Weight of a Train

Hey guys! I was chatting with some one and the question came up about how much the average coaster train weighs. I know it's a considerable amount, but I wasn't sure.

So, lets say for example, how much would one of Millennium Force's trains weigh? Thanks!

Charlie

According to Sandor Kernacs, president of Intamin, a MF train weighs 27 tons. Source: Transcript of Coastermania Q&A Session http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/adventures/tr2001/coastermania.html

Awhile ago, I emailed Arrow Dynamics (pre S&S) inquiring about X's train weight. He said
"
Corkscrew: Vehicle Weight - 16,542 lbs. (loaded) or 11,782 lbs. (unloaded); Track Weight - 180 lbs./ft

4th Dimension: Vehicle Weight - 55,000 lbs. (loaded) or 50,240 lbs. (unloaded); Track Weight - 310.0 lbs./ft (single strongback) and
410 lbs./ft (double strongback)"

As you can see, Corkscrew style trains are significantly lighter than X's trains or MF's trains.

-seth *** Edited 1/19/2004 1:18:47 AM UTC by ucdaap42*** *** Edited 1/19/2004 1:34:07 AM UTC by ucdaap42***

I believe TTD's train's each weigh 4.5 tons, putting each car at a little under 2000 pounds. That's just for intamin's trains, not sure about B&M.

Q: Well, what's a henway?
A: About 10 pounds! (Rimshot)

I read somewhere (on CBuzz probably) that a single MF train weighs either 19 or 28 tons but I don't remember which figure is correct. A quick net search turned up this site which mentions weights for a few different trains:

http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-20283

Oops, Seth beat me to it. *** Edited 1/19/2004 1:22:07 AM UTC by DirtyApe***

If I recall properly, a PTC three bench car weighs two tons empty.Figure the math from there.

The average PTC train weighs about 40,000, give or take depending on the restrant system.

I still don't see how the trains on Millennium Force weigh just as much as the 4th Dimension trains on X. What could possibly add that much weight to such an open design?

I think SFoG's Superman trains weighs 31 tons each. I believe B&M Standups weigh about 27-30 depending on how tall it is.

X Marks The Spiizot

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TTDTom said:
Q: Well, what's a henway?
A: About 10 pounds! (Rimshot)

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Have you been hanging around my father? That's his favorite aside "I've got a knock-knock joke for you... you start it off"!

Here's another one:
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Little Boy Blue
Little boy blue who?
Michael Jackson!
Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all night.

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TTDTom said:

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all night.

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Can I get a refund?

When did Marty start posting on these boards?

No refunds, all proceeds go to the charity of buying me pizzas.
But here's another joke: What do Michael Jackson and McDonald's have in common? They all put gross meat in tender little buns. ZING!
I guess I don't really deserve a zing. Maybe a Zoom, but that's it. Anyway, I've heard train weight figures ranging from 2 tons to 20 tons. It's something that someone really would need to look up, not guess. *** Edited 1/19/2004 10:27:36 PM UTC by TTDTom***

I'm sorry CoasterKrazy if you don't beleive an MF train weighs 27 tons...are you calling Sandor Kernacs, President of Intamin, a liar? :-P

Seriously, though, once you analzye a MF train, it's not that unbeleviable. The cars are obivously overbuilt for the speeds and heights they must endure. The trains are steel framed and steel sheathed, not fiberglass sheathed like most coaster trains. The wheels on MF are larger than most coasters, and consistent with the rest of the design, they're very heavy duty wheels. If they weigh 40 lbs each (a reasonable guess), and there's 20? per car, then we're talking almost a half-ton in wheels per car. That leaves 2.5 tons for the heavy duty frame, and stainless steel shell, seats, lapbar mechanism, brake fins and coupler. So if each car weighs 3 tons, and there's 9 cars, then 27 tons really isn't that hypothetical.

-seth *** Edited 1/19/2004 10:36:36 PM UTC by ucdaap42***

I'm definetly going to take Kernac's word for it, not some random guess.

I know the Millennium Flyer chassis are around 300 bare. Nothing on them at all. My guess is one of the cars will weigh around 1500- 1700 when finished. it's amazing how heavy the road wheels and some other parts weigh. I'll try and get a better answer tomorrow.

There's no doubt that the designer of the ride would know how much the trains weigh, I would just like to know where all that extra weight comes from.

That's an awful lot of steel underneath there, so I don't think it's too hard to imagine how these things weigh so much. *** Edited 1/19/2004 11:48:46 PM UTC by mantis man***