A train pulling 5 coal wagons all of equal weight and each wagon linked to one another by steel chain?

Question

the chains are all the same size. Can someone explain in laymans terms why the chains at the start are not bigger to cope with the larger load ?

Answer 1

chains have (SWL)  safe working load,

Answer 2

When the engine takes up the slack between each truck the chain length along the length of the train doesnt matter, once all the slack is taken up then the engines power or torque takes over and everything is taught and the spread load is equal in each chain. I'm glad all the trucks weighed the same hahaha

Answer 3

All of the chains are made strong enough to pull the biggest load plus a safety margin. This means that when the wagons are shunted on, they can go on in order of dropping off etc.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 4

The chains (or couplings) are of uniform size, because the formation of a train can vary from day to day, depending upon the demand.

Coal wagons may be attatched or detatched en route, and a different coal wagon may be formed next to the locomotive each time.

In the UK, the locomotive employs a "locomotive s***w coupling", which is very strong indeed.  The rest of the couplings on coal wagons are standard instanter couplings (on HAA wagons, anyway).

Answer 5

the weight distribution ratio of waggon to train is the same throughout the system. so when the train starts moving it starts by pulling the first waggon so the chain there only needs to be strong enough to pull that waggon, by the time the first waggon gets momentum the chain for the second then pulls it's waggon and so on.

the chain only needs to be strong enough to get the waggon moving as the weight of the train and waggons are a force on the ground, not on the chain its self, once each waggon is moving the force on the chain is lessened. hope this helps

Answer 6

They are pulling the same amount of weight, First car is pulling the second car and so on

Answer 7

the chains on all of the wagons should be strong enough to pull all the load even if they happen to be on the front wagon. The wagons would all get mixed up over time and it would not make any sense to have different size chains on different wagons

Answer 8

The breaking strain on any section far exceeds any weight placed on it.

Answer 9

nope sorry i cant explain why