How fast would it be?

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

A steam locomotive with only two driving wheels - one on each side - could easily travel at 60+ miles per hour:



This steam locomotive, however, had a total of 12 driving wheels - six on each side:



How fast do you estimate it could go down the line?

[Riz]

Re: How fast would it be?

Light speed.

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

Rather than "heavy speed"?

A best guess will do, to the nearest 10 mph.

[Riz]

Re: How fast would it be?

If it's a model train, about 5 mph.

If it's one that was never built, which I guess it wasn't, then either 0 or if you consider it as real but massless it would indeed be somewhere around 670,616,629 mph.

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

If it's one that was never built, which I guess it wasn't, then either 0 mph.

It was built, in 1897, by the Baldwin Locomotive Company in America.

An earlier example was also built in America, by the Holman Locomotive Company of Philadelphia, in 1887:

[Deepie]

Re: How fast would it be?

A steam locomotive with only two driving wheels - one on each side - could easily travel at 60+ miles per hour:



This steam locomotive, however, had a total of 12 driving wheels - six on each side:



How fast do you estimate it could go down the line?

Rather than "heavy speed"?

A best guess will do, to the nearest 10 mph.

127mph

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

127mph

That was Mallard, the Gresley A4 Pacific.

The twelve-wheeled contraption discussed above wasn't nearly as fast.

A clue is to consider the direction(s) in which the wheels would rotate.

[Deepie]

Re: How fast would it be?

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z...wheels&f=false

I've been reading this for the last 3 days........

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z...wheels&f=false
I've been reading this for the last 3 days........

That's not really an official speed record for a steam locomotive and, besides, that would only apply to a 4-4-2 Baldwin Atlantic rather than the derived locomotives with six driving wheels per side.

I repeat - look at the direction of rotation of each wheel as it touches the track.

[Deepie]

Re: How fast would it be?

I repeat - look at the direction of rotation of each wheel as it touches the track.

The wheels are not touching the track........

So it's going backwards

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

Close - on each side, four of the wheels in contact with the track would be going forwards, but two would be going backwards!

[Deepie]

Re: How fast would it be?

OK Cloggy....I know I'm sad ...been thinking about this..

Some sort of testing device ?

So the answer to you question is it's not moving

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: How fast would it be?

That would be my guess, although it might actually move a little faster than a walking pace but with a worrisome degree of squealing from the slipping wheels.

Here's another - this time, the wheels were polygonal rather than circular: