Patent attributes
A traction system is provided for a rail draft vehicle including an engine with a driveshaft, at least a pair of rubber-tired traction wheels, and at least one rail guide wheel pressurized relative to the vehicle by at least one fluid-powered cylinder. Included in the system are a programmable processor connected to a driveshaft speed sensor, a rail guide wheel speed sensor, an engine throttle controller, a fluid-powered cylinder controller and a vehicle control panel. The processor is constructed and arranged for automatically adjusting the engine throttle controller in coordination with the fluid-powered cylinder controller for achieving movement of the rail draft vehicle from a dead stop position by increasing applied vehicle weight upon the traction wheels by the at least one fluid-powered cylinder and adjusting engine RPM's until the vehicle begins movement as detected by the rail guide wheel speed sensor.
