How Fast Is This Autorack Going??

Wow

Unreal!

 

Peter

  "That 2nd Autorack is HIGHBALLING!. I have to say that Autorack is about doing 70MPH."

 

    If you can find an employee's timetable for that area you could see the speed limits for various train types. Just doing the rough numbers, I counted 93 cars for 83 seconds so if they are 90 footers that's 100.84 ft/sec or 68.76 MPH. If you get a better car count and a more accurate car length you could refine the answer a bit.I don't know if there's any way to tell if the video is running at true speed? .....DaveB

From the way the video looks, it looks like real speed since the first Autorack isn't move as fast and also this person flimed at late evening and so I believe it's the real speed. Question for you Dave, how did you do the math formula? It would be great for me to know since some trains like Intermodals and Freight I would love to know there speed.

Wow, now that's a raceway, they don't go through Bethlehem Pa like that. Gotta love the kid at the end of the video for the sign off. Thanks for posting

 

JohnB

Neat video! I was surprised to see the pusher at the end of the second train.

 

As for the math, you need to figure out the total length of the train and multiply that by the time it takes the train to pass a particular point. In DaveB's example, he measured feet and seconds, which is a fairly easy way to measure this train's speed in the video (or at a grade crossing...), it isn't the standard way of measuring a vehicles speed. To convert to MPH just multiply your feet per second by 0.681818

 

J White

 

quote:

Question for you Dave, how did you do the math formula?

 

Speed is distance/time

So 93 cars that are 90 feet long is 8370 feet/5280 feet in a mile = 1.585 miles

83 seconds is how long it took the train to pass/3600 seconds in an hour = .0230 hours

 

1.585 miles/.0230 hours = 68.92 MPH

Based on ocular observation and quick math in my head  72mph

Reminds me when I lived and worked in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.  You can travel along the side of the BNSF mainline from the Oklahoma/Texas state line to near Canadian, TX on US60.  Most of the BNSF trains run 70 MPH+, you have to drive 75 MPH or more to stay up with the trains. When times are good over 75 trains a day travel this mainline

 

At Woodward, Ok the trains had to slow down to 55 MPH thru town.

I doubt it's anything higher than 70MPH as the FRA rules limit passenger train speed on most lines to 79MPH (aka under 80) without certain safeguards in place. Freight is usually about 10 MPH lower than that. Hard to say without an accurate car/time count against a fixed reference point.

 "how did you do the math formula?"

 

     Looks like we've already gotten a few answers with shortcut methods. Basically it's how many feet of train pass by per second. So 93 cars divided by 83 seconds is 1.12 cars times the car length(I'll use 95 feet this time to include couplers)1.12 X 95=106.45 ft per second, times 60 sec per minute =6,386.75, times 60 minutes per hour= 383,204.82 feet per hour, divided by 5280 feet per mile=72.57 MPH. I doubt the engineer would be exceeding 70 so there's probably some slop in my car count, car length, or speed of the video. Usually 70 is the limit for high speed freights. If anyone has a timetable for the area we could see for sure.....DaveB

Thanks to everyone that has posted and it does anwser the question on speed. On another video below, which isn't mine but thought I would share, is of a person standing next to a 70MPH Intermodal to close.

 

 

If crews still get paid by the mile that's the way to do it.

 

Just a comment on the guy videoing  standing  close to the track...  This is an express train so he's probably safe however if you've seen a freight with lumber cars, or  pulp wood  car with metal strapping snapping around  or chains dragging  you might have seconds thoughts about standing so close. .  

We paced a stack train along I-10 in Arizona at 79 mph for several miles until he caught an approach signal.