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International Railroad Discussion > rack railways and freightDate: 11/06/15 09:43 rack railways and freight Author: leonz Good afternoon,
Being fully aware of the Brazilian iron ore traffic being moved down hill into the port of Sao Paulo, I was wondering how many, if any other rack railways are moving freight in daily operations?? ( I have not contacted the Stadler folks to ask this question) I love those new centercab electric pantograph Stadlers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my opinion they only need 2 more axles- (2 three-axle trucks) or if I really start dreaming-4 three axle trucks on each unit being 48 axles on four locomotives for electrified mountain crossings. Oh to dream of it anyway with 34,500 AC 60-cycle power stepped down to 13,800 stepped down to 6,000 volts with regenerative braking with four Stadlers two on the head end and two pushers on a 100-115 car consist. It certainly makes one(me) want to invest in small machine tools and build 4 G-scale units with 24 axles and a big sand mountain pile with two sets of switchbacks with a mountain crossing cut through the spine of the sand and gravel mountain I would create to prove it would work. Fixed my typo, whoopsie! Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/15 20:43 by leonz. Date: 11/06/15 14:49 Re: rack railways and freight Author: 9E56 No, that's all there is. Everything else has been abandoned, deviated or it's only passenger trains now. I understand there are some underground applications of rack rail technology in mining and construction, but they're either temporary or impossible to access for the interested observer.
Date: 11/06/15 15:17 Re: rack railways and freight Author: rosenth The Matterhorn-Gotthardbahn still has a few freight trains on cog wheel:
http://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/Schweiz~Privatbahnen~Sonstige/118062/eine-lok-der-matterhorn-gotthard-bahn-mit-einem.html Date: 11/09/15 19:56 Re: rack railways and freight Author: tp117 Please someone provide a photo of these 'rack electrics' and are they really taking 100-115 car trains down the incline? I have a Revelation video about 10 years old and the rack trains shown there were very short-6 to ten cars I think. Google shows long trains in Sao Paulo yards; is there another route for them? It also shows a long winding railroad climbing the bluffs to the wes/south of the rack line. I have to research. but think this may be a different gauge.
Date: 11/10/15 16:44 Re: rack railways and freight Author: leonz Thing of beauty isn't it? Definitely drool worthy I think.
The way the MRS logistica ore trains and empties are set up is that they have a locomotive on each end of the ore train consists of loads and empties returning to the mines. This is one of the four of the original order from Stadler to MRS logisitica that replaced the old rack drive narrow guage locomotives on the route. I believe they have 6 Stadler units in the MRS stable now. There are some videos on youtube, of one of the units on level ground on a narrow guage main line without the ABT Lamella 3 rack drive. Date: 11/18/15 14:12 Re: rack railways and freight Author: NGotwalt Yes MGB still runs rack freights in Switzerland, not many, but they are there.
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