On Wednesday 03 September 2003 21:18, Russell Shaw wrote: > > > > Electric traction offers a few benefits: > > > > - Quieter. > > - Less (near zero) right-of-way (RoW) pollution. > > - Better high-speed performance. > > - Fewer ventilation issues for tunnels or enclosed operations (e.g.: > > RR terminals). > > - Ability to power all axels. > > The track maintenance is less with electrics because there's no > pulsing action like with steam that pounds the tracks.
Not necessarily so. Axle-hung (and hence unsprung) electric motors are far harder on the tracks than steam locomotives are. (This would apply to any diesel-electrics with axle-hung motors as well, of course). The Southern Railway in Britain found this out when it extended its suburban electrification to its main lines. Axle-hung motors are fine at lower speeds but when speeds get over the 60mph mark, the track starts to suffer. As to steam, the 'hammer-blow' is caused by the balance weights used to balance out the weight of the pistons in a fore-and-aft direction. It was found that three- and four-cylinder steam locomotives often needed very little or no balance at all, and hence caused no hammer-blow. cr -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
