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The adhesion railway relies on a combination of friction and weight to start a train. The heaviest trains require the highest friction and the heaviest locomotive. The friction can vary a great deal, but it was known on early railways that sand helped, and it is still used today, even on locomotives with modern traction controls.
These include simple rail adhesion, rack railways and cable inclines (including rail mounted water tanks to carry barges). To help with braking on the descent, a non-load-bearing "brake rail" located between the running rails can be used, similar to the rail used in the Fell system, e.g. by the Snaefell Mountain Railway on the Isle of Man.
Where the line is too steep to rely on adhesion for climbing, a rack railway may be used, in which a toothed cog wheel engages with a toothed rack rail laid between the tracks. A now little used alternative to the rack and pinion railway is the Fell system, in which traction and/or braking wheel are applied to a central rail under pressure.
A classical hunting oscillation is a swaying motion of a railway vehicle (often called truck hunting or bogie hunting) caused by the coning action on which the directional stability of an adhesion railway depends.
Atmospheric railway; Attack angle (rail technology) ... Rack railway; Rail adhesion car; ... RailCab; Railway costing; Railway engineering; Ramsey car-transfer apparatus;
The Pilatus Railway is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48% and an average gradient of 35%. Functioning of the rack and pinion on the Strub system. A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails.
Slippery rail, or low railhead adhesion, [1] [2] [3] is a condition of railways (railroads) where contamination of the railhead reduces the traction between the wheel and the rail. This can lead to wheelslip when the train is taking power, and wheelslide when the train is braking.
Railway engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of rail transport systems. It encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering and production engineering.