Norman is right. People who make the cars will do so in the simplest way
possible. If dropping 8 mm from the numbers makes it easier or even possibly
adding 92 mm to make it an even 26 m would still be within the acceptable
tolerances then it would be done. Do you happen to know what the tolerances
are for this type of equipment?
Jerry
________________________________
From: Carleton MacDonald <carlet...@comcast.net>
To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2009 6:40:33 PM
Subject: [USMA:43467] Metric discussion on the railroad list (2)
The other discussion – from a good friend who lives in the UK east of London.
As for ...
I'm curious if this is really true. An 85' car would be 25908 mm. A
59'-6" wheelbase would be 18135.6 mm. The 10'-6" overall width would
be 3200.4 mm.
=======
... somehow I doubt anybody would notice if an 85' car was 8mm shorter,
making an even 25.9m; or the wheelbase or car width 0.6mm or 0.4mm
shorter. In fact I suspect the latter two differences, less than the
thickness of a US dime, are well within normal tolerances for such
measurements. Don't they teach engineers anymore that it's foolish
to pretend to measure such things to five or six decimal places of
precision?
In any case, having had little time for All_Aboard of late, it's
good to see that the conversation is as relevant as ever to
passenger-rail advocacy.
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
