tomtrain,
I couldn’t connect with the site. Could you summarize? I am a big John Kneiling fan and would be interested reading if view point has similarities to his.
Jay
I’ve just been re-reading my much-loved copy of John Kneiling’s ‘Integral Train Systems’ , and it still stands as a definitive work on the theory and practice of high efficiency rail operations.
It’s worth noting that within a few years of its publication (1969), short line integral train rail operations were established in the Western Australian iron ore mining areas, with block trains of 5,000 tons operating over routes of 150-250 miles. The new privately-owned iron ore rail operators were not constrained by traditional rail union rules, and quickly established very high levels of operational efficiency (2-man crews for a single trip).
In 2001 a BHP-Billiton ore train established a world record with 682 cars, 99,732 tonnes (82,262 tonne payload) and 8 GE AC-series locos over a distance of 170 miles ( I think JK would have been cheering all the way). Their standard ore train is 336 cars (~47,000 tons), operating over distances of 125-265 miles.
On the east coast of Australia, 5,000+ tonne block trains (coal, wheat) regularly operate in mixed traffic over short-medium haul distances (100-300 miles).
This is a 4 page article in Acrobat format. You will need Acrobat Reader 6 or later to read it. The link works if youo have Acrobat Reader