pablo wrote:I've read repeatedly about the rough ride of these units/trucks, so unquestionably, it's true. I've also ridden units with hard-riding trucks (70-tonner was the worst), so I know what that feels like.
My question is this: how is it able to be ascertained that any unit or class of units are straightening rails, destroying joints, etc.? Is it just that the rails are more worn after a brief period of time when these units are around? I mean, there were other styles of locos around at the time, and how is it determined that it's the C-628's and not the big U-Boats, for instance?
I don't mean to sound ignorant, but I've always wondered when the D&H is using 6-axle U-Boats (which I thought went away before too long, too) how the 628's were the bad guy. I'm extending that question to the LV here as well.
Thanks in advance.
Dave Becker
If the ONLY six axle power on your railroad is a C-628, and every time they go around a tight curve, they derail or break the rails, in places the 4 axles run without a care, you might have an issue. In places where the C-628's roam, and the curves in the rail are suddenly being ground down, from the rail head, to the web of the rail, you might have a problem. If the C-628's start to "vertically oscillate" and the rail under them, becomes many, very short rails, without other locos creating the same problems, you might have an issue, with your C-628's. If you are running at lower speeds, and you enter a curve, and the rail on the outside is pushed out, and rolled onto it's side, ONLY when a C-628 powered train is running on it, you might have another problem. My favorite locos, were, unfortunately, very punishing, on stick rail, and moderate to tight curves. As I mentioned a while back, in another thread, LV engineer Tony Jules once told me, "a Valley engineer is measured, by the amount of sand he can throw onto the nose, from his sandbox fillers". A slight exaggeration, possibly, but he was stating the severe vertical pounding they demonstrated, while operating on jointed rail, and the ability of a LV engineer, to "ride it out", and keep on running in the 8th, even as it seemed, the train was literally about to leap off the tracks. The C-628 was a punisher, on the crews, and on the physical plant, of the railroad. Regards