The railroad thread...

[aschumacher]

Tom, will they be pulling NG tank cars as shown or special tanks on the side of the engine?

 

[tsteinman]

Al,The LNG tanker tender rolls on it's own wheels. LNG is -260/F liquefied Methane, CH4. 5 times more 'Pop' than same size Tank of Propane. We'll see. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Al, Here is some Info. on the -260/F Tanker/Tender.

Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Al,1 more Pic try.

 

[digger]

Tom S.
Remember to hit that Enter key after each pic you want to post.

 

[aschumacher]

Five times the energy as propane. Now thats saying something!!

 

[wshytle]

So basically it runs on one big liquid fart????

.

 

[tsteinman]

Wayne, Not a 'liquid fart'..In our house that's called sumpthin else. Actually, LNG is simply gaseous methane chilled to -260/F.at which point it liquefies. Equipment on the tender tank re-gasifies it as needed for the Loco. Raw Wellhead gaseous products are segregated into Butane, Pentane, Helium etc before shipping, but most of it is METHANE CH4.

 

[tsteinman]

Winter is coming. Strictly speaking this is a Jordan Spreader. It can grade down shoulders or peel back landslides, but mostly used to plow out snow drifts. Operated by 2 men, and shoved by 2 Locomotives usually.

 

[jbaker]

very cool pics, how about some action shots?

 

[tsteinman]

Here's a 'Limited Edition' Locomotive. They pull ships thru the locks of the Panama Canal with cables spooled onto their winches.

 

[tsteinman]

Plow time in Minnesota

 

[tsteinman]

It's gonna snow tomorrow. No problem with that here. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[tsteinman]

Railroad 'Track Geometry Car' measures a variety of Parameters regarding the Track itself such as Curvature, Cant/Elevation on Curves, distance between the 2rails. Lasers have replaced the Gyroscopes and Pendulums that used to analyze such things. North Amer.tracks to the Guatemalan border are 4'8.5" between the inside edge of the rails.

 

[tsteinman]

A 'Medium Duty' Railroad Snowplow with wide-wing capability. Used in tandem with a 'Light Duty' Snowplow on opposite end of Locomotive to afford a Get-home capability. Propelled by a 4400/hp Locomotive between the 2 plows. Heavy Duty plows and Rotary blowers are used for drifts over 10/feet deep and to clear landslides. Locomotiveman Tom

 

[jbaker]

I like that one with the grill over the windows

 

[tsteinman]

Huge chunks of ICE or a stranded snowmobiles or a frozen Cow or worse really get launched when hit by a plow, thus the steel bars and Bullet-proof glass. I rotary'd a Ski-doo once. Looked like confetti being sprinkled about 300/ft. Out near Clara City in '97' I think. I donated lots of my Railroad Snowplow framed Photos to Willmar Museum. Tom

 

[jbaker]

could the blower or you even tell you hit something, does it bog anything down some???

 

[tsteinman]

Jeff, Answer: YES. The Wheel's Centrifugal Force is counteracted by the snow load; think turbine runaway WITHOUT a trip valve or a clutch on the shaft. Ha!! Huge AMP and RPM gauges and headsets between operator and me the Locomotive 'pusher' balance the load, or Ka-F'n BLOOEY!! Massive torque values involved. We 'run blind', thus the periscope to look beyond the Wheel...as it's whiteout conditions. I slugged in a herd of frozen sheep once.

 

[tsteinman]

Jeff, I was gonna add: In event of a Catastrophic Runaway operator shouts, "SLUG IT !!" Then I ram it into the bank fast til she dies as she's direct-coupled to 2000/hp. No clutch and the shaft sits on replaceable Babbit Bearing stock. And yes, Spool-down takes a while....if ever. Tom