How much fuel is used, when a unit is pulling a train when it is under powered? Say, in an hour or so.
What kind of fuel is used?
Matt[8]
Trucking can consume up to 30 gallons an hour of desiel flat out on a mountain grade.
Locomotive engines are far bigger than trucks so I can only guess.
There are some fuel consumption figures for SD70ACe and SD40s on Montana Rail Link in the current (March) issue of Trains magazine (haven’t got it handy so I can’t quote the numbers).
Tony
Doesn’t Al Krug’s site have a bunch of fuel consumption figures?
A typical 3000-4000 HP locomotive will burn 160-200 gallons/hr of No. 2 diesel fuel at full load (notch 8)
Yes but a truck will only be at that fuel usage for a few minutes. I know climibing out of denver I was only at full fuel usage maybe 5-10 mins total time. Once you get on flat territory usage dropped to 3 gallons or so an hour.
Above freezing temps good ole number 2 diesel fuel burns best. It is the same thing as what you can buy at a truckstop during the summer but doesn’t have highway taxes and is dyed different.
Below freezing requires number 1 diesel because number 2 will gel.
Adrianspeeder
We had a one unit wonder out of portage wisconsin the other week-6500 tons,8200 feet-brand-new ES44AC-used almost a thousand gallons of fuel to go about 230 miles…amazingly,we managed track speed much of the way…normally,each unit would use 2-3 gallons per mile on average with an “average” train…
A locomotive will only be in notch 8 when that much power is needed, just like you only floor the accelerator pedal of a vehicle when that much power is needed. Once you reach speed, you throttle back to the notch that maintains the desired speed.
But wouldn’t a REALLY heavy load require notch 8? or would it just slip the wheels when applying that much power?
Even the (aforementioned) one unit wonder we had didn’t require notch 8 the whole time…it was slow going up to tunnel city (Wi),then a long coast downhill to about Bangor (Wi)…repeated several times on the way back to St.Paul…lotsa slight to significant grades…