ADHESION OF LOCOMOTIVES FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION. EQUIPPING OF A TEST MACHINE WITH VARIABLE CONSTRUCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

In the past work of the Specialists Committee B 44, adhesion tests were carried out using standard electric locomotives of the SNCF and CFF (see Report B 44/RP 2 published June 1964). Some useful results were obtained from these tests but it was apparent that if certain constructional characteristiques of the locomotive could be varied at will, their influence on adhesion could be shown. This cannot be done with standard tractive units. The former gas turbine locomotive 18 000 of British Railways was offered to the Committee and has been rebuilt as a test machine for adhesion studies. This report describes the work which was carried out on the test machine and its measuring equipment. The test machine has the following features: 1) A single traction motor drives the centre axle of one three axled bogie. This motor can be fed either from electric or diesel electric locomotives to compare different current supply systems. 2) The loading on the single traction axle can be varied pneumatically. Driving wheels of different diameters and drive systems of different resiliences can be fitted. 3) The value of the coefficient of adhesion is obtained directly by comparison of the tractive effort with the vertical load on the wheelset. This latter in measured under dynamic running conditions. 4) Slip and micro slip can be monitored accurately. 5) Calculating and recording equipment deals with the magnitudes measured. Preliminary trials were carried out on the test machine in July and August 1969.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Restrictions on the use of this document are contained in the explanatory material.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Union of Railways

  Office of Research and Experiments
  Utrecht,   Netherlands 
• Publication Date: 1969-10

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 45 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adhesion; Axle load force; Coefficient of friction; Diesel electric locomotives; Diesel locomotives; Electric locomotives; Equipment tests; Locomotives; Measuring instruments; Tests; Train track dynamics; Vehicle design
• Identifier Terms: British Rail
• Old TRIS Terms: Axle loadings; Locomotive design; Question b44; Test equipment
• Subject Areas: Design; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00052948
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Union of Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: B44/RP 8/E
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 6 1976 12:00AM