For all of You Train Lovers
- Thread starter khryslerkid
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yes they were everywhere when I grew up, at BHP just on the other side of the tracks
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The Mt. Pilatus Railway in Switzerland is so steep (48% grade at the steepest) that sufficient traction for movement and braking can't be had by regular wheel friction. So a gear and cog system is used to propel the cars. The seats and windows are built at an angle so that passengers can sit more or less level while ascending.
Maria Feofilova, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
First built and operated with steam power in 1889, it was electrified in 1937 and remains in service.
This is what the gear and cog system looks like:
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=666011
First built and operated with steam power in 1889, it was electrified in 1937 and remains in service.
This is what the gear and cog system looks like:
Last edited:
YY1
Well-Known Member
With experimental "duplex drive" and large diameter drivers, it should have been a powerhouse and fast as hell.
Unfortunately, it was fast as hell, but also too powerful and very slippery.
Also prone to derail on complex trackwork, and a pain to work on.
...but damn pretty.
IIRC they had 50 of them, and it wasn't their weirdest design.
Unfortunately, it was fast as hell, but also too powerful and very slippery.
Also prone to derail on complex trackwork, and a pain to work on.
...but damn pretty.
IIRC they had 50 of them, and it wasn't their weirdest design.
- Local time
- 2:58 PM
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 18,509
- Reaction score
- 36,653
- Location
- Surrey, B.C. Canada
If that's the S1, wikipedia says they built just one of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Railroad_class_S1
Interesting article, mentioning some speeds of over 120 mph. I would not want to be the engineer who pushed it to the claimed maximum speed of 156 mph. !! (Apparently the railroad was fined for that).
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