Has anyone else seen this commercial? I’m a little nonplussed as to believablilty. Perhaps their are some mechanical engineer-types out there who can shed some light on this.
the goat 
I believe it is a Chevy commercial. But regardless the commercial very clearly states it isn’t real, a dramatization.
I don’t think it would be impossible for a pickup to pull a train if it was really on flat track. I mean that is the whole idea of a railroad right - not much road friction, much easier to pull that way etc. etc. So in fact showing it on a railroad track is actually saying the truck needs the help of the track to pull that much!
For the commercial it could even be downhill track and the truck is peddling like mad to keep from being run over.
The bit at the bottom that says “fictionalization” says it all I think 
They would have to be using broad gauge track etc… just another ad executive’s odd concept.
Not so fast Guys…I have use a Clark forklift to move 2 loaded boxcars to the dock doors.I release the hand brakes and commence pushing the cars with the 'lift.It wasn’t hard at all.To be sure I usually used the car puller but,it was out of service that afternoon.
As far as wide gauge let’s not forget about the hy-rail trucks.
I remeber seeing pictures of 4 women of Timpken Bearing pulling a steam engine that was equipped with the new tappered roller bearings. They had a rope tied to the front and were yanking on it on a station platform. Big publicty stunt.
I havent seen the commercial but hear it was over the top a little… But, rolling stock in good condtion on flat rail, is surprisingly easy to move.
Could be even more effective if track had an almost imperceptable downgrade to get things rolling.
Actually an interesting commercial re commercial trucking vis-a-vis shipping by rail. I would hazard a guess that the rolling resistance of steel wheel on steel rail is considerably less than rubber tire on asphalt/concrete. Next 100 car freight you see do a rough calculation of how many 18 wheelers that represents. The number of 18 wheelers off the road underscores the efficiency of moving tons of freight via rail instead of via highway; also removes a huge number of trucks from the nation’s highways. Except in instances of double unit trailers each 18 wheeler/trailer has a power unit. Each 100 unit freight has how many units(depending upon train weight, topography, track geometry, etc.)?
Think of it as a commercial within a commercial.
Jon [8D]
You’re right, I haven’t… but apparently the Chevy Silverado has a 5’8" track… so it’s almost a foot wider than standard gauge.
While I’m not disputing that it is possible for a truck to move railroad cars, the train in the shots is much too long - you’d never be able to safely control it. I’m sure it was done with CGI.
It’s completely plausible and reasonable.
Here’s an excerpt from a 1952 ALCo report on dieselization of the PRR:
“From dynamometer car tests on a large number of divisions and on cars of various classes, it has been found that for speeds from 5 to 25 miles per hour, the resistance of a 20-ton car on a level tangent track is 140 pounds, or seven pounds per ton, and for a 70-ton car 210 pounds per car, or three pounds per ton. Thus, although the 70-ton car is 3.5 times as heavy as the 20-ton car, the resistance of this former is only 1.5 times greater.”
This was before roller bearings, mind you. The hard part is getting things rolling, but it’s not incredibly hard. The other hard part, I should add, is stopping.
When roller bearings were first introduced Timken and Hyatt would have publicity stunts where ten or so starlets in bathing suits would pull a locomotive with a rope. The US Army manual on railroad design notes that on level track, a stiff wind is sufficient to start cars rolling.
KL
Kurt,The few times I push cars with a Clark we would have a man riding the end car ready to apply the hand brake to stop the cars since I could not stop them with the 'lift.
You are correct it doesn’t take much to get a car rolling.
Wouldn’t that be the maximum outside width? In the commercial, it does look like the rail is actually between the rear dual tires.
I also noticed that several of the hoppers were full. I don’t think they ever show the whole train either, so on some of the shots there could be a locomotive at the end pushing.
Helloooooooooooooo! It’s all CGI ! It’s T.V., it’s entertainment, enjoy it!
Pulling several rail cars is not that difficult. I have seen horses used for this purpose about 50 years ago on sidings.
What I would be more impressed with would be seeing how quickly the pick-up could stop that train after getting up to speed.
It’s entirely plausible. As stated before, the hard part is starting and stopping. It may require that the pickup use most of it’s horsepower in low gear to start the cars rolling, but afterwards it takes only a small fraction of that horsepower to keep them rolling. Picture yourself pushing a Lincoln Town Car. It’s a major effort to get it rolling on level ground but after it starts rolling it takes much less effort to keep it rolling. Stopping is another matter altogher.
As for how much it takes to start a line of cars rolling, I offer this. When I was in Germany in the late 70’s, a VW Beetle ran off the road and hit the rear end of a line of thirty freight cars parked on a spur. The bug struck the line of cars at a speed of approximately 10 mph. The line of cars was set in motion, rolling down the spur track for a distance of about 400 yards. The only thing that stopped them was it ran into a dead-end bumper. This actually happened, I was there and witnessed it.
In the seventies here at GE we built transit cars for Septa and rebuilt the Metroliners. The cars went an average of 70 tons, We of course had very good level tracks in the building, Many times we would push a car by hand to line it up with test equipment. I ( being much younger then) pushed a 70 ton car by myself. Good bearings and flat track no problem. Although the commercial is probably faked up, It really doesn’t take much to get them rolling.
Many years ago, before CGI, in the '70’s there was a commercial for the full size Ford or Mercury station wagon showing it starting and pulling tow box cars and a caboose (the caboose was manned, probably to apply the brakes). No strain.
Roller bearing static and dynamic friction forces are close enough to be assumed to be the same for this discussion. (Note static is slightly higher, but less than 10% higher). Also note that once the car is rolling 10-20 mph, there is no significant difference in rolling friction between journal bearings and roller bearings. Thus we can use the figures below of 3 lbs force per ton to move a typical frieght car.
A modern HD pickup truck (dual rear wheel, with turbo diesel engine), assume 30" (2½’ > 1.25’ radius), 4:1 rear gears, 3:1 1st gear, 650 ft-lbs of torque:
1/1.25 * 4 *3 *650 = 6240 lbs of tractive effort, or about 1/10 of a GP40 - thus capable of moving a 2080 ton (~20 car) train on the level
In Canada (and probably elsewhere) there is a shortline railroad using a modify highway tractor (Peterbilt maybe) to pull grain trains. Beside the wheels on the rails, the big modifcation is air compressor and control system for the frieght cars’ brakes.
FYI - I am a Mechanical Engineer, and have my PE.
This discussion reminds me of something I saw at Takasaki in the 1960’s.
Granted that the car was small - 4 wheels, 15 ton capacity, 9.7 tons empty - but the “switch engine” moving it was three women in blue pajamas and conical hats.
The women weren’t Amazons, either. They were typical Japanese, about the size of the average gymnast.
Judging by their location, right in the middle of a heavily trafficked junction, they must have been a normal part of the local operating staff.
Judging by their activity, moving a railroad car doesn’t take a whole lot of effort.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - without human switch engines)
I’m certain they were able to do it with DCC.
But, if they had chosen to remain with DC, that would have been OKAY. But the DCC snipers might get them!
HELLOOOoooooo to you. NO IT ISN’T. Don’t post something like that if you don’t know.
The commercial was shot on the Sierra Railroad. The string of cars were pushed by the locomotive. The camera was on hi-rail truck directly in front of the Chevy. There is a huge discussion of how this commercial was done on another forum which will remain nameless here in its “Western Railroad Discussion”.