Talk:Rail adhesion

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talk page for rail adhesion.

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[edit] Physics question

Adhesion is directly proportional to weight isn't it? So heavy is good for mechanical engineers but civil engineers get worried. Dunc| 23:00, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Response

Correct. I have expanded your point somewhat in the article. Gordon Vigurs 09:42, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ...

1 lift to drag ratio a strange and misleading use of this term which is clearly defined and has nothing to do with the present topic.

2 Distributed Effort using brakes on all the wheels of a train and using multiple drive motors along the length of a train avoids many adhesion limitations. This should be explained (in simple terms please) in the article.

3 Limiting Gradient I was taught that roller bearing vehicles would run freely on about 1 in 180 and those with plain bearings on about 1 in 60. But nobody ever told me what is the steepest gradient that can be found in practice being worked by conventional trains.

4 "Traction or friction can be reduced when the rails are greasy..." not "can be" "is" Keep it simple for easy comprehension please.


77.97.161.230 08:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)mikeL Good points, please update the article. Gordon Vigurs (talk) 08:37, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] TopplingLimit.png

This graphic really needs to be cropped. RobertM525 (talk) 08:56, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I could redraw this, in due course, but should the image it be here at all? This page is about adhesion, but this section is about the effect of centrifugal force. Shouldn't the topic be in superelevation or curve of adjustment? The point is actually acknowledged in the article: "Since railway wheels usually have flanges for safety, the radius of turn is not directly determined by the coefficient of friction"--Old Moonraker (talk) 11:30, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't even understand the diagram, so I couldn't say whether it belongs here or not. :) RobertM525 (talk) 07:00, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
I feel a spot of pruning coming on. The bit about Herzian Stress is also wrong: the reason C19 express locomotives had large driving wheels was to reduce the linear speed of the reciprocating components: such bits as the crank webs would break otherwise. Any salvage should be moved into superelevation. --Old Moonraker (talk) 08:45, 15 March 2008 (UTC)