[pratheesh]

dont think i m so silly.........


can anybody tell me the engine specifications of a railway locomotive...
like the no. of cylinders, displacement, max. torque, max. power,fuel efficieny etc

[tifosikrishna]

i presume you wanted to know about indian railways and the engines they uses. check this link
http://irfca.org/

it will take you indian railway fan club, there are a number of links about technical info you are looking for.

[sbasak]

For most diesel-electric locos, diesel engines first run a generator and that electricity is fed to traction motors

Currently, EMD SD90 (USA), is world's most powerful diesel loco

Traction = ~ 850 kN

India's most ubiquitious WDM2/3 diesel locos have traction 200-320 kN

You may like to play Microsoft Train Simulator game!
Search for "Indian Railways" in www.train-sim.com I created some Train Sim locos there!

[no_sweat]

I know I am answering after about 4 years - but still. The Train engine in which I travelled (and learnt to drive?) had 2600 bhp in which 180 was used for the engine itself, 16 cylinders, and consumed 400 litres for 100 kms with 25 liters for idling for an hour. the cylinder size was "about the size of our (wheat)flour dabba (a medium sized bucket - about 10 litres)" no torque figures available. Will post along with pics later.

Till then.. cheers..

[b_ambat]

Hi friends, here is the details of diesel loco engines.

Engine type :WDM2, GOODS & PASSENGERS
Cylinder arragement :V TYPE1
Power :2600 Hp
Pinion gear ratio :18:65
Maximum loco speed :121Kmph

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Engine type :WDM7, GOODS & PASSENGERS
Cylinder arragement :V TYPE
Power :1900 Hp
Pinion gear ratio :17:94
Maximum loco speed :105Kmph

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Engine type :WDS6, SHUNTING
Cylinder arragement :V TYPE
Power :1400 Hp
Pinion gear ratio :18:74
Maximum loco speed :62.5Kmph

---------------------------------------------------------------

WDM2c - 3100Hp
WDG2 - 3200Hp


And these are the specification of ALCO manufactured engines and all these are turbocharged with intercooler.

[Rehaan]

Here's a related thread that just popped up on the forum :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...want-ride.html

(However the poster needs to reload the pictres, which should happen soon)

cya
R

[SirAlec]

Locomotives in India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[adisan]

A question:

It is understandable that once a train reaches a certain speed, momentum itself will help and not much power is required to maintain that speed. But how does the locomotive get the train up to that speed in the first place, say 100 kmph?

The loco engine specs in these posts seem to be only about 10 to 20 times bigger than an average car, but the weight of a train would be hundreds of times more. So the answer does not seem to be raw power. Is there any physics trick involved that helps the locomotive to pull several tonnes of weight at such speeds?

Two related aspects that I have read about are:
[1] The resistance / friction between the wheels and the rails is very low.
[2] There is some kind of a spring mechanism used between each coach. The locomotive pulls only the coach just behind it, and the spring action helps each coach pull its subsequent coach.

[nitkel]

Originally Posted by adisan

A question:

It is understandable that once a train reaches a certain speed, momentum itself will help and not much power is required to maintain that speed. But how does the locomotive get the train up to that speed in the first place, say 100 kmph?
The loco engine specs in these posts seem to be only about 10 to 20 times bigger than an average car, but the weight of a train would be hundreds of times more. So the answer does not seem to be raw power. Is there any physics trick involved that helps the locomotive to pull several tonnes of weight at such speeds?

The answer lies in the tractive effort these engines can produce. A WAP-7 has 6 motors each capable of average 6700 Nm of torque. So it can put down 322.4 kN of effort at start to make a train move and 228 kN to keep it running at it's designed speed. That's around 2500 hatchbacks worth of torque!

[fhdowntheline]

From what I remember seeing and learning from my grandfather, the diesel locos also have "notches" roughly akin to transmission slots . I think the WDM2 had multiple (8?) notches. Starting off from standstill or climbing up high gradients was done in 1st notch.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

From what I remember seeing and learning from my grandfather, the diesel locos also have "notches" roughly akin to transmission slots . I think the WDM2 had multiple (8?) notches. Starting off from standstill or climbing up high gradients was done in 1st notch.

Not sure of the presence of 'notches' but even diesel locos are actually electric engines. The diesel engine is used to turn a generator which produces electricity and this is fed to the AC traction motors in the locomotive which eventually powers the motion. This is the reason why a pure electric loco is much lighter than a 'diesel' loco as there is no diesel engine and the generator (since the electric loco is fed electricity directly from overhead wire through the pantograph).

[nitkel]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

From what I remember seeing and learning from my grandfather, the diesel locos also have "notches" roughly akin to transmission slots . I think the WDM2 had multiple (8?) notches. Starting off from standstill or climbing up high gradients was done in 1st notch.

The notches regulate the amount of power/TE the locomotive puts down. That's mainly to avoid breaking the couplers in the rake due to too much power input and ensuring smoother movement. Notch 1 is lowest and notch 8 is highest setting.