Railcar mechanical design advice required

[run2win]

Anyone please advise me on two aspects of the mechanical design of a custom railcar. This car runs on rail tracks at a Hydro Dam. Maximum speed is 3 miles/Hr. The rail car is equipped with lifting/lowering mechanism to raise and lower heavy logs into gains at the dam. These logs control the dam water levels. The rail car is required to move from one gain location to the next, along the rail track.

How do I determine the torque motor requirement to get the car moving? The railcar is not symmetrical in its weight side to side. That is, it weighs 45,000 lbs. but the reaction at the wheels is 15,000 lbs and 7,500 lbs. at the front and the same at the rear. Wheels are spa

Secondly, the axle is a split axle to enable easy traversing along a curved rail. The two front and two rear wheels are in a bogie setup. Am I right to assign the torque motor to the wheel that has the higher reaction? If the motor will work with both wheel reactions , would it be better to apply torque to the wheel on the inside of the curve or the outside? In my actual scenario, the wheel with the higher reaction is on the outside of the rail curve.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

John.