Here's a nice video for fans of green German electric locomotives (BR140, 141, 150). This video also contains something I've never seen before: At 5:05 and 5:08 in the video, there are two high-capacity coal cars that look like they have had their upper portion removed. It's wierd to see this as part of a unit-train. I would think that if the cars are undergoing repairs they would be removed from service...


Here's the link:

Marty,

I believe the half height cars are socalled couple cars,with on one end an automatic coupler and on the other end the european standard coupler.
The unit train in the clip must be made up with a mix of both.
The coupler cars are not used to carry coal or ore.
Still today in 2012,similar unit trains carry iron ore from Rotterdam port to the steel mills in the German Ruhr area and usually a coupling car is the first car after the pulling locomotives.
Many times the 4-axle cars are being replaced by 6-axle high capacity cars.
Pulling power is usually made up by two or three locomotives.

Here a clip from 1995,when ore trains were still pulled by diesel power,clearly seen are the coupling cars back and forth of the train.
Nowadays pulling power is electric at 25,000 volts AC for the line Rotterdam port area to Germany,remainder of the Dutch network is still 1,500 volts DC(!).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=...A2q8&feature=related

And a clip of the traffic on the socalled Betuwelijn from a more recent date,note the coupling cars in the ore train.
The curved overhead wire poles indicate it is 25,000 v AC,the straight poles in the background indicate 1,500 v DC.
The Betuwelijn runs from the greater Rotterdam port area to the German hinterland,mainly the Ruhr area.
The line was purpose built to cater for freight traffic to and from Rotterdam and is not used for passenger traffic.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw13cjsMTh8

Thank you for the clip,i like those old German electric loco's,they formed the backbone of German railtraffic for decades.

Paul.

Edited by user 19 July 2012 20:50:43(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks for the explanation and videos, Paul. I guess by having the adapter cars reduced in height makes them easy to identify among all of the otherwise similar cars.

WP, I felt cold just watching the first video! Thanks.

Marty, I liked the video you found of DB loks in "grün" - thanks! - and got inspired by it and also by Paul's videos showing iron ore trains in the Netherlands and I thought that it could be the same iron ore going by train in Sweden and Norway as in the Netherlands and Germany.

A comment on the headline; even if the green colour was used in Era III, given that the loks have "computer numbers", they are Era IV or actually early in Era V since the video was shot in 1991 and the years given for Era V is 1990 - 2006. This comment doesn't negate the fact that I like the Era III and VI liveries of DB and my most recent Märklin lok is a 37107 and from Era III, even if it isn't green since it is an E10.

Yes, it is cold up there in February and I was amazed by the fact that the person who shot the video had the window open that much. It is actually a very challenging environment for iron ore trains that may have experienced temperatures easily down to -35 C (-25.6 F) going over the mountains and then come down to the coast, where the temperature could be above freezing and much more humid air which makes the humidity condensate and freeze immediately on the iron ore wagons. It may also make the pellets freeze together to bigger lumps. Both these things put requirements on the emptying mechanisms that you may not see in many places in the world.

The iron ore trains from Rotterdam to the German Ruhr usually have a weight of 4,000 to 5,000 metric tons (one metric ton is 1,000 kg).
These are very heavy trains indeed,and every attempt is made to give them green signals all the way.
Once stopped,it takes a very long time to pick up the pace again.
Here a clip of two class BR151 very powerful electric loco's creeping up a hill at Venlo,The Netherlands,on their way to Germany.
It is said that the road crossing beams were closed for over 40 minutes!
Hear those airblowers roar!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=...3QWA&feature=related

And a heavy ore train pulled by two class BR189 loco's going straight through Utrecht central station,the waiting people being rather impressed,let alone by the noise!
It is unusual for freight trains passing through enclosed stations like these.
In general i think the general public have no idea whatsoever about the amount of cargo being carried by the railways,be it ore,containers,oil and gas,cars,steel coils,or any other stuff.
So,in a way it is good the public gets to see a freighttrain like this one once and a while.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=...GkRY&feature=related

Paul.

Paul - thanks for the videos!

Do you know how long these Dutch/German ore trains are?

The iron ore trains on the Swedish iron ore line have 68 wagons each taking 100 t of ore, giving a total of 6,800 t per train and a train is 750 m long. A train is hauled by a pair of Iore engines that have a continuous output of 10,400 kW and a 30 t axle load with a top speed of 80 km/h. (Figures from www.lkab.com).

This can be compared to double heading DB 151 having 11,964 kW, axle load 19.7 t and top speed 120 km/h and double heading DB 189 having 9,000 kW (under 1.5 kV DC catenary - 12,800 kW under 15 or 25 kV catenary) axle load 21.75 t and top speed 140 km/h. (Figures from German Wikipedia).

The heavier axle load and lower top speed may put the Swedish Iore in a better position to start with a heavy train compared to the lighter and faster German ones even if the continuous output is of similar magnitude.

Finally, I believe that not only Brazilian iron ore, but also Swedish is transported via Rotterdam. On the other hand, according to US Geological Survey figures quoted by Wikipedia, Brazilian production in 2010 was 370 Mt compared to Sweden's 25 Mt and even if LKAB reports their largest market being Germany, it is most likely that the lion share (90 % ??) of transports between Rotterdam and Germany is Brazilian ore.

Adrian,

Are you sure that you are in the correct topic of this forum?

Paul.