Speak of the devil! KTA19

[Dualie]

Originally Posted by Jfaulkner

I wouldn't think the truck would be heavy enough to get the traction required to pull 10 loaded cars.:bow:

Looks like a queen Mary on the back (large chunk of solid steel for traction only)

last year I was driving through new Mexico and the RR had a Pete that was spec 'ed just like that star car, except it was fitted with national 40 ton boom on it. it was pulling 8 loaded gravel cars at about 40 mph on the tracks right along I-10 outside of Tucson.

[Lmackattack]

Originally Posted by Jfaulkner

I wouldn't think the truck would be heavy enough to get the traction required to pull 10 loaded cars.:bow:

He said that the top rail speed was 25 MPH empty or loadedlaugh

i suspect thats because of the weight it can/cant pull. If I remember correctly it used the rear drive axels to pull on the rails

quite the beast it was

[Lowboy]

And we can't forget the ancient Egyptians moving those big pyramid blocks..

[HighTQCummins]

thats right i heard they weighed up to 10 tons (dont call me on it though) and they just slid them using nothing but a Cummins N14....I mean slave power

[Lowboy]

Didn't they do a Dmax commercial pulling a bunch of railroad cars?

:sofa

[Dualie]

Yea and there was one of a 6.0 pulling aYea and there was one of a 6.0 pulling a battleship!

[Duke]

My buddy was in a strong man competition and he pulled a railcar by himself

[fred43]

the kta's are stil built but are strictly an industrial engine. they last were put in trucks in 1983. i had one in a 1980 freightliner. it weighed 1000 more lbs then the 350 cummins. not so uncompicated as your would think. at 1 million miles i lots the oil pump just south of leesburgh va. it took a real good mechanic 5 days to r&r the pump. the front hear drive wasnt something you wanted trouble with. very complcated nd expensive. i ran synthetic lubes for 15 years and scraped the truck at 1,400,000 miles. i sold the engine for 6,500.00t a guy who delt in them in toronto canada. he told me it was in great shape except it needed a set of re-con heads. i had it opened to about 750 hp and it was never passed except by nuts going down hill,,hehe. the twin turbo was not usable on the road,,it would smoke so bad every time yoou shifted, it would cause accidents. it was for constant power applications. i was ging to have cummins in albany ny do it,,but engineering in ohio talked me out of it. they asked me if i ever had a 1693 425 cat? i did and they asked me if i could remember the smoke that BELCHED out when you shifted? they said, mutiply that by 10 times. i decided it wasnt a good idea hehe. anyway,,i miss that truck. i almost had pete bulid me a glider for it. i should have done that. it was the most amazing power monster ever put on the public roads. it was truelly an amazing engine with more power than God. it lived in over-drive. i never floored it except in OD.

[french277]

Originally Posted by Jfaulkner

Western Star must think like you!

this truck have one instering twist with the tranny they add a oddball mid tranny so they can be geared for both foward and reverse :wow and speaking of air compressor that truck do have sepratred air comppressor unit due the amout the air need for the box cars and the truck brake are seprated but tied with boxcar brakes and also you can see big ase airhorn below the front bumper there you dont want to stand near front of that thing.

for max capitcy for pulling it useally 10 fulled loaded box cars [ ave weight about 120,000 to 180,000 lbs each box car so total weight can be high as 1.2 million lbs with standard 450 HP diesel engine.

and of course they have sander just like reguar locomovite as well.

to run the railtruck on the rail they have to follow the railroad regulations they are not the same as DOT over the road regulations is but once that truck get on road then they have to follow the DOT regulations.

Merci, Marc

[Diesel Brad]

I always heard the KTA was a very rugged engine; but one weak spot was some sort of mount on the gearcover and caused it to crack ? Someone fill me in on this, its been a while and I suffer from C.R.S.