11-06-2023, 12:20 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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'railroads to borrow from cars......finally!'
I talked with a physics guy and his high-schooler son yesterday at the laundromat.
They'd seen SPIRIT and wanted to talk about it for his son's class project.
The father's a railroad guy, and using his physics background to drag locomotive technology up to 1998 automotive hybrid levels.
Rather than lose all the train's braking energy to the locomotive's rooftop resistor heat, they're finally going to install Li-ion batteries to capture it all.
I'd mentioned the 670-hp worth of power that 12% photovoltaic array could capture atop a 1-mile train, and he seemed to get the light bulb moment.
Anyway, it's good news, to hear that our diesel-hybrid-electric trains will finally be diesel-hybrid-electric in the way we experience automobiles. 
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11-06-2023, 02:25 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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A quick search suggests 3,200-6,000HP (18,000 max). Boxcars are fungible, and would require retrofit.
No idea what the rolling friction losses are for a mile long train, but 670HP in aerodynamics losses may be achievable.
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12-08-2023, 03:52 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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Human Environmentalist
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AI botz are getting better. Few more years and we'll need Blade Runners.
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12-08-2023, 02:09 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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I must have missed something.
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12-09-2023, 10:19 AM
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#5 (permalink)
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Somewhat crazed
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The railroads don't own the railcars, except indirectly, just like containers. Unless there's a federal mandate for uniformity solar on rooftops aint gonna happen. Reefer's maybe if you point out significant cost savings over the install costs
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casual notes from the underground:There are some "experts" out there that in reality don't have a clue as to what they are doing.
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12-09-2023, 03:45 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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aero guerrilla
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotrsko
The railroads don't own the railcars, except indirectly, just like containers. Unless there's a federal mandate for uniformity solar on rooftops aint gonna happen. Reefer's maybe if you point out significant cost savings over the install costs
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Or... Railroads start charging proportionally to the cost of hauling a specific car.
It would take into account the weight of the car + cargo, its rolling resistance, possibly some measure of aero drag. Though I doubt the latter.
This scheme would favor lighter cars, with better serviced wheels and bearings.
Additional incentives for PV on the roof, to reduce the load on the engine.
Or with its own powered axles and batteries, regen and assist controlled from the loco.
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e·co·mod·ding: the art of turning vehicles into what they should be
What matters is where you're going, not how fast.
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[Old] Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread
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12-09-2023, 06:47 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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