Calculating the “acceleration” possible from merely the tractive effort and car mass would seem to be a pointless and potentially misleading exercise. Such a value would only be reasonably representative at push-off, before significant drag forces enter the picture. And even then, it would be erroneous since the low end acceleration would likely be limited by the friction coefficient. So then, what is the point? Just stop at tractive effort or do it including all the pertinent forces.
Torque is the ability to do that work and HP is the amount of that work that gets done in the time or space allowed for doing it!
While I am reluctant to criticize Woody’s notion, and his concept stated just above may “work” for him, it is in conflict with the actual definitions of torque, power, and work. Torque, per se, isn’t the ability to do anything. Torque acting at a rotational velocity is (horse)power, and
that is the ability to do work. Further, horsepower is not an amount of work. An amount of work is just that--work or, energy. Horsepower acting over a period of time will expend an amount of energy and do an amount of work.
When people adopt different and erroneous notions as to what these quantities really represent, it is no surprise that they become confused and distressed when discussing them with others.