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| Re: Here's the problem with gas-turbine trains (321817) | |||
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Re: Here's the problem with gas-turbine trains |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Oct 10 00:59:27 2006, in response to What's the problem with turbine trains?, posted by New Brunswick Station on Tue Oct 10 00:37:20 2006. How was it promising? These are engines that are only good for helicopters. They drink fuel like crazy and spew superheated exhaust that can melt steel girders. They're way higher maintenance than your average internal-combustion piston engine; turbines aren't meant to be operated like land engines—they are meant to be revved up to one point and stay there for long periods of time, then shut off, not revved up and down. They're noisy, too.They were the "great white hope" for having super-fast rail without having to electrify—the fastest example is the Turbo TGV, that France ran at 192 mph back in 1967 once. After that, France went to electrification, following Japan's example. As far as hauling freight?—UP's turbine locos needed a fuel tender for all that Bunker C oil it would use up. And yes, the RTL, UAC and JetTrain share that fuel thirst problem. I've heard an anecdote (a good while back, can't find it now) that the RTL hit 155 mph in a test run; but the FRA won't allow that thing to go faster than 125 mph on any stretch of track nowadays, and we've got modern diesels that can hit 125 mph, possibly with faster acceleration when AC traction is used. |
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