Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!ftp!jbvb
From: jbvb@ftp.COM (James Van Bokkelen)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: SRB shipping
Summary: Railroad loading gauge is roughly 11' x 15'
Message-ID: <380@ftp.COM>
Date: 15 Oct 88 22:23:40 GMT
References: <6689@nsc.nsc.com> <1543@hp-sdd.HP.COM> <5485@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <1988Oct14.171107.1946@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: FTP Software Inc., Cambridge, MA
Lines: 13

Standard railroad freight cars get to be about 11 feet wide, 18 feet
high (from the railhead) and 85 feet long.  With low-profile frame
and 26" wheels, this leaves about 15 eet of height for the load.
Much longer loads have been shipped by rail (on the order of 150 feet
long spread across three or four flatcars), but they have been less than
11 feet wide, due to clearance on curves.

Weight is another issue; most track can only take about 30 tons per carrying
axle.  Some giant generator-rotor carrying cars have been built, which can
hack up to 250 tons, but they use up to 24 axles in a complex articulated
design.

jbvb