Just some links on this because it's not going well. (predictably) https://www.railjournal.com/fleet/technical-issues-force-withdrawal-of-alstom-hydrogen-trains/ https://www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and-rolling-stock/diesel-trains-to-temporarily-replace-hydrogen-on-germanys-taunus-network-in-2025/67902.article
There are other vendors besides Alstom. Stadler for example who seem to be shipping a functional product but again it's a joke compared to overhead wire. On Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 12:35 AM Lawrence Winiarski via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > Peri wrote: > >I think the possibilities, here, are fantastic. Any pundits ? How could > >something like this actually happen ? > Well I think first is to get a good ideal of the overall design and logistics > and see it's workable. > > Here's an interesting place that sells lots of different undercarriages for > adapting cars and trucks to railways. (note the LS60 (in link below) is > rated for 80,000 lbs, so it's strong enough (probably) Surely if you had > several. > > https://continentalrailworks.com/railworks-gears/ > Is it to be self propelled for parking and getting on the rail? I like > this idea because of safety. Having a spur track seems to me that you have > a potential for a derailment of the big train because the track spur got set > the wrong direction and I kindof would prefer to be as minimally invasive of > the train infrastructure as possible. so I just envision some sort of > normal train crossing that might just be wider. And you actually get > something that's useful in other areas too. You could in theorybe able to > back a trailer up to a loading dock for instance without having to hook it up > to a tractor. > > If you did decide to go this route, on a real trailer they need lots of tires > and axles, because...well tires just aren't that strong. Maybe 1 tire is > rated for a couple thousand pounds so you need a bunch of them to support a > load (why they have so many rubber tires in the trucks in the first place.. > Steel wheels can be much stronger So if you were to make an an under > electrified dolly (under the 5th wheel) to move the trailer around to get it > off the rails, it would need a fair amount of tires to support the tongue > weight, but perhaps actually maybe something like "tank-tracks" could be > used...assuming it's only meant to move a very short distance to a parking > area. That way you don't have to deal with inflatable tires in the front > (the rear tires would support the back) Then you'd have plenty of traction > and the whole thing could move up into the undercarriage out of the way > easier than some big folding wheels > > Here's another example from the RV guys...Something like this but heavier > duty. > https://traxdolly.com/trax-x2/ > If you went this way, it might actually be possible to construct a > rubber-wheeled trailer-train in a parking lot along side the track but not > actually connect them up so they are freer to move. Then once they are all > in a line, you just roll them upthe apron and settle them on the track one > at a time, but they are only 1 foot apart or so, so they have the freedom to > get on the track and you hog up the track for as little as time as possible. > Once they are in position, you lower the train wheels and hook up to the > trailer in front and raise the tank treads. > So that's just 1/2 the problem. You also need to move the trailer-train OFF > the tracks. I envision this being done in reverse but without bothering to > make the rubber trailer train, the first trailer gets to the crossing, > unhooks, lowers the front dolly tracks down, (which raises the front train > wheels off the tracks. Then the back train wheels raise, which lowers it > onto the rubber wheels, and the whole thing goes off the apron. > Another note. You probably have to be agnostic about what is the "front" of > train (just like regular trains) so you need to be able to get on and off the > tracks either way (with the self-propelly-tank-tread-dolly-gizmo) > > The train industry has lots of tracks and 99% of the time they aren't doing > anything anyway...(unlike the roads which are often jammed) so IMHO the trick > to selling this probably wouldn't be to work with a regular train, but to > make sort of a "light" train that could use the tracks hopefully without > getting in the way of the big heavy-duty train. So you'd want to make the > process of moving the trailer-park-train onto the track as fast and as safe > as possible. > > > > Another thing might be that trucks trailers are not actually designed to be > pulled in long trains. I'm guessing the forces get pretty big if you are > actually pulling them....so the lead trailer has to be strong enoughat it's > couplings and frame. In Australia they have "land trains" so they have some > experience at this. Anyway, you probably making the trains longer has > declining benefits, so maybe shoot for a shorter trailer/train that couldzoom > onto the tracks and be ahead of the big train and zoom off them without > getting in the way. So perhaps more of an intercity...relatively short > distance...like a few hundred miles > > Another note: When "pulling doubles" on a regular truck, I think they have > another part they put on the rear of the lead trailer which gives a "5th > wheel" hitch for the 2nd trailer. I think that would be unnecessary on a > train-trailer because hopefully the trailer is supported front and back with > the steel wheels, but you still would want some sort of coupling. > So how about potential customers? Well, probably anyone who is currently > using the railroad would probably be less interested and of course heavy > items One thought might be the traditional small package guys. UPS, USPS > and Amazon. They have lots of trucks (and drivers) and know about > logistics. They already move a lot of trucks from 1 sorting station to > another, but I'm guessing they are primary set up for trucks and don't use > rail. Maybe their sorting stations are next to an airport and don't even > have rail as an option....... but train tracks are only 10 miles away. > They ship stuff from 1 sorting center to another on a daily basis, but > imagine the fuel and personnel costs driving truck trailers 300 miles every > day, back and forth. I could see it costing nearly $500/day just for the > fuel and drivers but when you factor in the cost of the truck, so the > additional cost of making a trailer ride on the rails and be self propelled > might be offset by the fact that you need 1 less truck! (which is much more > expensive) 1 truck could shuttle 10 trailers 10 miles to the offload point > in much less time than driving 300 miles and he gets to spend the night in > his own house rather than being on the road. > I think the main problem is you want to work it all out to see if you could > actually have a workable, cost effective design. Lot's of people have > failed before and you wouldn't want to be just another footnote to history., > but designing is the fun part anyway and it doesn't cost anything. > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20241121/b9abeac4/attachment.htm> > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
