Re: RE: 82's Leading Patrick West. - Where are they now?

["Russell Norton" <russelln@primus.com.au>]

For general performance, crew comfort, cab noise levels etc., nothing even
comes close to an NR. However, and this is from personal experience, if I
was on a steep grade with a full or over loaded train, especially if the
track is wet, i'll take an 81 over ANY other engine. It is very rare to see
81's stick up on grades.

It should be noted that locomotive specs on paper cannot be used to judge
real life performance. Constant software revisions and hardware
modifications all diminish a loco's overall tractive effort, compared with
factory specs. Changes are necessary to reduce ongoing problems e.g. slipped
pinions.

Maurie Daly wrote in message ...
>In article <01beeecd$8b9a3c80$102e11cb@rodsmith> "Roderick Smith"
<rodsmith@werple.net.au> writes:
>>From: "Roderick Smith" <rodsmith@werple.net.au>
>>Subject: Re: RE: 82's Leading Patrick West. - Where are they now?
>>Date: 25 Aug 1999 08:06:49 GMT
>
>>Load through hills is governed by axleload, not by traction-motor power.
>>It is improved by control systems (such as controlled creep).
>>Without seeing all of the figures, an 82 should have no more load than an
>>81, BL or NR.
>
>>--
>>Regards
>>Roderick Smith
>>Rail News Victoria Editor
>
>
>Yes and no.
>For traction motors that are 100% efficient , ie all the input electrical
>power is converted into rotational torque then the above is true,but in the
>real world this is not the case.
>81s have D77 motors but the 82s have much bigger D87BTR motors which can
>withstand the same electrical input for a much longer time.
>This means that for climbing a long hill with equal load the bigger motors
can
>exert the same tractive effort for much longer without overheating than can
>the smaller motors.
>The obvious comparison is the continuous tractive effort of
>the NRs (23 tonne axle load,4000 HP,380 kn)) compared with the continuous
>tractive effort of the 82s,(23 tonne axle load,3000 HP,413 kn),ie the 82s
have
> more pulling power albeit at a slower speed.
>The 82 vs 81 comparison is even more significant.
>81s 340 kn cont tract effort.
>The 81s are also slightly lighter than the 82s , (126 tonnes).
>
>cheers
>MD
>