Eli5: Why train wheels don’t slip on the rails, when both the wheels and the rails are made of metal?

Question

Eli5: Why train wheels don’t slip on the rails, when both the wheels and the rails are made of metal?

In: 15

Answer 1

Mainly because there’s a lot of weight on the wheels. Large freight train locomotives have about 30 tons of weight on each axle. So that’s *15 tons on each wheel*.