Maximum axle weight

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Gra2472
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Maximum axle weight

Post by Gra2472 »

I was having a discussion with a friend about live steam locomotives and an interesting question came up. Do you know if your clubs have a maximum axle weight, or maximum locomotive weight?

Thanks

G
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Glenn Brooks
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Many clubs do have a max weight requirement. 200 pounds per wheel is a common, traditional load limit. However this is based on some early day guesstimate, and has no engineering validity - just hand-me-down, old time, live steamer lore. With steel rail and appropriately spaced ties, you could easily exceed 400#+ per wheel point loading.

Probably somebody has done the necessary calculations to accurately describe max weight loading (for 7.5” ga track). It would be very helpful if a reference chart were widely available. Might surprise quite a few people. Grand Scale 12# steel rail is rated to carry 40,000#, for example.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Bill Shields »

Max loco weight at a club may well be limited by lift load limits,

I seem to remember a case at a club in the east where a 'rarher large' loco overloaded the vertical lift and .....

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Mountaineer
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Mountaineer »

Locally weight is limited by a bridge…
hoppercar
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by hoppercar »

Have never heard any thing about maximum axle weights???.....live steam locomotives, typically aren't heavy enough for this to be a concern......unless, your trying to rerail them after a derailment.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Bill Shields »

Ah...then you have not seen some of the 'rail crushers' that are running around.

Get a 1500# narrow gauge 2.5" scale engine on 2 axles, and many clubs begin to shudder when they show up.
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Berkman
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Berkman »

Would think the 3.75 maxi 2-4-4/2-4-2 design or something like a 2.5 scale k36 would be about the heaviest out there.
Gra2472
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Gra2472 »

Interesting points you guys are making. I can see bridge capacity and lift capacity definitely being a limiting factor. I have thought of that when some of the big engines show up, like a k36 or a big boy. I hadn’t considered thinking about it on a weight per wheel basis. I was simply talking about the hobby to a muggle (to use a Harry Potter term) when he asked about axle weights. I’ve never had anything heavy enough to even consider it, so I thought I would see what the experts have to say.
7.5" Allen Mogul
3 x 7.5" West Valley Baldwin Westinghouse Electrics
The railroad is almost done.
G. Augustus
Monte Rio, Ca.
James Powell
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by James Powell »

I've got a 5" gauge loco that I think is going to weigh about 1200 lb on 4 axles...or at least if I ballast it down to where it is useful it will... (4 3/4" scale on 5" gauge loco...). I can see clubs not being very happy with that. It's well over 500 lb as it is right now, no water, no coal, no driver. I figure on riding on the loco, and ballasting the other end to match, which would be another 500 lb. It has the cylinder size and boiler size to support that without too much difficulty...all up weight would be my concern, not single point weights. With 400+ lb on 2 sections, it's quite a load for a elevated track.

That being said, some math we did @ Vancouver Island Model Engineers showed that the likely heaviest loading was articulated passenger cars, rather than engines. That included some quite heavy gas locos, in the form of the G/E and G/H locos that Clem Russeau (spelling?) made. I know that BCSME have a couple of even heavier locos in the form of the "F40" locos, but I don't think they have ever come to visit the island. The VIME trestles were engineered to be acceptable loadings with only 1 span in functional condition, single point failure resistant ect. Not sure how well it would actually work, but I understand there was a fairly serious engineering "book" written for it. (Michell Trestle). The Creek crossing ones are built out of (IIRC) highway beam sections, so are well overengineered for the use.

Richmond Hill Live Steamers in Toronto had/has a weight limit on their bridge. The Maxi Lucky 7 that the late Jim Small built (and now is in MI with a new Marty Knox boiler) was forbidden to drive over the bridge. I understand that it did go across the bridge at least once, but when I drove it there, I certainly didn't take it across. I suspect that's the track that Mountaineer is referencing.
jkimberln
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by jkimberln »

At GGLS we have a 2000 lb weight limit, 450 lb per axle, steel rail, plastic tie material, 5/8" ballast.
Gra2472
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Gra2472 »

jkimberln wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:39 pm At GGLS we have a 2000 lb weight limit, 450 lb per axle, steel rail, plastic tie material, 5/8" ballast.
Good to know!
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The railroad is almost done.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Maximum axle weight

Post by Dick_Morris »

There was a series of short technical articles in either Live Steam or possibly Modeltec by "West Valley Live Steamers" many years ago. I think the author was actually John Grant. My recollection is that wheel loading may have been the subject of one of them.

I found "More on Wheel Standards and Track Wear" listed in my MT index on page 34, Feb 1996, but I don't think this is it.
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