I'd be very grateful if people could give me some figures for the trailing tonnage of the average tourist train running in branchline service today--I'm thinking of operations like Strasburg (wooden coaches), NH&I (Reading steel cars), Tarantula (former Lackawanna steel MUs and trailers), etc.

What's your average consist weight? If you can break it out by weight of cars in the consist that would be even better.

I appreciate any help people can give. Feel free to reply back-channel.

.

SCRM's ex-CN EMUs are about 70 tons for the trailer and 90 tons for the three motors. Cabooses are in the 15-25 ton range. Normal consist this season was the trailer coach and one or two cabs.

You do realize that curvature and gradient play a part in figuring tonnage. The Strasburg is relatively flat and straight, the old Rockton & Rion is all hills and curves. So what we consider a heavy train is probably pretty light to the Strasburg.

Indeed I do. I'm not taking line profiles into account; just trying to get a rough guesstimate. I will certainly correct for anything seriously offbeat like ruling grades over 1.25% uncompensated or something of that ilk.

Thanks very much for the info!

"The Strasburg is relatively flat and straight, the old Rockton & Rion is all hills and curves. So what we consider a heavy train is probably pretty light to the Strasburg."

Hmm ... From my limited perspective of helping rebuild the equipment and running the line, the Strasburg is anything but flat and straight. We have one, half-mile or so tangent that fits that description, but otherwise the forces of physics regularly inveigh against us. I have not ridden the Rockton & Rion and so have no basis for comparison. But our locomotives normally operate in the upper range of their respective power curves and I replace brake shoes and extinguish brake shoe fires on a regular basis.

See Kelly's note, below, for our tonnage averages.

On the San Diego & Arizona Railway, run by the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum from Campo, CA:

either an 80 ton GE or 120 ton GP
#1509 - 90 tons
#252 - ex DLW coach - 45 tons
#350 - 70 tons

all approximate

On the Austin and Texas Central,it kinda breaks down like this:

P-70's(6) 70 tons each
Lounge cars(3) 80 tons each
Caboose(1) 30 tons

We also have some pretty good grades,and the ruling grade eastbound is 2%,with several one plus percent grades in both directions.

I grew up riding the SRR so I know it almost as well as "my own" railroad. Compared to the R&R, it's definitely flat and straight! IIRC, the worst hill on the SRR is westbound out of Groff's. It's enough to make the engines talk starting a train, but that's about it. I'd be very surprised if it's more than 1%. Please correct me if my guestimate here is wrong. You guys have one curve that I'd call a curve -- the one leading to Lehman Place. The others are just slight bends between tangents. I'd guess the curve into Lehman is no more than 10 or 12 degrees -- again, correct me if my guestimate is wrong.

By contrast, we've got a mountain railroad that's not in the mountains. Heck, we've even got a 4% grade in the Rockton Yard! There are two perfectly flat pieces of track on the railroad, both about 100 feet long -- the interchange at Rockton and the US 321 crossing. The grade from Rockton to US 321 is 1.1%. It's slightly uphill around Mack (maybe a quarter percent), .9% from Mack to Summit, slightly downhill (.1%) to Greenbrier, then sharply down at an average 1.6% (max 2.3% for about 500 feet) to Rion Quarry. Our longest tangent east of Rion is 1/4 mile, most are only a few hundred feet. We have several curves that exceed 15 degrees, and they're long, too. And that's just the eastern part of the railroad -- when we get west of Rion it's going to get REAL fun. I'm guessing that the "Roller Coaster" from MP 6-7 averages about 2%, and it's called that because it doesn't keep a consistent grade -- although there's only one 15-degree bend in it. The hill just east of Jackson Creek Road is VERY steep, although short. Based on the trouble we have getting motor cars up it, I'm guessing it's at least 3% if not steeper.

Our brake shoes last about 18-24 months, and we only run the trains 15 days a year plus charters. You guys run a LOT more than we do so you're going to wear stuff faster. For the little bit we run, we go through brake shoes at an astounding rate -- and we're not abusing the brakes, either.

I dont know if you're considering narrow gauge operations.

WP&YR has a total of 70 cars, with an average of 40 seats in each car and a total seating capacity of 2,778 seats. The total length of all cars is 3,243 feet with an average length of 45.4 feet, and an average weight of 41,500.
It uses 19 diesel locomotives in passenger service. Most trains operate at full capacity on a ruling grade of 4%. The average consist is two diesels and seven coaches for an average trailing weight of 306,260 or 153 tons.
Specific info at:
http://www.whitepassrailroad.com/company/coaches.html
http://www.whitepassrailroad.com/compan ... tives.html

Your remarks about brake shoes are indeed surprising. Where are you getting your shoes? How are your wheels wearing?

If not being too nosy, there is a lot of engineering behind brake shoes and a lot of opinions on their alloy. The harder the shoes, the more wheel wear; the softer the shoes, less wheel wear but the shoes disappear quickly.

From what I have tried to find out, a more or less optimal mix is the hardness of the shoes should about equal the hardness of the wheels.

Foundries in the brake shoe business generally offer up to four hardness ranges. Local foundries may be able to cast 'replica' shoes but often use common grey iron which does not hold up. Yet they are all referred to as 'cast iron' shoes.

If the shoes are cheap there could be something said to continue to use soft ones thus prolonging the more expensive prospect of wheel work.

Bob Kutella

Bob:

We use high-friction composition shoes.