We have been having some strong winds today and some tomorrow. It got me to thinking how trains are affected in strong winds. I am not sure of what wind speed but I heard on our news that some driving could be treacherous. So, any feedback?
Unless the winds reach that velocity where it starts knocking over big objects like houses, thereby raising a possibility of it knocking off traincars, winds shouldn't have any significant effect on trains. Also, remember a Superliner train car is much heavier than cars and trucks so if things reach a stage where winds can knock down a Superliner car, you probably wouldn't want to be anywhere in such an area!We have been having some strong winds today and some tomorrow. It got me to thinking how trains are affected in strong winds. I am not sure of what wind speed but I heard on our news that some driving could be treacherous. So, any feedback?
They're still relevant to train travel.We have been having some strong winds today and some tomorrow. It got me to thinking how trains are affected in strong winds. I am not sure of what wind speed but I heard on our news that some driving could be treacherous. So, any feedback?
Winds are a much more critical element of air travel than train travel..
I was just thinking of this video when I saw the thread title. Scary stuff.
I think you would more likely fly off the train. :giggle:So Texas, if the train is going in the area where the wind is too strong, we should jump off the train?
But the boxcar still remained on the tracks, no?Granted this is not a passenger car, I remember a BNSF yardmaster telling the tour group I was in that winds would sometimes move an empty boxcar hundreds of yards backwards, fouling up the hump. IIRC, this was before they got a computer upgrade which now factors wind speed into "humping".
Canadian Pacific had some doublestacks derailed by high winds while crossing a bridge over the St. Lawrence River just downriver from Montreal a couple of years back. They did not end up in the river but I'll bet the crew had some scary moments.I was just thinking of this video when I saw the thread title. Scary stuff.
Echoing the above post on empty containers, I've also read somewhere (perhaps in a trip report...?) that some railroads have had shipping containers on the upper levels of double stack trains get blown off of bridges into the rivers below on occasion.
Yes, indeed, that is what those full hoppers parked across the Coal Creek Canyon Bridge are for on the Front Range. Of course sometimes even that does not help, since there was at least one incident where the said protection mechanism itself got blown over.I know that the winds can blow over rail cars. On the giant boot-looking shape you make on the final descent into Denver, our SCA or someone like that was narrating to us about the area. He said that coming down the slopes, 100mph+ gusts were not uncommon,, and the rusty boxcars laying alongside the tracks there where the rail parallels the Front Range are to act as a buffer to any cars going up/down.
Oh yes. I remember some years ago when strong winds blew some branches on to the catenary somewhere around Odenton and shut down the entire Northeast Corridor just in time for the DC rush hour. Thousands of stranded commuters milling about in Union Station. A bunch of us who recognized each other as regular riders found taxicab and split on the $75 ride to BWI.Winds must be pretty strong to actually knock trains off the track. But a bigger problem caused by winds is them blowing things onto tracks and causing trees to fall onto tracks.
I would assume so.But the boxcar still remained on the tracks, no?Granted this is not a passenger car, I remember a BNSF yardmaster telling the tour group I was in that winds would sometimes move an empty boxcar hundreds of yards backwards, fouling up the hump. IIRC, this was before they got a computer upgrade which now factors wind speed into "humping".
Wind can definitely do this. The force it takes to make a car move, commonly called rolling resistance consists of three terms, a constant, generally considered related to internal friction in the bearings, a term directly proportional to speed, generally considered related to the amount the track deflects under the train plus some other considerations, and a term proportional to the square of the speed, generally considered to be aerodynamic. the effects of grade, up or down is also a constant directly proportional to the steepness of the grade. A hump yard works on the principle that the grade factor is large enough to exceed all the others. If the wind is strong enough that it overcomes all the others, then the car will move in the direction the wind pushes it.I would assume so.But the boxcar still remained on the tracks, no?Granted this is not a passenger car, I remember a BNSF yardmaster telling the tour group I was in that winds would sometimes move an empty boxcar hundreds of yards backwards, fouling up the hump. IIRC, this was before they got a computer upgrade which now factors wind speed into "humping".
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