"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
11/29/2016 at 18:14 • Filed to: Class 230, D Train, Trainlopnik
3
8|
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
11/29/2016 at 18:14 • Filed to: Class 230, D Train, Trainlopnik | 3
| 8 |
Here’s a train.
Specifically, it’s a D train as used on some London Underground lines. The Underground is doing a fleet replacement at the moment and for the sake of standardisation they’re going to replace all of the old and varied stock even if (like the D train) it’s still serviceable.
Here’s another train, a little one this time. It’s one of a variety of Pacers, bus-derived rolling stock which has to be retired by 2020 as they’ve been deemed not up to modern standards. If you’re a train company thus equipped you’re going to need something else then.
Fortunately, there’s a major electrification programme underway in the UK so there should be a steady supply of newly obsolete but still usable diesel stock which you can use to replace your old Pacers. Unfortunately, the pace of electrification has been less than, er, electrifying so something else needs to be done. The surplus, electric D trains are of course no use because they need a supply of electrons. Or are they?
Enter the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
It looks remarkably like the underground train. Which it should, because that’s what it is. It’s still powered by its original traction motors, but now the electrons are supplied by 3.2 litre Ford engines (used on upmarket Rangers and North American Transits) which run generators which power the motors. Not a particularly efficient way to provide power but I suppose it saves having to source transmissions.
How the D train will react to the unaccustomed sunlight hasn’t been revealed.
Nibby
> Cé hé sin
11/29/2016 at 18:34 |
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The D is used to being in unlit tunnels
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Cé hé sin
> Nibby
11/29/2016 at 18:42 |
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Yes, the light might scare it.
bhtooefr
> Cé hé sin
11/29/2016 at 19:01 |
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To be fair, that kind of setup (diesel-electric serial hybrid with no battery) is pretty much how almost every American diesel train works, just we use much larger engines, and diesel-multiple units don’t work well in the US regulatory environment.
Like, the most common Amtrak locomotive is the GE P42DC, with a 7FDL16 engine. That’s a V16 engine, with a 9" bore and 10.5" stroke, or 10688 cubic inches, or 175.14 liters. 4250 hp.
facw
> Cé hé sin
11/29/2016 at 19:48 |
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I’m surprised the Underground can actually do much in terms of standardization, I was under the impression they had numerous different loading gauges.
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Cé hé sin
11/30/2016 at 04:12 |
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maybe Metro in Melbourne could buy some to help ease overcrowding ?
nah, that would be logical.
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Cé hé sin
> facw
11/30/2016 at 04:42 |
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According to this
, four lines are being standardised. The deep lines are part of the
New Tube for London
project with different stock which is being tendered for at the moment.
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Cé hé sin
> bhtooefr
11/30/2016 at 04:56 |
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It’s the same everywhere else, the more powerful locomotives are diesel electric because of lack of hydraulic transmissions which could cope with hauling heavy weights slowly. Having said that, Voith, who make the most commonly used hydraulic transmissions, found themselves with a newly developed high capacity unit when their customer pulled out and so they got into the locomotive business and built the Maxima which had a 255 litre V16 and two speed (!) hydraulic transmission. It’s the most powerful such locomotive made but it was an answer to a question asked by very few (locos in this class tend to be electric) and they’ve got got out of the loco business again.
Diesel multiples increasingly use conventional ZF or similar automatics which gives rise to trains which sound and feel rather like buses.
Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
> Cé hé sin
12/02/2016 at 19:00 |
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I’ll be that Californian guy: What sunlight?