On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:48:22 GMT, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

I still maintain that we can have our cake and eat it too. All we
need to do is switch to diesel/electric trucks and do the same for the
bigger cars. I read something the other day about GE's Evolution
diesel/electric locomotive, 12 cylinder turbo charged diesel engine
producing 6300 BHP and something like 6000 THP (traction wheel
horsepower) which can move a ridiculous amount of freight (in the
order of 50 million pounds or something like that - might even have
been higher) 6 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel.

I think you misspelled 6 gallons per mile. A diesel will typically
burn 1/3 of a pound per hour per horsepower. Or more than a ton an
hour in this case. Three hundred gallons per hour would require a
speed of 1800 MPH to get six miles per gallon. Never happen.

And it will haul only as much as 11/2 to 2 regular locos. 250 100 ton
cars? Which would come to 25 000 tons.? If the cars are 100 tons, and
a hundred feet long, the train would be almost five miles long.
Unlikely even with twenty or thirty locos.

You can't convince that the lessons learned in developing that type of
transportation power can't be used in developing a diesel/electric
capable of moving a F-350 around town efficiently. :)

Diesel electric is not particularly efficient. It allows starts with
very heavy loads without frying a clutch, which is why they use it.
It is heavy which matters with a truck.

Casady