Top 10 Heaviest Trains Worldwide (Explained)

- Support Railways Explained on Patreon: / railways_explained
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buy cool rail-related products on our online store: railways-explained.creator-sp...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
► Railways Explained aims to establish a worldwide community of all rail lovers, workers and experts by creating regular, entertaining and educational railway content of high quality.
► If you find yourself in at least one of these three groups, support this idea by SUBSCRIBING TO RAILWAYS EXPLAINED.
🚅 As you might guess, trains come in all shapes and sizes. From a single-carriage passenger train weighing app. 40 metric tons to freight trains with multiple locomotives, dozens of wagons and thousands of tons of cargo.
In the US for example, a typical long-haul freight train can weigh anywhere from 3,000 to 18,000 tons, while in Europe, maximum weights are usually far less, and they go up to 4000 t.
However, there are examples of some EXCEPTIONALLY HEAVY AND LONG TRAINS, and, in this video, we are going to talk exactly about them!
This video includes: Mauritania Railway (Zouérat-Nouadhibou, 20,000 t), Daqin Railway (Datong-Qinhuangdao, 20,000 t), Quebec North Shore and Labrador (Labrador City, Labrador-Sept-Îles, Quebec, 30,000 t), Aurizon Iron Ore Train (Central Queensland-Esperance, 32,320 tons), Fortescue Railway (Pilbara-Port Hedland, 40,000 t), Railways of the Soviet Union (Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan-Urals, Russia, 43,400 t), Norfolk and Western (West Virginia-Ohio, 43,699 t), South African Railways (Sishen-Saldanha, 70,543 t), BHP Australia (Pilbara-Port Hedland, 72,191 t), BHP Australia (Yandi mine-Port Hedland, 99,734 t).
Join our community by SUBSCRIBING to Railways Explained, turn on the NOTIFICATION BELL in case you want to receive notifications when we publish another video!
- If you enjoyed the video hit the LIKE button, SHARE it with your rail-loving friends to help us reach more people, and, of course, leave your opinion in the COMMENT section!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
► Stay connected with us on social media:
- Facebook: / railwaysexplained
- Instagram: / railways_ex. . igshid=k0tv5loew79e&fbclid=IwAR0Ix2jPPbcUwhArt_iym9vzKgvrUQaLLH_4JkhILyzyY_upCyxTf5qxcwA
- Linkedin: / railways-. .
#Railways #Technology #Transport

[@wordreet]

Just so you know, the smallest scale train models are usually called "N" Guage. I had a few 50+ years ago. They are 1/148th of full size. Even so, a tiny "N" Gauge model of that longest train would be 49 metres long!

[@yungyoda3200]

Actually N can be even smaller with about 1/160th of the original size. But its not the smallest that exists. Its actually the Z gauge with a scale of 1/220th.

[@markwilkie5849]

@@yungyoda3200 T gauge is smallest

[@wordreet]

@@yungyoda3200 Hehe, I didn't know that! 1/220th is crazy small!

[@wordreet]

@@markwilkie5849 Good grief! 1/450th scale???

[@richharris9489]

Z scale is the smallest

[@Burkutace27]

Number 10: Yeah that's pretty heavy. Number 1: Oh lord, he comin!

[@iwatchwithnoads7480]

Now get a load of this! 11:56

[@owencarter1973]

I've been stuck at a railway crossing in the Pilbara while one of those iron ore trains went past. I just turned off my car engine and read a book for 10 minutes or so while I was waiting for it to go past.

[@michaelbouillon1241]

I do the same...but takes more than 10mins often since it's a rail yard and you are trapped when train circles around all the exits

[@noneofyourbizness]

i work on BHP trains and tracks in the Pilbara region of Australia. Fly up there for 8 x 12hr shifts and then home for 8 days..and repeat. it's an extremely hot area of the world. In Jan of this year (2022) the temp reached a record breaking high of of 123 degrees F 51.9C ! Not a great day to be at workplace where there is no aircon.

[@hadesdescent6664]

BHP iron ore and Fortescue Metals Group run almost parallel to each other and to Port Hedland, Rio Tinto (ex Pilbara Iron, ex Hammersley Iron and Robe River iron) are separate to Port of Dampier! From 2 companies FMG is the third and BHP/FMG are EMD locomotives + 15 C44-9W on FMG and Rio Tinto all GE! Exciting trains in Pilbara region 💪🥵🥵🥵

[@jaimeduncan6167]

Why don’t you have air con ? Are you people Unionized?

[@tubester4567]

@@jaimeduncan6167 You cant have aircon when you're fixing tracks out in the open, and doing heavy repair work on machinery. This is why the pay is usually very good.

[@Shaggy.242]

I worked on the consruction of those tracks via MKMO.

[@WSawchuk085]

I was an engineer at Canadian National Railway for years, I have regularily operated Potash trains from the central prairies in Canada that were 28k to 36k tonnes. They go from the Potash mines in Saskachewan to the east coast of Canada. These potash trains have been operating since around 2018 and either run normally with a 2x1x1 DP setup or 2x2 DP setup. We also would carry regular trains of sand from the US to Alberta for frakking, those trains would be 20k+tonnes every few days.

[@kishascape]

3x2x3

[@DrDLightful]

Here in Illinois I live in a big silica sand area. Those trains seem to be really heavy, they are a little more than a half mile long and run 2x2 DPU GEs or SD70s.

[@WSawchuk085]

@@DrDLightful You are correct for your area. When they come into Symington Yard they are usually around 4000ft long running Head tail DP for the higher grades around Pokegama. When they get to Symington though they put 2 of them together running them around 8000ft long with Head-Mid DP. Or they add the 4000ft sand train on to an 6000ft train of empties, either empty lumber cars or a grain train.

[@catonpillow]

A suggestion: Heaviest Locomotives! :)

[@Leatherface123.]

THANK YOU

[@RichardMigneron]

a video of this already exists, there were about 10 EMD DD40X made, only one is left in production, n° 6936 - it's like 2 locomotives into 1 when you see it - it has 2 x 4 axle boggies. This thing is huge --> kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWivZn-crqaKhZY

[@torquetrain8963]

@@RichardMigneron 47 units built. 11 or 13 saved, and only one , the 6936 is operational and is part of the UP heritage fleet. Peace.

[@hughstewart547]

Number 1 is big boy.

[@jordanalexander615]

The if you go without the tender the steam turbine would probably take the cake with some weighing over 800k lbs

[@frankesparza8976]

Great video btw, here in Mexico trains run between 6,000t and 15,000t and longest trains are 2.5 km to 3 km long, although there have been trials, where trains were operated at 20,000t. Here in Mexico, trains challenge difficult terrain, steep inclines and sharp curves, even though the majority of the network has an axle load of 32.5 tons per axle, greetings from Mexico!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Hola to Mexico!

[@joseanl]

@@RailwaysExplained why Europe doesn't get to use that much freight trains? its the existence of old and delicate infrastructure that could be damaged by vibrations? smaller tunnels and bridges?

[@danielrose1392]

@@joseanl There are two answers, the size and the number of freight rains. In Europe about 20% of all freight miles are done via rail, could and should be more but there is a healthy freight rail industry. The other thing is the size of the trains. All examples we saw in this video where purpose built freight rails. In Europe most rail lines are built for a mixed passenger and freight use. Just imagine sitting in a passenger train and one of the beasts from the video came to a stop ahead of you, that will cause huge delays. It is simply not practical to run extremely large freight trains in such a network and for this reason switching infrastructure and side tracks are designed for 750m trains or less.

[@scottjs5207]

@@danielrose1392 Europe also only has like 2 countries that are even expansive enough to justify such trains to exist seeing how nearly every country mentioned in the video fall within the 10 largest in the world.

[@danielrose1392]

​@@scottjs5207 The size of the countries in't really an argument when borders in the Schengen Area practically don't exist. Many of the trains cross multiple countries to connect to the major ports.

[@gregg19809]

First time here.... retired Railroader with 35 years service.. excellent video, and most informative. Nice work.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thank you Gregg for the comment. 35 years. Wow. Enjoy our videos.

[@gordonbermejo5558]

BHP trains are now 268 cars for a average weight of 42,000tonnes with a length of around 2950m and 4 SD70ace's. This is reduced from when they were running 320 cars for a length of 3300m with 6 loco's. On average there about 24 trains each way per 24 hours, one every hour.

[@gm16v149]

I know an ex-BHP driver and he said the 6 loco 320 car trains were just too unwieldy for train handling. The present trains and track have mostly been upgraded to 40 tonne axle loadings so the weight isn’t too far short of those original heavy trains.

[@chrisszollos1543]

How many trains does Rio Tinto operate on the network all together? Over here in QLD on our Newlands network we operate about 17 (9,000t, 1440m) trains between Pacific National, Aurizon and Bowen Rail.

[@markcottierkw950]

I just started a traineeship with BHP to operate those long and heavy iron ore trains in the Pilbara. Pretty exciting let me tell you 😃👍👍 Can't wait to be passed out!

[@RailwaysExplained]

That's great! Good luck 😉

[@gm16v149]

You’re lucky to get in. I heard there were 5,000 applicants and only 200 accepted. They wanted 70% women and 20% Indigenous Australians.

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

@@gm16v149 of course they did. It’s a fucked up world

[@johnblyth9787]

I worked for the Rail in NSW in the ticket office 1972 to 1981. I also worked for BHP in the 90s.

[@S3pra]

@@gm16v149 Didn't expect to see you here! Love your truck mate

[@andymanaus1077]

There are signs at some crossings in Australia which state: "The train that crosses this road takes 12 minutes to pass whether your car is on the track or not."

[@dpjazzy15]

UP is running an iron ore train from Utah to long Beach. It's unloaded and sent to China via sea vessel. They weigh roughly 140 tons per car. Rough train weight is around 20k tons for 150 cars. Insanely heavy for the short length and minimum number of brakes. Typically we see 3 or more engines on the head, 2 or 3 on the rear and a few in the middle as well.

[@bruceb3786]

Excellent video, with all of the best in one place !! I know this video took a LOT of time to research and compile. Thank you, from a long time "Rail Fan".

[@RailwaysExplained]

Exactly! Anyway, we know it's worth it when our videos start to reach 'real' Rail fans. And when they say the video is good, we know the channel is on the 'right track'... Thank you!

[@huynguyengia3273]

Kaka ka

[@victorburk2932]

Thanks for the post! Very interesting.

[@shreeveda]

Moral of the story: Planet Earth can carry a lot of weight on its back. Magnificent. Great video.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks

[@trainlens3789]

Some very nice information. Thank you!

[@railwayjade]

I enjoyed this, I knew about the SA train and Aussie trains, but now learned about new companies in this vid. Very cool, thanks!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@priyamganguly]

This is truly incredible and equally amazing as well!

[@nevenkailic2733]

Another interesting video, well done guys!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thank you

[@klikeras1921]

Beautiful video! Keep going!

[@lsupreme]

10:23 imagine you only have 10 minutes to get to work and suddenly this trains appears

[@noneofyourbizness]

i can tell you from first hand experience that it can be annoying. traveling from Port Hedland to/from my old place of work for BHP i had to use a (25 km long) road that had not one but THREE of these iron ore train/rail crossings on it ! i/we would get caught at those crossings an average of 3 or 4 times a week.

[@lsupreme]

@@noneofyourbizness ow man that must be frustrating

[@hadesdescent6664]

@@noneofyourbizness I know exactly what you mean. They have 2×SD70ACe and 110 cars+2× SD70ACe 110 cars (I think it's 220 car train) GE AC6000CW and C40-8i are no longer in service, so are first batch of SD70ACe 4301-4314 (delivered without isolated cabs, and 4300 was kept for spare parts from the beginning); I'm not sure, but there's around 200 SD70ACe locomotives on BHP Billiton Iron ore. FMG started with last production C44-9W locomotives 001-015, followed by ex Union Pacific SD90MACs refurbished and with new 4300 HP engine instead of 6000hp one 901-909 and then SD70ACe 701-723 if my memory serves me correctly. Maybe even more by now. Rio Tinto with C44-9W ex H Iron/ RR iron, and then 100 ES44DCi after that 100 ES44ACi. I remember the Guinness world record for the longest & heaviest train ~99000t with all 8 new AC6000CW units and one driver, watched many videos of Pilbara trains. With new type of cars of 164t bruto weight (insane for the 4 axle cars, though usual car is 144t I think). Each locomotive have a name plus the number. High percentage of iron in the ore. China was the biggest buyer of Australian ore and coal. I don't think that is the case anymore, but it's a guess on some facts about shipping to China and then ships waiting to discharge for months, finally rerouted to different customer. I'm from Europe, but my friend and I love Australian railways (he also enjoy Kiwi Rail, me not so much)! 🙋

[@MegaSkypes]

Good video and I’ve seen these epic long trains in action in the Pilbara and Port hedland!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Cool, thanks!

[@bruceb3786]

One item that was not mentioned at all was "Draw Bar Pull". That may not be very important on fairly flat, level terrain, but it becomes very important in hills and mountains. Most of the long trains in this video appear to be on level ground, but there are a couple of them making long 270 degree loops while climbing. The Engineer of the train is responsible for checking the maximum draw bar pull, to see that the train does not break apart. Besides the great technical info of each "consist", was there any information available regarding the draw bar pull?

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks for the comment. You noticed well about "Draw Bar Pull." Certainly this parameter could have been part of the analysis within the video, but we didn’t remember to mention it. We will keep it in mind, as we will certainly make similar videos, bearing in mind that the railway is an inexhaustible source of ideas.

[@lowercherty]

A modern American diesel locomotive can manage about 120,000 pounds of drawbar pull at slow speeds. You can do the conversion to kg or Newtons or whatever. This is just about enough to break North American draft gear. Multiple locomotives are added to increase speed or as distributed power back in the train to spread out dtawbar pull in the train. Distributed power also allows multiple points for air brake control. The Great Northern Railroad was running 20,000 ton ore trains in Minnesota with a single articulated steam locomotive back in the 1920's. Not large by these standards, they and their diesel equivalents were the heaviest trains in the world until distributed power became available in the 1960's.

[@bruceb3786]

@@RailwaysExplained , Thank you !

[@bruceb3786]

@@lowercherty , Great information. Thank you !!

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

The burrito express?

[@kolejarzbezi]

Railway is incredible! I love it for its power and grandeur :) Great and interesting video ;) Greetings from Poland

[@RailwaysExplained]

It really is! 😉

[@FalconXE302]

The Iron Ore trains run by RIO-TINTO in the Pilbara are also now fully autonomous once loaded...

[@frankielove31]

It’s wrong that they are allowed to do that, I don’t believe in the computers being allowed to take a mans job away

[@chrisszollos1543]

@@frankielove31 They still have a driver supervise the trains operation from a remote location, having them autonomous makes it safer and keeps down time to a minimum.

[@skyhigh1278]

Still mindboggling , those relatively small electric traction motors operating on a none contact electromagnetic invisible force, pulling all that weight

[@YahiaSaoudi]

Excellent video with a lot of informations, I am encouraging you so much.

[@bassambouhamad7935]

Beautiful information thank you for your report.

[@marcusireland5696]

ngl i feel pretty proud to be Australian now

[@RailwaysExplained]

Greets to Australia!

[@mattyg7540]

Same

[@blendpinexus1416]

you guys have all the big and heavy cargo haulers, something that i'm surprised america doesn't have much of between the large spans in the midwest and rockies.

[@4kays160]

I work the locomotive industry, you would not be proud if you knew the truth... in servicing and rebuilding the locomotives the engine sump takes 900 litres of oil, after each trip we replace around 240 liters every 2 days, this oil is not burned or used up, it is leaked from the locos on to the ground as they travel... then rain washes it into the ground and surrounding area.. thats one example and i service 8 locomotives a day, thats 2000litres of oil per day in the ground just from those 8 locos which all push the one train, and there are hundreds of trains a day each with 4 to 8 locos just through my area, imagine what is is aus wide..

[@borischepel6439]

@@RailwaysExplained w

[@johnr5252]

682 cars? 7.3 miles long? Imagine getting stuck at the crossing waiting for that behemoth to pass.

[@BradleyMackintosh]

Yeah they take forever, nothing like being stuck for up to 45 minutes at a time.

[@paulfisher4765]

There used to be a sign on a level crossing near Port Hedland that said "The train will take 10 minutes to pass this crossing - whether your car is on it or not".

[@Darknamja]

@@paulfisher4765 🤣🤣

[@johnb2696]

Not many crossings to worry about where those trains travel

[@currawongee1]

Thanks for your good work brother.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Glad you like it.

[@Uftonwood2]

It must be a nightmare if a wagon in the middle of the train develops a fault and has to be detached.

[@kenchristie9214]

In 1971 I was told the Fortescue train, when arriving at Port Hedland fully laden, had to start braking 17 miles from the terminal.

[@captaindasbomb6862]

A bit far fetched considering Fortescue started in 2003

[@BradBo1140]

I can’t believe Australia runs 15 ore trains a day, wow!

[@richardd5695]

Australia runs almost 100 iron ore trains a day. 15 is just from 1 company.

[@trainco1643]

And the trains mentioned in the video are all based in Western Australia. The coal trains that run in the NSW Hunter Valley and also up in QLD are pretty big too, although they definitely aren’t as big as the ones in this video

[@johnblyth9787]

That is just 1 of dozens of mines. Australia is the 6th largest continant in the world. Also a lot of it is level. It has the longest stretch of rail with no bends or hills. 400 miles, 700 km. I have been east to west, Sydney to Perth, on the train. One of the best train trips in the world.

[@jeffbrooks8024]

@@johnblyth9787 Indian Pacific. You should also try the Ghan, south to north

[@NR29pacnat]

I live in Western Australia and we're home to some of the heaviest trains in the world! I can tell you that Koolynobbing to Esperance Iron ore train does not weight 32000T It's more half of that.

[@wcsii]

I used to have this SAME problem when I was towing my dolphin-horse trailer…. It electrocuted a dolphin one time I was otw to ride my dolphin at Sea World….

[@clumsytriangle2436]

So great to hear you pronouncing the Chinese names correctly. My ears burn when I watch videos where narrators don't bother checking pronunciation and get it so wrong.

[@kelstra1997]

I don't how accurate this is but I have heard that the line(s) from the mines in the Pilbara to Port Headland has a downhill grade which makes it a little easier to pull the train with full wagons and I also understand that some of the trains - if not all, are autonomous ie: They don't have drivers.

[@user-ff8ks7kg2o]

United States of America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, China, India, Moritania, South Africa, Russia. These countries's freight trains are longest and heaviest and greatest and sharpest !! 😉👍️✨ I think to trucks and cargo airplanes and Japanese freight trains are can't win to these ultra longest freight trains.

[@SeverityOne]

Most of these countries lack major rivers to move large amounts of cargo from A to B. Europe has many such rivers and canals, plus you can sail around the north, west and south of Europe. Japan is an island nation, so again it's more efficient to move cargo by ship. Russia has its fair share of rivers, but Australia is essentially a large desert with some coastal areas, as is Mauritania, and you cannot go by ship across North America.

[@JoeHupp]

A friend of mine drives the #1 train - I'm in awe of him and the train!

[@seshachary5580]

very educative. Thank you regards

[@RailwaysExplained]

Glad you liked it!

[@carolejean5102]

Awesome! I can't believe only 166K viewers! Thanks so much for the video.

[@gregmurray1918]

Not mentioned, but the Union Pacific in the US regularly combine 2 loaded coal trains together and operate them from North Platte, NE to Kansas City, MO. They are from 270-300 cars and carry over 42,000 tons of coal. It takes 6-8 locomotives to move this 16,000’ monster. They have been doing this for several years and is a daily occurrence.

[@MrGollum27]

Brilliant thematics. Please do more freight vids.

[@RailwaysExplained]

There will soon be another interesting video related to the freight trains. Stay with us 😉

[@colindaly50]

just shy of a MILLION PUONDS??? wow, i didn't know that freight over rail could be that heavy... good shit

[@TheAslakVind]

Great content for us nerds! I would have loved to hear the horsepower output of each train.

[@Hukkinen]

I would've loved to heard briefing on the locos and setups used 😊👍

[@dday1412]

Growing up in South Africa, we'd spend some holidays in Northern Cape, snake catching near Sishen in a place called Hotazel (because it gets hot as hell). I remember the first time I saw that train came down the tracks, like it was yesterday. We stood jaws agape as, to us it seemed like a portion of the earth was sliding past us. The next day we plotted ways to derail it using rocks, but got caught and "bliksemed" with a sjambok. Such happy days those were.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Looks like you had a very interesting childhood :D

[@drtalkboxsa9412]

Bliksem and sjambok...... that’s enough proof you really lived in SA😂😂😂😂😂

[@bd1128]

@@drtalkboxsa9412 LOL...come onnnnn!!!! You gotta explain those terms...lol

[@drtalkboxsa9412]

@@bd1128 to bliksem is to administer a serious as$-whooping A sjambok is a type of whip

[@bd1128]

@@drtalkboxsa9412 OUCH!!!!

[@TrainSpottingNewZealand]

Hey really enjoy your videos , would be cool see you do a video covering New Zealand narrow gauge railway

[@brazilianrailfanning9267]

NICE VIDEO! I just think you should’ve put the Carajás railroad from Brazil! There a lot of iron trains there that get to over 1.9 miles (3 km) long! (330 cars)

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks colleague for the information 👍

[@RailwaysExplained]

Can you tell us how heavy they are?

[@torquetrain8963]

Not to mention those trains in Brazil are on a narrow gauge and the diesel locomotives have 8 powered axles which is unique in the world. I Would imagine they would weigh in at 40,000 tons plus if each wagon has 100-120 ton capacity and include the weight of the wagon itself.

[@aroundtheglobe24]

Excellent 👍👏

[@nc4tn]

As early as 1973, the Clinchfield Railroad was regularly handling 144-car loaded coal trains, sometimes grossing in excess (depending on how heavily loaded the cars were) of 20K tons, regularly between Erwin, TN and Charlotte, NC. They were powered with 18K horsepower; 9000 on the head end, and a 9000 HP manned mid-train helper. We called them “double-whammys”…….LOL. I know; I handled them.

[@jeffbrooks8024]

The Australian trains mostly use GMD 6000’s and GMD 4400. The Iron ore trains will typically have 6 engines. Two at the head, two in the middle and two at the back. The latest ones are fully autonomous

[@leonvanderlinde5580]

Take note: The South African train is on 3 ft 6 inch gauge, where the rest of the world is on 4 ft 8 1/2 inch gauge. That makes a record.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks for that info

[@johnks6733]

@Jeffrey Sheldrake Queensland Rail (QR) along with Tasmania parts of Western Australia & South Australia are 3Ft 6in, Victoria is 5Ft 3in & the rest is Standard gauge. QR has some long Coal trains powered by Electric Locos. Coincidentally we share the same last name

[@atlascheethac7869]

Once had the misfortune of having to wait 25 min for the Shisen Saldana train(#3) to pass back in 2018.

[@goodlife6277]

It's Saldanha, Portuguese name

[@mikelouis9389]

Here's hoping they're using DPU's on these monsters! The loading on the front knuckles would be insane!

[@mathlearner6789]

Great topic, could you do a video on the most powerful locomotive? It is interesting to know what are pulling these heavy trains.

[@RailwaysExplained]

That could be the topic some day... :)

[@adamrussell9389]

The largest diesel electric locomotive that exists is the DD40AX or something like that. It is essentially two diesels built on a single frame. Capable of 6600 hp. Most powerful diesel electric on a single frame

[@4kays160]

The aussie ones, i build and maintain and service and tune, are diesel electric, i tune them to about 3046hp, and 4 of these push the train

[@kishascape]

People ride the Mauritania rails to fish market. There was a wild documentary video on here about it. Sometimes they will also attach passenger cars to the end.

[@donberg01]

As mentioned in this video, please explain the 4G network signaling systems.Great video as always!

[@RailwaysExplained]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZnReaeVocajraM

[@raceace]

Love the ATOS intro.

[@prjndigo]

Fun tidbit: During the above-average but not maximum flow rates coming from Fissure 8 of the 2018 eruption on Hawai'i the amount of energy of the flow was roughly equivalent to a non-stop fully loaded US freight train running at around 88 miles per hour. That force was equivalent to just under 27,000 cheeseburgers with a standard cheeseburger being around 302kcal _or the amount of energy necessary to raise a gallon of water from room temperature to boiling_ Did you know that the "ton" is the weight of 35 cubic feet of English Channel sea water, resulting in the French using that mass to then determine the meter off of a pure distilled freshwater equivalent in the shape of a cube. So, the entire metric system is based on 35 cubic feet of salt water from a specific place.... and the "cheeseburger" is a unit of energy with a specific purpose.

[@fermitupoupon1754]

Except that the original definition of the metre was based on 1/10,000,000th the length of the distance from the north pole to the equator as measured along a meridian that passes through Paris. The kilogram finds it's origin in the grave, which was defined as the mass of 1 litre of water. This was later refined to the mass of 1 litre of distilled water at 4 degrees Celcius, when water is at it's highest density. The fact that a British Long Tonne is almost the same mass as a metric tonne, is basically pure coincidence and has nothing to do with the origin of either the metre or the kilogram. Water in the English Channel and North Sea has a density of about 1025kg/m^3. 35 ft^3 is 991 litres, so yeah, makes sense that with those numbers you'd end up with 2240lbs or 1016kg.

[@salvadorc6096]

Nice video

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks

[@ThatsPerty]

when im older and much richer I will start my own Train company and become one of the most revolutionary railways in the world. Atleast, thats my dream

[@davinderpurewal8849]

Thank you

[@STORMIETR00PER]

In your description you list the Esperance Aurizon Train as being 'Central Queensland - Esperance' This is an error as that would make the line cross continental at circa 2500kms (straight line, no deviations) The trains come from mines inland to the north, in the direction of Kalgoorlie. They come into a handling yard and are then broken up and taken the last few kilometers through the centre of town in much smaller sections due to the number of traffic crossings and limited train handling space at the port (which is essentially in the centre of town)

[@olegadodasguerras3795]

Nice vídeo good Channel more. Vídeos please

[@mickvonbornemann3824]

I Saw some footage of someone transferring from a bus to a train in South America. Bar the wheels, the train was identical to the bus, even had the same paint job, & the driver wore similar uniform. Bar the lack of a steering wheel, the driver’s area was the same too.

[@mitchul]

It's not unsurprising that Australia made the top ten so many times given how big our mining industry is. Another possible fun fact is that I'm pretty sure the locomotives operating in the Pilbara are the only American produced locomotives in service in the entire country. The rest have either been imported from Asia-Pacific (CSR class of locomotives for SCT comes to mind) or built here.

[@HomeGrown001]

German locomotives built by Siemens in Central Qld

[@Dylan-ro2ef]

Did you know that an iron factory in the netherlands(Tata Steel IJmuiden) use wagons(with liquid iron) which are weighing 800T using 16 aixles making a axle load of 50T. It's the highest axle load I know is being used. Are there heavier axle loads somewhere on this planet?

[@RailwaysExplained]

That's interesting. We didn't know that...

[@klardfarkus3891]

USA limits train length because there are so many road crossings. Imagine all those long waits at crossings.

[@kdwaynec]

Interesting stuff! Those views at the end 11:26 were spectacular! Can you share their locations?

[@RH1N0______13]

Not sure but I think it’s somewhere in western USA.

[@RestrictedProceed]

11:24 Palouse River Canyon, Washington on the Union Pacific Ayer Subdivision (46.690N, 118.223W) 11:38 Mullan Pass, Montana on the Montana Rail Link 3rd Subdivision (46.657N, 112.236W) 11:56 Tehachapi Loop, California on the Union Pacific Mojave Subdivision (35.201N, 118.540W)

[@australiantruckspotting8883]

The Aussie iron ore trains are epic !!!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Indeed!

[@patriciodiez5360]

Those SD70s are monsters

[@TheDukeOfThunder]

Don't wanna wait for any of these fellas at the crossing

[@admiralbenbow5083]

Lots of things I did not know!

[@Maadhawk]

That heaviest train would be like hauling a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, with full crew and load out, and Nimitz class are among the heaviest warships ever built in history.

[@DanielsUKT]

WOW the last one was close to 100,000 TONS it is amazing that long and heavy freight trains can take so much loadings which saves hundreds of truck trips because it can be done by rail but it must be very challenging to do this becuase you do need several powerful locomotives in order to push many wagons also the heaviness can have an effect on the tracks itself not to metion much time is needed to load then unload the wagons at the start/end of the journey

[@4kays160]

I work the aussie loco industry, to unload these things we have arms on the wagons that hit a ramp and the wagons tip over and pour it out as it drives past the hoppers, there is no huge loading and unloading times, you drive through a belt feed system that fills them, then drive past the drop off point..

[@4kays160]

And we dont care about the tracks here, they are destroyed by heat expansion in summer's, and they are destroyed by bush fires mulitplie times per year, we just keep replacing the tracks constantly

[@jsbrads1]

A train can be run twice as long as will fit in any station, they can be assembled on two parallel tracks, and joined together after departing the station, then cut in half before entering and enter separate tracks.

[@EarlJohn61]

What if you have four parallel tracks?

[@jsbrads1]

@@EarlJohn61 in real life, if you have few long trains coming in from far away, might be sensible to do it the way I mentioned. Stations are always built trying to compensate for future growth, and to cover all the needs of the traffic, but I can also imagine situations where small traffic short stations that can have a train pull in load/unload front half then advance and load/unload back half. In essence, that’s how grain loading happens.

[@rachellynn1507]

6:30 Port Hedland (Headland)

[@michaeltb1358]

South Africa uses 3'6" gauge so the size of their trains is amazing.

[@michaelhusada2276]

I’m curious as the load of the couplings can take. At nearly 100k ton, would the couplings towards the front take that load? Or do they actually spread the multiple locomotives on different parts of the train instead of the front? This is a great video explaining the heavy cargo trains.

[@jeruelnathan1845]

I think they will have to spread it across the entire length of the train, if the locomotives are only placed on the front of the train then the pull of the locomotives will exceed the strength of the couplings surely.

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

This is one of the reasons why DP or distributed power is used in long and heavy trains. Miod train or rear train remote locomotives. The other reason is it reduces the tendency for derailment, in particular string lining.

[@allangibson2408]

Broken couplers are a regular event on the BHP lines. Avoiding them is one of the reasons for serious training. BHP are now deploying four battery operated locomotives on their lines (the lines run loaded downhill and unloaded uphill).

[@DrDLightful]

Even at 10,000 tons they start placing power in the middle or rear. Also keep in mind with a long train, that since air is released from the brake main pipe only from the locomotives, it can take 20 seconds for a pressure drop to reach the rear of a long train to apply the brakes. If a train is running DPUs, the main pipe can be bled off and recharged at multiple points for faster action.

[@HomeGrown001]

​@@DrDLightfulECP is common now alleviating this

[@macjonte]

On the list of regular service trains I would like to make a shoutout to “malmbanan” in the polar region of northern Norway and Sweden. 32,5 tons per axis and inaugurated in 1903 by Swedish king Gustav III. The line goes throughout really cold polar region where the sun never comes up above the horizon for several months, which was the reason the king didn’t want to visit it until the summer. Fully electrified 1923, exactly 100 years ago. Parts of the line had its first iron ore train in 1888 with 1000 ton train.

[@ulfosterberg1979]

Gustav 5

[@mazyad3816]

Imagine doing an inspection on these trains.

[@jaimeduncan6167]

Australia looks like the idea place for cargo trains: mineral production , rich , relatively flat. The only issue is the insane heat and fire tornadoes but Australians are used to fight the heat.

[@adam872]

Yep, the Pilbara region of WA is home to a very large amount of rail infrastructure serving the mines and ports. The amount of product shipped through places like Port Hedland and Cape Lambert is astonishing. Same in other states in Australia.

[@homeofthemad3044]

Good video. I want to learn more about trains from history and in developing countries. Also what country are you from?

[@RailwaysExplained]

You're on the right channel. Here you will get knowledge about different aspects of the railway system.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Regarding your second question, we will reveal that in one of the future videos.. for now let it remain our little secret. :)

[@homeofthemad3044]

@@RailwaysExplained Okay I will keep watching. I am excited to see what you will do next.

[@RailwaysExplained]

@@homeofthemad3044 Glad to hear that. We're working on it!

[@918Vinchan]

This made me want to play Factorio again

[@peterwilliams4795]

I love the way he says EYE RON

[@KidDynamite6]

I remember as a kid and like I believe the late 80s before I move to Florida and I would visit there traveling through the beginning of florida to tampa bay I remember getting stuck at a crossing with my family and we waited for over 30 mins With a train traveling and maybe 10 to 15 miles an hour we lost count of the cars

[@AnimilesYT]

I remember watching a documentary recently where they mentioned how the TGV started using a different kind of wagons. They has the bogeys between the wagons instead of each wagon having 2 bogeys. Iirc this decreased the chances of derailment and the decrease of parts also had its benefits. These long freight trains have a lot of wheels, and the weight of them does add up. So I wonder if a TGV-like system could work for these long freight trains as well. It could make things cheaper and more reliable. It would mean that every bogey would have to carry more cargo, so that could be an issue. It may also make decoupling and rearranging them a bit more difficult since you'd have to take the wagon off of one of the bogeys. This problem has been solved for trucks though, so a similar approach may be taken for the wagons. Does my idea sound like a decent plan? Or are there possible problems I didn't think of? It seems to me that they're keeping things the way they are because that's how it has been for the longest time

[@fermitupoupon1754]

The reason why TGV and it's derivatives can do that is because they are really very light when it comes to trains. And they're made to go fast, so losing some load capacity in order to improve rolling resistance and aerodynamics. Also TGV consists can't be split without going to a maintenance facility where there are cranes and all that to lift a carriage out of the consist. These ore trains carry massive amounts of bulk material. Having more wheels is better, because it puts less stress on components and the rail itself. Also you want to be able to just hump the wagons in a yard in order to build consists out of them, so you need to be able to decouple them easily. And then there's the speed. Bulk trains like this probably go around 40km/h, aerodynamic drag is irrelevant at that speed. Inertia and momentum are really the things they'd be most concerned about. For a TGV going 350km/h aerodynamic drag is probably the single biggest force acting on the train. So having half the number of wheels and bogeys and having no gaps between carriages is a big deal.

[@TheRatlord74]

Wouldn't want to be caught on the wrong side of no 1 at a crossroad.

[@unaizilla]

it's curious how the heaviest train is still 100 tons heavier than the official weight of godzilla in the new american movies

[@travisburton2948]

Fun fact, I remeber feeling the ground shake from #1 drag out here in California haha

[@BootlegSounds]

0:43 ayy Serbia Cargo hahah nice! Greetings from Serbia

[@RailwaysExplained]

Pozdrav 😉

[@temper44]

While Russia only had one train on this list, I wonder if the Soviet rail network was especially well suited to heavy rail traffic considering their broad gauge rail lines.

[@jaimeduncan6167]

Great video. When he talks about tons is he talking about metric tons , long tones short tons?

[@gregsmith4102]

tonnes

[@maltee69]

Me in Transport Fever 2

[@Ihaveanamenowtaken]

The intro melody ♥️♥️♥️

[@hulkthefuror]

200 million lbs or 91 million kg is just incredible.

[@harshabiliangady3211]

Absolutely lovely. But the obstetrician in me cannot but help think of a woman in labour caught on oneside of a crossing and the hospital being on the other side!

[@zulfione]

Very Informative and interesting But you forgot to mention the number of locomotives pulling the wagons.

[@dramoth64]

Just a note, it's called Port Hedland.

[@jordanalexander615]

On virtual railfans i see trains that exceed 12000 ft ever say almost always intermodal. But also coal trains with roughly 120 to 170 cars which are insanely heavy. And American locos were pulling those iron ore trains in Australia. Big AC6000s

[@theshaunproject]

Heaviest train I’ve ever ran was a potash train, 29,000 tons and 12,000 feet