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Re: Would an NR be faster than an XPT???





Michael Walker <walker@hotkey.net.au> wrote in article
<34B20637.6638@hotkey.net.au>...
> In Rail News Victoria December issue, the comment is made in the article
> regarding GSPE on page 10 that during the trip from Melbourne to
> Sydney,  'The NR was not noticeably affected by the grades, having a
> better power-to-weight ratio than an XPT. It was quieter than an
> XPT,...'
> 
> Just out of interest, especially given all the talk of late about High
> Speed Trains, would an NR with a suitably modified or built carriage set
> be able to better XPT times between Melbourne and Sydney if allowed the
> speed or indeed on any track, especially that with adverse gradients?
> 
In answer to the above NO , simply because an NR cant run at 160 km/hour
,unless its traction motors 
were regeared, this is possible but not likely as the loco would then be
useless for hauling freights.
Im not clear as to why an XPT hauled by an NR has a higher power to weight
ratio than the current XPT.
Even with the derating applied to the paxman valenta engines in the XP
power cars they still achieve 2000HP each
for traction , and as there are 2 of them we have 4000 HP , the same as an
NR so the HP/tonne would be similar.

> Also along the same lines, since the NR locos have been pulling the
> Indian Pacific, have they been able to cut much time off the times
> achieved when pulled by CLPs? I understand that they are unlikely to do
> more than what the table allows when the train is on time but on one of
> the many occasions they have been delayed, has there been any remarkable
> feats of reducing late running by powering a little more than usual?

This is possible but not too likely.
The only sections of line over which the IP runs where there are severe
grades are between
Parkes / Orange East Fork Junction (1:40s) and the Blue Mtns 1:33s.
An NR would do a bit better here than a CLP with the same load , but not
too much ,as these sections of track
as well as being severly graded are also severely curved so you cant go
much faster even if you have the extra HP.

cheers
MD


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