Re: BHP Iron Ore increases rolling stock fleet

Terry Burton (telljb@ozemail.com.au)
Tue, 05 Aug 1997 14:25:00 GMT

mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly) was quoting:
>>The new locomotives, General Electric AC6000, are 6,000
>>horsepower units driving through six alternating current
>>traction motors. The new units will have the capacity to haul a
>>240-car train with three locomotives, compared to the current
>>requirement for four.

and said:
>Any idea how much these units weigh?
>6000 HP into 6 axles will need at least 36 tonne axle loads to be able to
>utilize all the HP , makes a mighty big loco.?
>8000 tonnes load approx for 1 loco, if only the Govt rail systems could get
>even close.
>cheers
>MD

TB added:
They might get away with less than 36t axle load and
use updated "wheel slip" tech, but even that has its
limitations. Its a lot of power, and some of it will
be wasted if they do not get the adhesion factor right,
and you can not beat mass for that.!

I found the BHP press release interesting, they say the
present 240 car trains have four Loco's, (unless that
was a typo) the last time I was over in the Pilbara
(1989) they were using five locos, perhaps Dash-8
technology played a part there.

Cheers

----Tell
Alice Springs NT