Does anyone know why so many Aussie diesels were either [1] double-ended or [2] had what I call bus-cabs - e.g. flat-nose?
Probably because they followed british habits and most british units (even the EMD units) are built that way.
The standard for collision protection is different there. As for cabs at each end, that’s becoming a thing of the past in Australia where average train length can rival that in North America. Up here the last trailing unit is often faced rearward so the locomotive consist doesn’t need to be turned at terminals. Same idea with cabs at both ends-- which will be the standard in Europe & the UK forever (i.e. No long freights).
Please, please stick to American stuff, its too hard to explain to yanks why things are the way they are outside the US
Hey! Knuckle head this just a Forum. If you know the answer tell us why? IF not, keep your comments to yourself. [#offtopic]
[(-D][(-D][(-D]
RWM
Dale:
It’s that the answer he should give us?
Yes, I guess you are right. I shouldn’t have jumped on you. Someone has been having a bad day.[:I]
Dale:
I grew up outside the U.S.A. and serve in the US Marines. I know what you mean by ugly American. There’s culture that we need to respect both abroad and at home. I work with Australian Marines and Canadians. Both them have different views in Infantry tactics but one out of three would work. Team Work! [tup]
I may be a dreamer, but it seems to me that once people have visited other countries for a while, they wouldn’t be so judgmental so quickly. There are exceptions, notably people who don’t want to go over there. In some Asian countries, even American junior-year-abroad students have earned their programs, their colleges (and by implication, all us Yanks) a bad name because of drunkenness, clannishness, and snobbery. OT but such spoiled brats – I earned my money to go abroad and you better believe I was ready to enjoy the experience!
Besides, once you go abroad it’s them furriners’ country, and they might start citing some stats back at you re: infant mortality rates, learning at the high-school level and among us–how many nations have HST’s operating that are faster than our Accela? - a. s.
PS: I’m starting a thread under Passenger for the last part of the last sentence.
I’m not saying that to abuse anyone, its just how it is sadly. Simple answer to the reason for the flat nose cabs, its because our loading guage is smaller over here, meaning that we cant fit a big nose on the front without making the locos longer than necessary. Regarding dual cabs, its simple, you dont need a wye or turntable to reverse the loco, just jump in the other cab.
Thank you for taking the time and explaining us the reasoning. [tup]
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
May I add to GDRMCo’s explanations:
The primary cause for the use of “nose-less” locomotives and two-ended locomotives are the smaller and lighter loading gauges typical on most rail systems other than the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Russia, and Western Australia. This is a historical artifact that has little to do with any prescience on the part of North American railroaders but stems to the high cost of money available to build railways in the U.S. in the early 19th century. Since money wasn’t available to build the low-grade, broad curve alignments that Britain and Continental Europe could afford, U.S. railways instead solved the problem by adopting large, heavy, locomotives that could overcome steep grades with the same tonnage. The consequence of large, heavy, locomotives was a larger loading gauge, and since U.S. railroads weren’t investing in mile upon mile of tunnel like British and Continental railways, and since most or their routes were in open country instead of woven through urban congestion, they didn’t lock themselves into a small loading gauge from the beginning and were able to increase loading gauge later without stranding billions of dollars of fixed plant.
Smaller loading gauges means short, light trains. As a result multiple-unit locomotive consists are unusual or unnecessary, so double-ended locomotives eliminated the need for turning single locomotives at the ends of lines and runs.
Double-ended locomotives devote twice as much space and weight to the cabs as a single-ended locomotive. As a result, the attempt to use a North American style cab-and-nose on each end adds so much weight to the locomotive that it usually exceeds maximum allowable axle loadings (or means that weight must be saved elsewhere, such as in fuel tank size). The flat-front cab economizes on weight to the maximum extent possible. In most railroads outside North America, Russia, and Western Australia, the axle loadings are so low that ge
Railway:
Let me ask you what is more efficient to run the American or European railroads? Do you think the locomotives are more complicated?[D)]
North American and European railroads have different purposes, different histories, different cultures. They’re both very efficient at delivering what’s expected of them (and those expections are, of course, different). I suppose you could measure ton-miles or passenger-miles generated per $ of cost or $ of investment, but even that comparison would be very difficult to make and could easily lead to very misleading conclusions. I apologize that this is a vague answer but it’s not a question that’s easily answered.
U.S. and European locomotives are equivalent in complexity, though many European locomotives have to deal with multiple cab-signal and transponder systems so they can operate on different systems across borders, that North American locomotives don’t have to have. Locomotive technology is multinational – North American locomotives have many components and systems that have European manufacture or design, at least somewhere in their history, and vice versa.
RWM
Railway thanks for the info.
Australian railroading has a remarkable resemblance to North American railroading once you get beyond the double-ended locos with two bulldog noses and and GE’s with cabs that look like they came from a U50. The CL class is one of my personal favorites, http://locopage.railpage.org.au/anr/cl.html
For Alco fans, http://locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/44.html
Two (count 'em) bulldog noses, http://locopage.railpage.org.au/vline/b.html
There’s more where those came from but it goes a long way in explaining why I’m fascinated by Australian railroading, even from 9,000 miles away.
What is the horsepower for the U50?