Question

How much weight could a locomotive pull than horses

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT-4 Turbo]

This question doesn't have a single answer because it depends on many factors including the design and power of the locomotive, the type of horses, track conditions, the terrain, and the type of carriages or wagons being pulled.

However, to provide a general perspective, a steam locomotive, which was common during the height of the railroad era before diesel and electric locomotives, could outperform horses by a significant margin. A typical steam locomotive in the 19th and early 20th centuries could haul anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand tons, depending on its design and the track conditions.

In comparison, one draft horse can typically pull a load of up to about one ton (approximately 907 kilograms) on flat ground. This load would be much less on hilly or uneven terrain. When horses were used en masse, such as with team-hauling, the amount they could pull increased, but it still required many horses to match the pulling capacity of a single locomotive.

Here's a more direct comparison: a classic American 4-4-0 steam locomotive from the mid-1800s might have been able to pull up to 10-15 freight cars loaded with about 30-50 tons each, for a total freight capacity ranging from 300 to 750 tons. Without even accounting for the efficiency and speed with which locomotives can maintain their pulling power over long distances, it is clear that a locomotive offers a dramatic improvement over equine power. Horses simply couldn't compete in terms of overall efficiency and capacity for moving heavy freight.

As technology improved over time, especially with the advent of diesel-electric locomotives, the hauling capacity increased even further. Modern locomotives can pull trains weighing thousands of tons. For example, a modern diesel-electric freight locomotive may have a tractive effort of 60,000 to 200,000 pounds-force (267 to 890 kilonewtons) and can haul a train consisting of dozens of loaded freight cars, with the entire train's weight being measured in thousands of tons. One locomotive, or sometimes a few locomotives linked together ("consist"), can replace the efforts of literally hundreds if not thousands of horses.