Re: [Melb] New trains?

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au>]

>
> I find the QR suburbans very smooth, but I'm convinced that is due to
their
> superior trackwork.  Even IMUs travelling at 140 km/h are far smoother
than
> anything in NSW, due to track condition.
>
> --
> David Johnson
> trainman@ozemail.com.au
> http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/
> ------------------------------------

In theory at least, the wider the track guage, the better the ride and
faster speed achievable.  Brunel went for 7'0 and 1/4 inches on his Great
Western Railway, for many years the trains were faster than anything else in
Britain running on standard gauge.  The BART system San Francisco went for 5
ft 6 in gauge for better ride quality.  Of course when you don't maintain
the track to a high standard, all the potential offered by a wider gauge is
lost.

>From my experience, the sleeping cars on QR's narrow gauge between Brisbane
and Rockhampton rode far better than those on Amtrak, which has to use
private freight lines of standard gauge for the most part.  Between
Flagstaff and Albuquerque there were a few bad patches which almost threw
you off your feet.

Regards

David Bennetts
Bowral