Steam Myth or fact? Passed this one on to the Discovery Channel...

[timz]

this miracle of bearing and lubrication

No miracle, as long as we don't know how level the track was. If they moved it, and then moved it the other way...

[oltmannd]

I don't have the links and details at my fingertips, sorry, but I have seen clippings and information on the www showing four or five ladies shoving against a locomotive with a view to getting it underway.  I believe it was possible with finer balances and bearings since wheel on rail/steel on steel friction is very small.   Had the drivers on locomotives been rubber, it would have been a different story.  The resultant compression/resistance would have forced a bulldozer to do the job (maybe).

It was a publicity stunt, good physics and engineering, and pretty women.  Nothing has changed.

I have seen World's Strongest Man type competitions where the brutes will pull a 747 (with rubber tires..) and one instance where the person pulled a diesel.

The heavier the engine, the more compression there will be on a given number of weight-bearing tires, even if they are steel.  So, I can't say how easy it would be to move a Challenger over a 747, but my money would be on the Challenger.

Could it have been Timken 1111?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timken_1111

There is some mention of publicity stunts along these lines.....

[selector]

I don't have the links and details at my fingertips, sorry, but I have seen clippings and information on the www showing four or five ladies shoving against a locomotive with a view to getting it underway.  I believe it was possible with finer balances and bearings since wheel on rail/steel on steel friction is very small.   Had the drivers on locomotives been rubber, it would have been a different story.  The resultant compression/resistance would have forced a bulldozer to do the job (maybe).

It was a publicity stunt, good physics and engineering, and pretty women.  Nothing has changed.

I have seen World's Strongest Man type competitions where the brutes will pull a 747 (with rubber tires..) and one instance where the person pulled a diesel.

The heavier the engine, the more compression there will be on a given number of weight-bearing tires, even if they are steel.  So, I can't say how easy it would be to move a Challenger over a 747, but my money would be on the Challenger.

[Anonymous]

Years ago, Chet Huntley wrote an autobiography about growing up in Montana.  He must have been a railroad buff, because I remember him specifically talking about the Great Northern rail road bringing out a brand new steam locomotive to his hometown (which I think was Butte, Montana.)

If I remember the incident correctly, he says the railroad issued white gloves to the ladies present in the crowd.  They were invited to push gently on the locomotive... and voila! it moved!

I believe he stated that it was a Northern type steamer.

Questions:

1) Was this possible?  I suppose if you put 500 women on anything, they will move the world...or convince their husbands to do it.  I don't know the size of the crowd...

2) Would this be possible to do on say, the UP Challenger?  I can't think of anything actually running out there that is of similar size or weight as a Northern...

3) Not steam related... but I wonder if you could do the same thing with a modern diesel.

I submitted this question as a program idea for Mythbusters, just because I'd like to see it done.

But I'd like to see if anyone else out there has actually seen this miracle of bearing and lubrication actually happen.

Thanks!