I guess they call it the AMFleet for a reason then!
Yes, this is where the F40PH had it all over the SDP40F. The SDP40F was very slow in deep water due to a design defect in the keel.
Dave Nelson
[(-D][(-D]
Thanks guys, I really did need a good laugh this morning and you provided it!
Jay -
Afterwards I was wondering much the same thing - what’s the difference between the locomotive driving wheels (or the braking wheels, as you point out) slipping on wet rails on the one hand, and the theoretical hydroplaning on the other ?
And then I thought about the analogous / comparative situations with an automobile, like this: What’s the difference between a car’s wheels spinning on wet pavement when accelerating from a stop, like at a STOP sign, and hydroplaning at speed ? There is a difference, mainly in what the water is doing to the wheel, but I’ll have to think further on that and explain later when I have more time.
- Paul North.
I’ve heard that today’s #8 was the last one to use the UP detour, so water must have gone down sufficiently for regular service to be safely restored.
Very interesting, and nice pix. Thanks for posting Keith [tup]
Actually it appears that yesterday’s #8 06-30-2008 was the final #8 to detour. I heard the CP dispatcher talking to #8 in the Milwaukee Depot on CP tracks about 1/2 hour ago. So it is late, but running on the CP.
June 30, 2008 was not a good day for the “400” builders. Amtrak #7 was held at St Francis due to a derailment near Mitchell Yard in Milwaukee for 1 1/2 hrs. #7 and #8 met again in St Francis at about 7:30pm. I think I finally heard #7 get warrants out of Butler at 8:45pm. WOW down almost 7 hours, 120 miles out of Chicago.
But it was great to see the “400” Builders. I know I saw several TRAINS staffers out and about during the detours shooting and riding the trains. Good Luck
Keith Schmidt
I thought the traction motors would flood & short out long before that. IIRC other lines used a steamer in shallow water just for that reason.
How many ships/submarines had EMD 567’s in them? How about any later engines?
A hydroplaning F40, now thats how we can get trains to Hawaii!
Of course the problem with diesels is that they’re really diesel-electrics, using electrically powered motors in the trucks right down near water level. Get them into water and they short out. With steam, if the track holds, you’re OK until the water is so high the fire goes out…by which time I imagine things would be pretty bad!! Unpowered freight cars aren’t affected by this of course.
In the flood of 1952 in the Twin Cities area, many railroads had to run all their trains with steam to get around this, even streamlined trains like the Burlington Zephyr or Rock Island Rocket had to use steam for a while.
A case where a diesel hydraulic locomotive would come in handy (and probably the only case insofar as North American RR practice is concerned)…