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Minimum Railway Curve Radius
The minimum railway curve radius is the shortest allowable design radius for the centerline of railway tracks under a particular set of conditions. It has an important bearing on construction costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation (difference in elevation of the two rails) in the case of train tracks, determines the maximum safe speed of a curve. The minimum radius of a curve is one parameter in the design of railway vehicles as well as trams; monorails and automated guideways are also subject to a minimum radius. History The first proper railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830. Like the tram roads that had preceded it over a hundred years, the L&M had gentle curves and gradients. Reasons for these gentle curves include the lack of strength of the track, which might have overturned if the curves were too sharp causing derailments. The gentler the curves, the greater the visibility, thus boosting safety via increased ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CTA Loop Junction
CTA may refer to: Legislation *Children's Television Act, American legislation passed in 1990 that enforces a certain degree of educational television *Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 *Criminal Tribes Act, British legislation in India passed in 1871 which labelled entire communities as criminal Organizations Asia *Central Tibetan Administration *China Tourism Academy *Chinese Taoist Association *Crystal Thai Airlines Europe, Africa, and South America *Cairo Transportation Authority *Central de los Trabajadores Argentinos *Cyprus Turkish Airlines *Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) * CTA International North America * California Teachers Association, a labor union *California Technology Agency, a California cabinet-level state agency *Call to Action, a Christian organization *Canadian Transportation Agency, an independent tribunal of the Government of Canada *Canadian Trucking Alliance, a Canadian federation of provincial trucking associations *Central T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shay Locomotive
The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared steam locomotive''. Although the design of Ephraim Shay's early locomotives differed from later ones, there is a clear line of development that joins all Shays. Shay locomotives were especially suited to logging, mining and industrial operations and could operate successfully on steep or poor quality track. Development Ephraim Shay (1839–1916), was a schoolteacher, a clerk in an American Civil War hospital, a civil servant, a logger, a merchant, a railway owner, and an inventor who lived in Michigan. In the 1860s, he became a logger and wanted a better way to move logs to the mill than on winter snow sleds. He built his own tramway in 1875, on gauge track on wooden ties, allowing him to log all year round. Two years later he develope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tilting Train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest, and standing passengers to lose their balance. Tilting trains are designed to counteract this by tilting the carriages towards the inside of the curve, thus compensating for the g-force. The train may be constructed such that inertial forces cause the tilting (''passive tilt''), or it may have a computer-controlled powered mechanism (''active tilt''). The first passive tilting car design was built in the US in 1937, and an improved version was built in 1939. The beginning of World War II ended development. Talgo introduced a version based on their articulated bogie design in 1950s, and this concept was used on a number of commercial services. Among these was the UAC Turbo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resultant Force
In physics and engineering, a resultant force is the single force and associated torque obtained by combining a system of forces and torques acting on a rigid body via vector addition. The defining feature of a resultant force, or resultant force-torque, is that it has the same effect on the rigid body as the original system of forces. Calculating and visualizing the resultant force on a body is done through computational analysis, or (in the case of sufficiently simple systems) a free body diagram. The point of application of the resultant force determines its associated torque. The term ''resultant force'' should be understood to refer to both the forces and torques acting on a rigid body, which is why some use the term ''resultant force–torque''. Illustration The diagram illustrates simple graphical methods for finding the line of application of the resultant force of simple planar systems. #Lines of application of the actual forces and \scriptstyle \vec_ in the leftmost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cant (road/rail)
The cant of a railway track or camber of a road (also referred to as superelevation, cross slope or cross fall) is the rate of change in elevation (height) between the two rails or edges. This is normally greater where the railway or road is curved; raising the outer rail or the outer edge of the road creates a banked turn, thus allowing vehicles to maneuver through the curve at higher speeds than would otherwise be possible were the surface flat or level. Rail On railways, cant helps a train steer around a curve, keeping the wheel flanges from touching the rails, minimizing friction, wear and rail squeal. The main functions of cant are the following: * Improve distribution of the load across both rails * Reduce wear on rails and wheels * Neutralize the effect of lateral forces * Improve passenger comfort The necessary cant in a curve depends on the expected speed of the trains and the radius. However, it may be necessary to select a compromise value at design time, for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reactive Centrifugal Force
In classical mechanics, a reactive centrifugal force forms part of an action–reaction pair with a centripetal force. In accordance with Newton's first law of motion, an object moves in a straight line in the absence of a net force acting on the object. A curved path may however ensue when such a force acts on it; this force is often called a centripetal force, as it is directed toward the center of curvature of the path. Then in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, there will also be an equal and opposite force exerted by the object on some other object, such as a constraint that forces the path to be curved, and this reaction force, the subject of this article, is sometimes called a reactive centrifugal force, as it is directed in the opposite direction of the centripetal force. Unlike the inertial force or fictitious force known as centrifugal force, which always exists in addition to the reactive force in the rotating frame of reference, the reactive force is a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronically Controlled Pneumatic
Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes are a type of modern railway braking system which offer improved performance compared to traditional railway air brakes. Overview Traditional train braking systems use pneumatic valves to control and generate brake applications on the cars along the length of the train. In general, this conventional system consists of a brake pipe that runs the length of the train which supplies air to reservoirs mounted on each of the cars. When the brake pipe and car components are charged with air, the brakes release. When the engineer needs to make a brake application, control valves in the locomotive reduce the brake pipe pressure. As the brake pipe pressure reduces, the service portion on each car diverts air from their reservoirs to their brake cylinders. To release the brakes, the engineer charges the brake pipe. This method of controlling the brakes on freight and passenger cars has remained virtually unchanged since its invention by George Wes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unit Train
A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are distinct from wagonload trains, which comprise differing numbers of cars for various customers. Unit trains enable railways to compete more effectively with road and internal waterway transport systems. Time and money is saved by avoiding the complexities and delays that would otherwise be involved with assembling and disassembling trains at rail yards near the origin and destination. Unit trains are particularly efficient and economical for high-volume commodities. Since they often carry only one commodity, cars are of all the same type; often the cars are identical. Use Unit trains are typically used for the transportation of bulk goods. These can be solid substances such as: * Track ballast or gravel * Iron ore from mines to ports or ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapid Transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be called a subway, tube, or underground. Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are railways (usually electric railway, electric) that operate on an exclusive right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles, and which is often grade-separated in tunnels or on elevated railways. Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between rapid transit station, stations typically using electric multiple units on rail tracks, although some systems use guided rubber tires, magnetic levitation (''maglev''), or monorail. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains, requiring custom-made trains in order to minimize gaps between train a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrow-gauge Railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railway curve radius, tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge. In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buffer And Chain Coupler
Buffers and chain couplers (also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", "screwlink", and "English" couplers) are the de facto UIC standard railway stock coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some surviving former colonial railways, such as in South America and India, on older rolling stock. Buffers and chain couplers are an assembly of several devices: buffers, hooks and links, or turnbuckle screws. On the modern version of the couplers, rail vehicles are mated by manually connecting the end link of one chain which incorporates a turnbuckle screw into the towing hook of the other wagon, drawing together and slightly compressing the buffer pairs, one left and one right on each headstock. That limits slack, and lessens shunting shocks in moving trains. By contrast, vehicles fitted with the semi-automatic Janney Type E coupler can experience significant jarring during mating and shunting. Very early rolling stock had "dummy buffers", which were simple rigid extensions of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Coupling
A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism typically placed at each end of a railway vehicle that connects them together to form a train. A variety of coupler types have been developed over the course of railway history. Key issues in their design include strength, reliability, ease of making connections and operator safety. The equipment that connects the couplings to the vehicles is the draft gear or draw gear and these must absorb the stresses of coupling and train acceleration. Nomenclature Compatible and similar couplings or couplers are frequently referred to using widely differing make, brand, or regional names, or nicknames, which can make describing standard or typical designs confusing. Dimensions and ratings noted in these articles are usually of nominal or typical components and systems, though standards and practices also vary widely with railway, region, and era. Buffers and chain The basic type of coupling on railways following the British tradition is the bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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