A stretch of Atlanta track that deals with transport trains has become a different type of track altogether. It’s now ground zero for a contest of who gets up and goes the fastest: a diesel-powered locomotive or a diesel powered excavator. It’s really cool how they modified the excavator to be able to travel on rails and really makes me want to see what a car would look like on rails.
Starting off, it’s pretty clear the train has a severe disadvantage. I mean, come on! It’s hooked to nearly a dozen fully loaded rail cars full of cargo. Most diesel-electric locomotives weigh nearly a half million pounds and that’s without any additional fuel or rail cars attached. The most common variety we see out there is the General Electric AC6000CW. These trains have a whopping 6,500 hp engine. Can we get that in a Silverado?
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Unfortunately, in order to get an engine of that magnitude into a train car would pretty much mean it certainly couldn’t act in a regular car. But, it is the mainline locomotive powering pretty much all the freight in the United States – mainly through CSX Transportation and the Union Pacific Railroad.
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Fact 1: Trains move 40%+ of the world’s cargo.
If you want something to get from point A to point B, chances are you’ll need to take trains, planes, ships, and automobiles to
5 Facts About Modern Trains
Fact 1: Trains move 40%+ of the world’s cargo.
If you want something to get from point A to point B, chances are you’ll need to take trains, planes, ships, and automobiles to get it there. Trains, however, are becoming a larger and larger means of moving big, bulk, and freight items. They’re used to haul coal and oil to refineries, take raw ore to be processed, and even move finished goods from the shipyard to the other side of the country. It’s truly a complex process, but one thing is certain: it’s cheaper to move by train than it is nearly any other way across land.
Fact 2: The Trans-Siberian Express is the longest continuous line of rail in the world.
If you’ve ever wanted to travel across Russia, there’s probably no better way to see the countryside than by viewing it from the coach passenger cabin of the Trans-Siberian Express. The Trans-Siberian Express currently has the world record for longest track in the world. It is 5,777 miles long – longer than the United States! If you do decide to take that ride from Moscow to Vladivostock, be prepared for an extremely long journey. The ride can take upwards of four days between stops. Better bring ‘War and Peace’ for the journey.
Fact 3: Bullet Trains hold the world record for fastest trains at 361 mph.
France, Germany, China, and Japan all have functional ‘bullet trains’. A bullet train is capable of moving at amazingly fast speeds – between 130 to 360 depending on conditions. The first bullet train was built in Japan in 1964, and since then countries all over the world have engineered plans to bring that technology to help innovate mass transportation.
Fact 4: Diesel locomotives don’t actually drive the trail.
Diesel locomotives made their debut in World War I as the need to move supplies, men, and resources reached a fevered pitch. But, oddly enough, the diesel engine is not the main driving force in this locomotive. Each modern diesel locomotive is actually a ‘diesel-electric’. The diesel engine produces electricity and there are electric motors which actually spin the wheels and get the train moving. This significantly improves the efficiency of these trains and makes them competitive with other modes of transportation.
Fact 5: The longest freight train stretched out almost 5 miles.
In Australia, the current world record for longest freight train goes to a caravan of 680 cars linked together. While rolling across the barren, desolate Outback, this freight train stretched out for 4.6 miles. Imagine waiting for that train to pass if you’re stuck in your car at a train crossing. For longer freight trains doing longer distance hauls, there will be multiple diesel-electric locomotives positioned throughout the caravan. Usually, there’s one locomotive at the front and perhaps even one in the rear. If the train stretches out far enough, they may even add a few at points in the middle to even out the strain. This makes it possible to get up those truly steep and terrific mountain passes.
Bonus Fact: There used to be enough rail laid in the United States to reach the moon.
In 1916, the amount of railroad track laid out was enough to reach the moon from Earth. That’s nearly 250,000 miles of iron rail. Now the amount of active rail in the United States is far less significant as other modes of transportation have taken off. It’s still amazing to think we could have almost reached the moon and then driven a train there to boot.
