According to that website, in June 2001 BHP Billiton set the world record for the longest and heaviest freight train. The stats claim 99,732 metric tonnes and 7.3km in length. The source is BHP themselves so i was just wondering if it was in fact true that no train has ever topped 100,000 tonnes?
Also can anyone explain the main differences in the trucks used on these locomotives (see the pictures) and conventional trucks used in North America and elsewhere? I figure its something to do with adhesion or tractive effort but can anyone elaborate on how they improve on this and why they look so bulky?Anyone happen to know why the cabs on the CM40-8M locos are so different to regular GE cabs?
The trucks under 5639 are completely standard US trucks, and were under this locomotive when it was a standard Alco powered locomotive of model C636 (or possibly M636C), I’d have to check it’s previous number to be certain. The trucks are known as the Alco Hi-Ad model, and were used under all US built Alco C636 and under four Alco C630 for C&O, later sold to Robe River. The large casting above the coil springs is the bolster, and the widely spaced springs giving a lower weight transfer under load. These trucks were unsuccessful in the USA because they reacted badly to short length rail and staggered rail joints. On Mt Newman (now BHP Billiton Iron Ore), they worked really well, and locomotives with these trucks were rebuilt as GE Dash 7s and later Dash 8s, in preference to similar newer locomotives with MLW/Dofasco trucks.
The trucks under 6071 are also a standard design, in this case a modifed steering bogie developed by GE as an improvement on the trucks supplied to CSX, but these trucks were only used under the BHP units. I don’t know why no more have been built to date.
The cab design on 5639 was based on earlier cabs developed by Hamersley Iron for rebuilds of their Alco C636 and MLW M636 locomotives. It was called the “Pilbara Cab”. The angled windows were intended to reduce glare, and the cabs were moved forward to provide better visibility. Because these trains run through basically unpopulated areas, there is little need for protection against grade crossing accidents. This design was developed before the standard “North American Cab”, and modified versions of that cab are now being used instead of the Pilbara cab.
the BHP Billiton line has reduced clearances due to the construction of the oldest of their car dumpers, and this encouraged use of the Pilbara Cab, since it was smaller than the North American cab. The AC6000s have a reduced clearance version of the North American cab.
After looking at BHP’s website, I noticed that the record train was run as a test of operating systems. This is a similar situation to the operation of N&W’s 500-car train in the late 1960’s. Both operations seemed to prove that it could be done but they may not be practicable on an everyday basis.
If I remember right, according to the caption in that article, or pic caption. It said that it weighed in around 109,000 U.S. tons, and it was 7.7 miles long. So this would explain why they said it was this way. They said it took all 8 of their AC6000CW’s, but then when they had to stop, they needed to add another unit. It ran in DPU mode. They did not give the operating time for this. Hope this helps,
An article describing the construction of a Pilbara Cab unit using the Bachmann Spectrum C40-8 was in “The Australian Model Railway Magazine” for April 1998, and a prototype article with scale drawings appeared in the February 1998 issue. The magazine generally keep back issues for sale, and should be able to sell you these copies. It is possible that a resin kit for the cab has been issued since, but I’m not sure. Maybe the magazine staff will know. An issue from last year doesn’t list a web site, but their mail address is:
Post Office Box 345, Matraville, NSW Australia 2036
They have a fax number (International Dialling Code) 61 2 9661 4323
Dave,
I don’t think there have been any real Q cabs built for export, but new cabs were built for some Indonesian units (U20C type, I think) A picture of one appears on the GE Transportation website.
By the way, I bought a Bachmann model of the BQ23-7 way back when it appeared first. I think it looks great.
Thanks for rubbing it in. I’ve been trying to track down a Bachman BQ for a while now. I’ve bid on a couple on E-bay but have been outbid. I am surprise no one made a resin Q-cab. They seem popular enough when one comes up for auction.
You mentioned that there was an article on how to convert a spectrum to a Pilbara, what did they use for side frames?
You caught me out trying to give an oversimplified answer. The Pilbara Dash 8s featured in virtually every one of the six issues of AMRM that year, and the issues I quoted referred to six units built new on GE frames with standard GE trucks. These were BHP 5630 to 5633 and 5646 and 5647. These would be the easiest to model, since trucks and fuel tanks were unchanged from the US domestic unit.
On the other hand although BHP only converted locomotives with the Hi-Ad truck, Robe River, who also converted a number of Alco locomotives, used both C636 and M636 frames, with both Hi-Ad and MLW/Dofasco trucks.
Prototype drawings of the Alco conversions appeared in AMRM for August 1998 (Robe River) and October 1998 (BHP) and the model conversion for both appeared in February 1999.
The author said he used white metal sideframe castings from “Tiger Valley Models”, but no advertisement appeared for this company in that issue, nor could I find an address in the article.
If you are serious, the easiest solution would be to retain the original GE trucks, but add the distinctive Alco bolster and coil springs to the GE sideframe. It was pointed out that the TVM castings came in two pieces, bolster and sideframe. (Remember that the bolsters are mirror imaged on each side, and face opposite directions at each end of the locomotive). I’d probably laminate it out of thin styrene sheet, and use small discs to represent the springs. The Alco frame without the bolster (apart from looking a lot smaller) is fairly similar to the GE design. You might want to remove the representation of the existing floating bolster, although the Alco bolster should cover it fairly well.
As an aside, my BQ23-7 had a distorted frame when I purchased it, but I managed to get the frame swapped by the retailer for one from a unit painted for Chessie in red yellow and black. I thought at the time that that one should be sent back to the manufacturer anyway!
to answer your question about the irregular cabs on the CM40-8M is that they are called the pilbara style cabs they allow the fine ore dust to travell down the window and deflects flyng up ore from smashing the window potentionally injuring the driver as well as deflecting rain away from the window.
also to anwer your question about the truck or Bogies as we call them here in western Australia is that the trains are really heavy and the cnventional trucks used on other units used in north america is that these trains are a lot heavier and a lot longer up to 330 ore cars long and the standard traction motors cant really take up the traction so bigger motors and higher horsepower engines are used the bogies are also off alco designed locomotives.
