'What-If' locomotives ...

[Mossie]

Came across this while searching the net for other train stuff.  A 1/1 whiff, would you guess it's Soviet???   Apparently real, not photoshopped, it's an M62 diesel.  No idea why it was converted to wheels.

I've seen stuff the other wasy round, rail companies regularly fit rail bogies to wheeled vehicles for servicing & it's not uncommon to see 'railbuses', bus chassis' fitted with bogies for commuter line, but this is the first time I've seen it the other way around.  Watch a flood of them come now I've said that!

[kitnut617]

I've seen stuff the other wasy round, rail companies regularly fit rail bogies to wheeled vehicles for servicing

See those all the time around where I live. 

As an aside, I always have a book in my truck because if I get caught at a railroad crossing when a train is about to pass, I can read a couple of chapters while I wait for it to pass    

The longest one I've seen personally had 150 cars, with 8 Engines (3 at front, 3 in the middle and 2 at the back).

[NARSES2]

The longest one I've seen personally had 150 cars, with 8 Engines (3 at front, 3 in the middle and 2 at the back).

When I went from Banff to Vancouver we tried counting the wagons on one of the many goods trains that passed us, got to well over 100 before we gave up  Also took 4 hours to go past a lake, there is a limit to how many Opspreys one can see before getting a little bored 

[PR19_Kit]

Somewhere in my vast library I have a superb book, done in landscape format, that's full of full page artework and very detailed descriptions of a whole host of UK Whiff Locos.

Some were seriously planned, some were figments, but very plausible and realistic figments, of the author's imagination. I've been looking for it for some months now, but have managed to lose it for the time being. 

When I do find it I'll post the title and some examples, some of which are WELL worth modelling.

[kitnut617]

The longest one I've seen personally had 150 cars, with 8 Engines (3 at front, 3 in the middle and 2 at the back).

When I went from Banff to Vancouver we tried counting the wagons on one of the many goods trains that passed us, got to well over 100 before we gave up  Also took 4 hours to go past a lake, there is a limit to how many Opspreys one can see before getting a little bored 

And that's when they go through the mountains, they have to shorten them up for that ----   out here on the prairies it's a straight shot east for about 2000 miles.

[Hobbes]

Came across this while searching the net for other train stuff.  A 1/1 whiff, would you guess it's Soviet???   Apparently real, not photoshopped, it's an M62 diesel.  No idea why it was converted to wheels.

I've seen stuff the other wasy round, rail companies regularly fit rail bogies to wheeled vehicles for servicing & it's not uncommon to see 'railbuses', bus chassis' fitted with bogies for commuter line, but this is the first time I've seen it the other way around.  Watch a flood of them come now I've said that!

Is it a full locomotive, or just the bodywork on a MAZ chassis?

[Mossie]

I'm not sure.  I've been trying to dig around on the net for some more information but all I can come up with was that the registration has a Moscow code.

[rickshaw]

I'm trying to figure out what the hell they use it for.  I can't imagine anything that would require that much locomotive power to tow it, and be mobile enough that it couldn't be done with winches (the normal way you move things like buildings around).  It would have been a hell of an uneconomic conversion I suspect.  I wonder what its power train is like?

[kitnut617]

Having worked on a few oil field vehicles over here, some which are really weird, I'm wondering if it's not connected to the oil field work over there.  It looks like a Tundra Bus to me, some sort of big equipment hauler.  Looking at the vehicle at the right end, seems a bit familiar---

EDIT:

look at this for instance
http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/2009/01/monster-mzkt-oilfield-truck-vl.html

or this
http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/2008/02/big-russian-oilfield-trucksthe.html

[D-Angle]

A dystopian future loco based on this would be fairly cool:


Found here, lots of other inspiring pics on there too.
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2010/03/retrofuture-transportation-showcase.html

[Hobbes]

Thinking about that train some more: you wouldn't be able to reuse any of the train's running gear. The bogies have no steering, the train has rigid axles with the motor on the axle while a road vehicle needs a differential, and the suspension is unsuited for the road. So you're going to need a truck chassis anyway, and then you're left with a huge, heavy body doing nothing sitting on top of a truck.

I think it was 'built' just for the hell of it by a creative junkyard owner.

[PR19_Kit]

There are a few special cases where the swap-over might work.

Some locos have chassis mounted traction motors with cardan shafts to gearboxes on the bogie axles, BR's Class 91s are like that. Plus there are some heavy construction vehicles that have a diesel prime mover driving a generator that feeds hub or axle mounted traction motors, each of which only drive one of the wheels.

[jcf]

So you're going to need a truck chassis anyway, and then you're left with a huge, heavy body doing nothing sitting on top of a truck.

Actually loco 'bodies' aren't necessarily that heavy, the frames, engines and running gear are, however light alloy and thin steel are not
unusual body materials and in some cases the body is really just a protective, sometimes streamlined, non-structural casing.

[Mossie]

Found another pic & blurb on Dark Roasted Blend
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/10/cool-road-rail-vehicles.html

This railroad marvel has DM62 locomotive engine set on top of ballistic rocket mobile wheeled base "Hurricane". It was built not too long ago, in 2002 by the students of VNIKTI institute in Bronnitsy, Russia.

It gives this site (in a mix of Russian & English) as a source but I had trouble navigating it, tons of Soviet train pics for anyone who's interested though:
http://www.parovoz.com/indexe.php

A bit more here:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?99988-Russian-Photos-%28updated-on-regular-basis%29/page1838

And here (in Russian, I translated with Google Translate):
http://russos.livejournal.com/620549.html

From what I can gather, mostly in the poor translation of the last link, it was an attempt to produce a ballistic missile transport that didn't pan out.

[jcf]

Russkies do Donk!




Yeah Boyeee...