I’ve been wondering about this question for a long time. Every single car in a train has its own brakes, so the train should stop in the same distance that it takes one car to stop. Why is this not the case? Or does each car take a mile to stop on its own?
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People are saying how cars have tires and your talking about train cars, even with all those wheels, they have to brake at the right speed, because a train wheel with wheel slip is basically on ice, and has next to no grip, add all those cars that weight more than an actual vroom vroom car, and the train has a hard time stopping all that weight quickly.
Tldr super heavy train cars can’t stop the wheels immediately, because it may as well be on ice.
People are saying how cars have tires and your talking about train cars, even with all those wheels, they have to brake at the right speed, because a train wheel with wheel slip is basically on ice, and has next to no grip, add all those cars that weight more than an actual vroom vroom car, and the train has a hard time stopping all that weight quickly.
Tldr super heavy train cars can’t stop the wheels immediately, because it may as well be on ice.
Cars are (relatively) light and have huge grippy rubber tyres rubbing on a grippy road surface.
Trains are heavy. Even a ‘light’ passenger train can clock in at 40 tons per coach, freight trains can weigh thousands of tons. They have metal wheels making tiny amounts of contact on a metal track. The upside of this is once they get going it’s very easy and efficient to keep them at that speed, the downside is that it takes a mile to stop.
TLDR: inertia.
Cars are (relatively) light and have huge grippy rubber tyres rubbing on a grippy road surface.
Trains are heavy. Even a ‘light’ passenger train can clock in at 40 tons per coach, freight trains can weigh thousands of tons. They have metal wheels making tiny amounts of contact on a metal track. The upside of this is once they get going it’s very easy and efficient to keep them at that speed, the downside is that it takes a mile to stop.
TLDR: inertia.
A car use rubber tyres on an asphalt surface. Something which have a lot of friction. This is a good thing when accelerating, stopping or cornering but is generally a bad thing for cruising at the same speed. Trains use steel tyres on steel track. This have very little friction allowing them to only use a fraction of the fuel of a car to move the same cargo over long distances. However it is very bad when accelerating or stopping. If you apply the brakes too hard the wheels just starts slipping. It does not matter if the train is a mile long or just a locomotive or empty car.
A car use rubber tyres on an asphalt surface. Something which have a lot of friction. This is a good thing when accelerating, stopping or cornering but is generally a bad thing for cruising at the same speed. Trains use steel tyres on steel track. This have very little friction allowing them to only use a fraction of the fuel of a car to move the same cargo over long distances. However it is very bad when accelerating or stopping. If you apply the brakes too hard the wheels just starts slipping. It does not matter if the train is a mile long or just a locomotive or empty car.
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