Basically the title. Considering that train wheels are made of metals and run on metal tracks, how do they prevent wheelslip or loss of traction especially when starting with heavy loads or when going uphill? I’ve heard of sandboxes which can be used to provide more grip by spraying sand onto the track but I’m not sure if they’re still prevalent.
Thanks!
In: 72
They can slip. The engines are powerful enough to spin the wheels in place. But that would damage the wheels and the rails, so they start in a low gear. There are engineering tables with friction coefficients for steel on steel, they know the calculations and new people are always mentored. They are called engineers for a reason
Weight, plain and simple.
Trains weigh hundreds of tons and the wight alone will overcome the lack of friction. Similar in principal to putting sand bags in the back of a 2 wheel drive truck during winter, more weight=more down force=better traction.
On a side note: overhead cranes in factories also run steel wheels on steel rail
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