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It seems like cheating that the answer to "How Do YOU Get a Train Moving?" is "With a locomotive." I'd answer "with a crowbar". I used to work in a railway mu
by femto 12y ago
It seems like cheating that the answer to "How Do YOU Get a Train Moving?" is "With a locomotive."
I'd answer "with a crowbar". I used to work in a railway museum and when we didn't have an engine in steam we'd do our shunting with crowbars. The technique is to get a 6 foot long bar with a bent end. Wedge the point of the bent end between the tread and rail, so the "elbow" is resting an inch or two behind the wheel and the bar is up at a 45 degree angle, so forming a lever with a lot of mechanical advantage. Put all your weight on the bar. Eventually the car will start moving. As the car moves, release the bar, slide it forward and repeat. Eventually the car will be moving fast enough that you just run along beside it, sliding the bar forward and jacking up and down with your hands. One person can move a typical car on the flat, but if that's not enough, a person with bar on each wheel will get most things moving.
Always have someone on the handbrake, as you will kill yourself if you try to stop the car with the bar!
- hueving 12y ago>and jacking up and down with your hands. Some of the best tools to jack with!
- femto 12y agoHad to make it obvious! Once the car is moving, if you try to continue jacking by jumping on the bar you run the risk of going under the wheels. The wheels can easily slice you in half.
- samstave 12y agoSeems like all rail cars need a cyclical version of this, an elbow that can be lowered, and with a circular crank, be wedged and turned to produce forward motion. Or a wind-up where a spinning lever could compound effort onto an axle and drive the car forward...
- ohwp 12y agoOther answer: with a lot of model trains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC-dmKHiCnY#t=445 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC-dmKHiCnY#t=445
- Luc 12y agoAccording to the video about 100 kg tractive force is enough to get the locomotive moving. That's a lot less than I expected (though I've seen a video of a strongman called John Massis pulling a loc by his teeth).