I always heard that ALCOs with trimounts were hard riding and derailed more often than other makes. What about the MLWs with the Dofasco trucks? Were they hard riding and easier to derail also?
Danny
meandmrd@sbcglobal.net
All modern trucks are harder riding due to heavier weight of the locomotives, and the desire to minimize weight transfer between axles so that maximum tractive effort can be achieved. The problem with the Trimount truck was with the offset placement of the Centerpin about which the truck rotates. The Trimount design caused the force required to rotate the truck in curves to be too high for anything less than first class trackage when used under a heavy locomotive such as a U25C, U28C, C628, or C630. This caused the locomotive to roll the outside rail in a curve if the ties were poor or there weren’t enough good spikes. It wasn’t as big a problem when used under lighter locomotives like the RSD4 or RSD5, but even these locomotives had more problems than EMD designs with their Flexicoils
Kinda off topic but anyway…
And she was riding on them.
(Delaware Coast line GP7)
[:D]