyou can not make any Regulations until you have a Working Knowagle of the Industiry you want to Regulate think that would Stop these Lawyers from going OH these sounds good and then going HERE IS WHAT you have to do. Like PTC or on the OTR side the Total Cell phone ban the 14 hour clock that can not be stopped now with EBOR's being Mandated. Then the Farmers going what they want us to stop DUST from leaving the Fields yep the EPA was thinking about that one. Just how in the HELL do you stop dust and how would you prove which field did it came from or WHERE it CAME FROM.
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