I can't answer as to how far a car as you've stated would travel. There is
always friction. Friction wheel to rail and friction in the axle bearings. And
it's worse the colder it gets. I can tell you I've kicked cars in a yard that
is as near flat / level as you'll find in the real world. I once let a car go
at about five or six miles per hour and had to chase it down and stop it so it
wouldn't roll out of the other end of the yard a mile away. That's a long way
to run on ballast.
If there is snow on the ground it doesn't have to be ribbon rail to not hear
'em coming either. A slow moving car on jointed rail in the snow is dead
silent. Now hears one, refering back to switching and how cars roll, I've
switched in yards that are on grades, in the snow. Back when we had two or
three men on a crew one would be designated as the field man. It was his job to
make sure the joints (couplings) made, cars were not rolling back out of the
track, to handle switches "up high", that is, far down the lead etc. I've
kicked snow on the rail under the wheel of a car, an impromptu wheel chock, to
keep them from rolling out. It works, but not always. If it saves me from
climbing up high to tie on a hadbrake I'm all for it. Oh yea you can't forget
and leave 'em that way either. The guy on the crew walking around with a stick
in one hand was probably the field man or a POed forman.
-----Original Message-----
From: smokyjoe66 <js08ws62@sbcglobal.net>
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, Nov 14, 2009 9:47 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Railroad Freight Cars Moving on Their Own
It seems to me that everyone on this list is here because we admire, love, and
re generally curious about all the aspects of railroading. So, this question,
hough off-topic, might be of general interest to all, and of specific interest
o those who know physics.
Railroading began and continues to be a popular and effective way of moving
reight because a rolling steel wheel on a steel rail is very efficient. I have
een reports that an 8- wheel freight car rests on less than 2 square inches.
nd, it is steel on steel - little friction. Moreover, I am sure all of us have
itnessed the very long distances that a very slow moving freight car can roll
n its own. It is phenomenal. So… here's a theoretical question:
If an ordinary, empty, boxcar resting on 2 roller-bearing 4-wheel trucks was
iven a 50 mile an hour push on a perfectly level, perfectly straight railroad
rack on a windless day, how far would it go before stopping on its own?
It also would be interesting to hear some of your stories known from personal
xperience regarding long distances rolled by railroad cars moving on their own.
nother phenomenon worthy of comment would be just how silently they roll. I'm
ure many have stories about that, too.
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