1.
Washington Metro
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The Washington Metro, known colloquially as Metro and branded Metrorail, is the heavy rail rapid transit system serving the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area in the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name, besides the District, Metro serves several jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia. In Maryland, Metro provides service to Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, in Virginia, to Arlington and Fairfax counties and the independent city of Alexandria. Combined with its ridership in the independent Virginia cities of Falls Church and Fairfax, the system is currently being expanded into Loudoun County, Virginia. It operates mostly as a subway in the District itself, while most of the tracks are at surface level or elevated. Opened in 1976, the network now includes six lines,91 stations, Metro is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway. There were 215.3 million trips on Metro in fiscal year 2015, in June 2008, Metro set a monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456 per weekday. Fares vary based on the distance traveled, the time of day, Riders enter and exit the system using a proximity card called SmarTrip. Metro also has the distinction of having the longest, single-tier escalator in the Western Hemisphere in the Wheaton station, during the 1960s plans were laid for a massive freeway system in Washington. But the plan met fierce opposition, and was altered to include a Capital Beltway system plus rail line radials, the Beltway received full funding, funding for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system was partially reallocated toward construction of the Metro system. In 1960 the federal government created the National Capital Transportation Agency to develop a rail system. In 1966, a bill creating WMATA was passed by the government, the District of Columbia, Virginia. WMATA approved plans for a 98-mile regional system in 1968, the first portion of the system opened March 27,1976, with 4.6 miles available on the Red Line with five stations from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North, all in the District of Columbia. Underground stations were built with arches of concrete, highlighted by soft. The name Metro was suggested by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the subway maps for the New York City Subway, the 103-mile, 83-station system was completed with the opening of the Green Line segment to Branch Avenue on January 13,2001. This did not mean the end of the growth of the system, the first in-fill station, NoMa – Gallaudet University on the Red Line between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, opened November 20,2004. Construction began in March 2009 for an extension to Dulles Airport to be built in two phases, the first phase, five stations connecting East Falls Church to Tysons Corner and Wiehle Avenue in Reston, opened on July 26,2014. Metro construction required billions of dollars, originally provided by Congress under the authority of the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969
2.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
3.
Rail tracks
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The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a surface for their wheels to roll upon. For clarity it is referred to as railway track or railroad track. Tracks where electric trains or electric trams run are equipped with a system such as an overhead electrical power line or an additional electrified rail. The term permanent way also refers to the track in addition to structures such as fences etc. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails supported by sleepers attached via baseplates that spread the load, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tieplate where concrete sleepers are used. The rail is held down to the sleeper with resilient fastenings. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads, timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are used where timber is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications, the track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired track geometry. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track, in its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete with the rails supported directly on its upper surface. There are a number of systems, and variations include a continuous reinforced concrete slab. Many permutations of design have been put forward, however, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance, some rubber-tyred metros use ballastless tracks
4.
Track (rail transport)
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The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a surface for their wheels to roll upon. For clarity it is referred to as railway track or railroad track. Tracks where electric trains or electric trams run are equipped with a system such as an overhead electrical power line or an additional electrified rail. The term permanent way also refers to the track in addition to structures such as fences etc. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails supported by sleepers attached via baseplates that spread the load, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tieplate where concrete sleepers are used. The rail is held down to the sleeper with resilient fastenings. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads, timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are used where timber is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications, the track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired track geometry. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track, in its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete with the rails supported directly on its upper surface. There are a number of systems, and variations include a continuous reinforced concrete slab. Many permutations of design have been put forward, however, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance, some rubber-tyred metros use ballastless tracks
5.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
6.
New York City Subway
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Opened in 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the worlds oldest public transit systems, one of the worlds most used metro systems, and the metro system with the most stations. It offers service 24 hours per day, every day of the year, the New York City Subway is the largest rapid transit system in the world by number of stations, with 472 stations in operation. Stations are located throughout the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson and the AirTrain JFK, in Manhattan and Queens respectively, accept the subways MetroCard but are not operated by the MTA and do not allow free transfers. Another mass transit service that is not operated by the MTA, the system is also one of the worlds longest. Overall, the system contains 236 miles of routes, translating into 665 miles of track. In 2015, the subway delivered over 1.76 billion rides, averaging approximately 5.7 million daily rides on weekdays and a combined 5.9 million rides each weekend. Of the systems 25 services,22 of them pass through Manhattan, the exceptions being the G train, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the Rockaway Park Shuttle. Large portions of the subway outside Manhattan are elevated, on embankments, or in open cuts, in total, 40% of track is not underground despite the subway moniker. Many lines and stations have both express and local services and these lines have three or four tracks. Normally, the two are used for local trains, while the inner one or two are used for express trains. Stations served by express trains are typically major transfer points or destinations, alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system in New York City in 1869 and opened it in February 1870. The tunnel was never extended for political and financial reasons, although extensions had been planned to take the tunnel southward to The Battery, the Great Blizzard of 1888 helped demonstrate the benefits of an underground transportation system. A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, the first underground line of the subway opened on October 27,1904, almost 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line. The fare was $0.05 and on the first day the trains carried over 150,000 passengers, the oldest structure still in use opened in 1885 as part of the BMT Lexington Avenue Line in Brooklyn and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line. The oldest right-of-way, which is part of the BMT West End Line near Coney Island Creek, was in use in 1864 as a railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath. By the time the first subway opened, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the city built most of the lines and leased them to the companies. This required it to be run at cost, necessitating fares up to double the five-cent fare popular at the time, in 1940, the city bought the two private systems. Some elevated lines ceased service immediately while others closed soon after, integration was slow, but several connections were built between the IND and BMT, these now operate as one division called the B Division
7.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
8.
Locomotive
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A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
9.
Cab unit
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A cab unit and a carbody unit are body styles of locomotives in North American railroad terminology. While closely related, they are not exactly the same, with both body styles, a bridge-truss design framework is used to make the body a structural element of the locomotive. The body rises above the frame, and extends the full width of the locomotive. The service walkways are inside the body and this configuration gives a cab or carbody unit poor rear visibility compared with a hood unit. For that reason, cab or carbody units are used in situations where rear visibility is not important, such as power for through freight. Cab and carbody units are more aerodynamic than hood units. A cab unit is a unit with a driving cab. Thus, a cab unit is always an A unit. By contrast, a unit can be either an A unit. In recent years, locomotive manufacturers have switched from cab units to cowl units when a body is desired. Cab units were not generally used in Great Britain, the traditional makers continued to use heavyweight frames and cowl units instead. Most British diesel locomotives, e. g. the British Rail Class 37, are cab units, the Class 37, like most British diesel and electric locomotives, has a cab at each end
10.
Track geometry car
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A track geometry car is an automated track inspection vehicle on a rail transport system used to test several geometric parameters of the track without obstructing normal railroad operations. Some of the parameters generally measured include position, curvature, alignment of the track, smoothness, the cars use a variety of sensors, measuring systems, and data management systems to create a profile of the track being inspected. Track geometry cars emerged in the 1920s when rail traffic became sufficiently dense that manual and visual inspections were no longer practical, furthermore, the increased operating speeds of trains of that era required more meticulous maintained tracks. In 1925, the Chemins de fer de lEst put a track geometry car into operation carrying an accelerograph developed by Emile Hallade, the accelerograph could record horizontal and vertical movement as well as roll. It was fitted with a button to record milestones and stations in the record. By 1927 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had a car in operation followed by the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil in 1929. These two cars were built by Baldwin using the technology of Sperry Corporation. The first track geometry car in Germany appeared in 1929 and was operated by Deutsche Reichsbahn, the equipment for this car came from Anschütz in Kiel, a company currently owned by Raytheon. In Switzerland, the first track geometry recording equipment was integrated in an already existing dynamometer car in 1930, one of the earliest track geometry cars was Car T2 used by the U. S. Department of Transportations Project HISTEP. Many of the first regular service geometry cars were created from old passenger cars outfitted with the sensors, instruments. By at least 1977, self-propelled geometry cars had emerged, even in 1981, the Encyclopedia of North American Railroads considered this the most advanced track geometry car in North America. Track inspection was originally done by track inspectors walking the railroad and this was hazardous as it had to be done while trains were running. It was also intensive, and inspectors were limited in the amount of track they could inspect on a given day. Manual instruments had to be used to various parameters of the track. The primary benefits of geometry cars are the time and labor saved when compared to doing manual inspections of track. Track geometry cars may travel up to 217 miles per hour, more commonly, on freight railroads, geometry cars travel at track speed in order to minimize service disruptions. Current track geometry cars may cover large portions of the system in a single day, many times, maintenance gangs will follow the geometry car and fix defects as the geometry car moves along the track. Because track geometry cars are full-sized rail cars, track geometry cars also provide a picture of the geometry of the track under loading
11.
Tamping machine
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A tamping machine or ballast tamper is a machine used to pack the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks more durable. Prior to the introduction of mechanical tampers, this task was done by manual labour with the help of beaters. As well as being faster, more accurate, more efficient and less labour-intensive, whilst also available as a plain tamper with no lifting or lining function this article will focus on the multi function machines. Early machines only lifted the track and packed the ballast and this is done by finding places where the sleepers have sunk from the weight of the passing trains or frost action, causing the track to sag. The tamper lifts each sleeper and the rails up, and packs ballast underneath, when the sleeper is laid down again, the sagged rails now sit at the proper level. In cases where frost action has caused adjacent rails to rise higher, lining rails doesnt involve ballast tamping, it merely ensures the rails are perfectly parallel and straight as possible. Combining tamping and lining into a single machine saves time and money, the majority of track machines are powered by a diesel engine. This provides power to the wheels via either a hydrostatic circuit or cardan shaft, allowing the machine to propel itself to. The engine also drives an hydraulic pump to power for the various tools. The lifting lining unit of a machine is used to lift. To ensure track geometry is corrected most tamping machines use a 2 chord lining system, the 2 chord system requires 3 reference trolleys fitted to the machine usually called A point, B point and C point. Some machines will use a 4th point in between B and C to carry out quality control measurements, depending on chord system the anchorages will be either a wire anchor or a light source. B point is positioned as close as possible to the lifting lining unit. All 3 points are individual rail trolleys able to move up, down, left and right independent of the machine chassis. When working the machine uses pneumatic cylinders to push these trolleys into the selected datum rail both vertically and horizontally. When using this method the tower operator positions A point anchorages according to existing track geometry measurements taken beforehand, once A point has been positioned it is then assumed that both A and C are in correct position as if machine were sitting on corrected track. The machine then uses the lifting lining unit to move the rail, a Continuous Action Tamping Machine can pack between one and four sleepers at a time, with outputs between 320m/h and 2600m/h generally anticipated. The Tamping Express is a developed by Plasser & Theurer
12.
Ballast cleaner
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A ballast cleaner is a machine that specialises in cleaning the railway track ballast of impurities. Over time, ballast becomes worn, and loses its angularity and this hinders the tessellation of pieces of ballast with one another, and thus reduces its effectiveness. Fine pieces of granite, like sand, are created by attrition. Combined with water in the ballast, these fines stick together and this hinders both track drainage and the flexibility of the ballast to constrain the track as it moves under traffic. Ballast cleaning removes this worn ballast, screens it and replaces the dirty worn ballast with fresh ballast, the advantage of ballast cleaning is that it can be done by an on-track machine without removing the rail and sleepers, and it is therefore cheaper than a total excavation. A cutter bar runs beneath sleeper level excavating all of the ballast under the sleepers to a specified, a conveyor then moves the ballast into the cleaner, where it gets forced through a mesh by a shaking chamber. Pieces of ballast which are smaller than the mesh size fall through and are rejected, some ballast cleaners have both ballast and spoil wagons attached to it, to which the materials are fed by a series of conveyor belts. Others simply undercut the ballast, and allow for a train to come through to dump fresh ballast. This process can be done in short possessions, meaning that life can be considerably extended with the minimum of disruption. In 2008, Network Rail purchased a new 800m long high output ballast cleaner from Plasser and Theurer at a cost of £41.7 million, capable of cleaning 600 yd in an eight-hour shift
13.
Stoneblower
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A Stoneblower is a railway track Maintenance machine that automatically lifts and packs the sleepers with small grade ballast, which is blown under the sleepers to level the track. An alternative to the use of a Ballast tamper, the totally self-contained machine levels track without the use of a gang of workmen. The Pneumatic Ballast Injection Machine was an experimental stoneblower tested by British Rail for the correction of track ballast and it was built by Plasser GB, a division of the Austrian railway machinery company Plasser & Theurer under contract to British Rail. A frog device which attached ahead of the machine reported measurements one metre apart of the altitude, relative to the point, of each rail head, at each sleeper. Deflection indicators on each side reported height deviation at the 50 cm point between the two axles, inclinometers on each side reported the angle from the horizontal, of the rail at that point. Electromagnetic sensors flagged the location of the steel Pandrol clips which bind the rails to the sleepers, at each pair of sleepers, the machine lifted the track 50 cm and forced eight giant hypodermic needle points down to the level of the resulting temporary cavity below the sleepers. Four archimedes screws dispensed a measured quantity of gravel into the needles, expected results were not achieved in practice, and British Rail continued to use the ballast tamper
14.
Railgrinder
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A railgrinder is a maintenance of way vehicle or train used to restore the profile and remove irregularities from worn rail track to extend its life and to improve the ride of trains using the track. Rail-grinding equipment may be mounted on a single self-propelled vehicle or on a dedicated rail-grinding train which, the grinding wheels, of which there may be more than 100, are set at controlled angles to restore the track to its correct profile. The machines have been in use in North America, the United Kingdom and they are made by specialist rail maintenance companies who may also operate them under contract. A second technology which is gaining acceptance in Europe, Germany in particular, is high-speed grinding. The ERICO Company manufactures hand-held rail grinders and drills for the industry as maintenance of way tools. ERICO uses Honda four-stroke engines to power their railway drill and rail grinder, rail grinders are used for rail preparation prior to the attachment of bonds, and serve as a multipurpose tool capable of rail prep, maintenance and repair. The grinding quality index is a template used to measure the profile of a rail. This allows the rail profile to be compared to the actual rail profile. GQI software makes use of laser-based hardware mounted to the front, the use of laser-based hardware on maintenance of way vehicles such as rail grinders allow workers and contractors take precise measurements of the rail profile before and after grinding. The GQI is rated from 0 to 100, grinding Quality Software is able to record and document measurements independently and provide a GQI rating for each rail on the track for before and after each pass on the grinder. The advantage of using GQI software is the ability to produce post-grinding reports for later usage by planners to help further prioritize, GQI reports also provide analysis on the consistency of profiling to determine if grinding operations are consistently improving or deteriorating the rail profile. In the railway industry, there are risk factors involved with the usage of maintenance of way vehicles by vehicle operators during day-to-day track maintenance. The ACGIH-TLV limits worker whole-body vibration exposure to no more than 8 hours in duration, in the European Union a new risk assessment model for structural failure of the lumbar spine in the lower back was proposed as a result of vibration risk research. The VibRisk model provides more risk assessments of vertebral endplate failure on individual lumbar levels taking into account driver posture. When compared the risk assessment proposed using the VibRisk Model posed a risk of vertebral endplate failure at different lumbar levels than ISO-2631 Part 5 standards suggested. Rail corrugation is a type of wear that develops from track. Once this process has started it will begin to grow worse as time progresses. The estimated tendency for wear is calculated by taking into account fluctuations in track, the dynamic properties of different lines of the track can lead to varied degrees of rail corrugation through the use of high-speed wheel sets
15.
Sperry Rail Service
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Sperry Rail Service is a company contracted by most of the major railroads in North America to inspect rail. The rail flaw detector car was invented by Dr. Elmer A. Sperry, to railways and railfans, Sperrys name is most likely associated with the Sperry Rail Detector car. There were many early useless efforts of rail defect detecting device development in the late 19th century, serious train derailments, which were blamed on transverse fissures, were increasing. One of them occurred in 1911, in Manchester, New York, killing 29, another killed 21 and injured over 100 near Victoria, Mississippi, in October 1925. The need for dependable rail inspection became apparent, Dr. Sperry began developing a method of locating internal rail defects in 1911. To build a railway test car he contracted with the American Railway Association in 1927, construction on this first car began in June 1927. The body was metal-faced plywood, and was mounted on a Kalamazoo motor car bed and this car was towed by a larger motor car. After completion, it was delivered December 17,1927, for performing tests, an operator, lying flat on his stomach as he was moved along on a hand car, held a search unit against the rail. Both fissures were found, but serious difficulties were encountered during the test and this method also posed problems due to uneven rail surfaces. Dr. Sperry and his staff discovered a new principle for detecting transverse fissures in 1928 and it also found split-heads and other invisible defects. It did not function properly at the end of each rail where angle bars and it also did not function properly where two rails converged such as at switch points. These rail parts had to be examined individually by a hand-held ultrasonic scanner, the induction system was used until 1960 when mobile semi-automated ultrasonic inspection equipment was introduced to the Sperry fleet. Ultrasonic rail testing was introduced in 1949 and it would appear that the induction-based testing method equipment replaced the original magnetic equipment on Sperry Rail Service 101. Even though it was completed almost ten months before, the car was rejected by the American Railway Associations Rail Committee until October 2,1928, after a test run on September 27,1928, by Dr. Sperry and his research engineer H. C. Drake, it began testing on the New York Central under ARA supervision, the test with the modified 101 was so successful that construction on SRS102 began almost immediately. The original plan of Dr. Sperry was to build and sell the rail cars, along with the testing services. However, the railways were reluctant, so Sperry decided to sell the service only and it would lead to more consistent testing, which is done by skilled and experienced personnel. At this point Sperry Rail Service Corporation was created to market the testing service, the first commercial test was accomplished in November,1928, on the Wabash Railway over a 130-mile section of track between Montpelier, Ohio, and Clarke Junction, Indiana performed by SRS102
16.
Hopper car
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A hopper car is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist, covered hopper cars, which are equipped with a roof, and open hopper cars and this type of car is distinguished from a gondola car in that it has opening doors on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. The development of the car went along with the development of automated handling of such commodities. Covered hopper cars are used for cargo such as grain, sugar. Open hopper cars are used for such as coal, which can suffer exposure with less detrimental effect. Hopper cars have used by railways worldwide whenever automated cargo handling has been desired. Ore jennies is predominantly a term for shorter open hopper cars hauling taconite by the Duluth, Missabe, a rotary car dumper permits the use of simpler and more compact gondola cars instead of hoppers. Covered hoppers, though, are still in widespread use, the Coke Express, a unit train of hopper cars loaded with coke, with the words Coke Express painted on the sides of the hoppers. Increase in wheel loads has important implications for the infrastructure needed to accommodate future grain hopper car shipments. The weight of the car is transmitted to the rails and the track structure through these wheel loads. As wheel loads increase, track maintenance expenses increase and the ability of a rail weight, ballast depth. Moreover, the ability of a bridge to handle prolonged rail traffic also decreases as wheel loads increase. Gondola Victorian Railways hopper wagons Union Pacific #7801 – Photos and short history of an example of a typical self-clearing, open-top triple hopper Rail car manufacturing
17.
Track renewal train
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A track renewal train is a work train that consists of many units of machinery and materials required for track renewal projects. To minimize the time of track during a track renewal project. Prior to the arrival of the track renewal train, preparation tasks must be completed, in some cases, the old rail needs to be cut into smaller segments and joined with fishplates. The rail fastening system may need to be released prior to its arrival, the new rails usually need to be prepared prior to the arrival of track renewal train. Rails are delivered to the center of the track and those rail pieces are welded by track worker to form continuous welded rail and left at the center of the track at the exact position required by the track renewal train to pick up at its arrival. A track renewal train has a series of units that are combined together into one train. As the track renewal train moves forward, the renewal process will be done stage by stage to the completion of track renewal as it leaves the area. The first stage of renewal is the removal of old sleepers. The releasing rail fastening system from the sleepers may be part of this process, some units have a machine to automatically remove spikes in the older type of wooden sleepers. After rails are untied from the sleepers, those old rails will be lifted up, the new rails are also fed in near the sides of the train in preparation to be inserted. The track renewal train has a machine that pulls the old sleepers out from the ballast and these old sleepers are delivered into the conveyors to move them out for storage at the rear of the train. The ballast bed is then cleared in preparation of laying new concrete sleepers, in case there is a need to lower the ballast bed, the ballast excavating process will be done. This process is integrated into the track renewal train in some models, excess ballast in that case will be moved out through the conveyor belt to the ballast storage area. Those old ballast materials will be screened and cleaned to be reused, the unusable ballast will kept in a separate storage to be discarded. There are gantry cranes attached to the top of the track renewal train and these cranes run along the special side rails of the train. These special rails also connect between cars allowing operators to travel along the length of the train. The cranes are used to transport old sleepers into the storage area, the new sleepers are delivered by the cranes to feed into the machine. The machine puts sleepers onto the ballast bed and spaces them to the position required by specification
18.
Rotary snowplow
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A rotary snowplow is a piece of railroad snow removal equipment with a large circular set of blades on its front end that rotate to cut through the snow on the track ahead of it. The precursor to the rotary snowplow was the wedge snowplow, the rotary was invented by Toronto, Ontario, Canada dentist J. W. Elliot in 1869. He never built a model or prototype, although he wanted to. Orange Jull of Orangeville, Ontario, expanded on Elliots design, during the winter of 1883–1884, Jull contracted with the Leslie Brothers of Toronto to build a full-size prototype that proved successful. Jull later sold his rights to Leslie Brothers, who formed the Rotary Steam Shovel Manufacturing Company in Paterson. Leslie Brothers contracted with Cooke Locomotive & Machine Works in Paterson to do the actual construction, another inventor is said to be Col. Lewis P. Campbell. He is listed in US patent 1848554, Wedge snowplows were the traditional mechanized method of clearing snow from railroad tracks. These pushed snow off the tracks, deflecting it to the side, deeper drifts cannot easily be cleared by this method, there is simply too much snow to be moved. For this purpose, the rotary snowplow was devised, when snow is too deep, the railroads call on their rotary. The plow is not self-propelled, so one or more locomotives are coupled behind it to push the plow along the line, an engine within the plows carbody rotates the large circular assembly at the front of the plow. The blades on this cut through the snow and force it through a channel just behind the disk to an output chute above the blade assembly. The chute can be adjusted to throw the snow to either the left or the side of the tracks. An operator sits in a cab just above and behind the blade assembly to control the speed of the blades, with the increasing prevalence of diesel locomotives, multiple-unit train controls have been added to the cabs, so that the pushing locomotives can be controlled from the plow. With a plow on each end, the train was able to return to its starting location even if the snow covered the tracks it had just passed over. Such a train would also be able to clear multiple track mainlines efficiently as it could make a pass in one direction on one track, then reverse direction and clear the next track. Rotary snowplows are expensive due to their maintenance costs, which the railroad incurs regardless of whether they are needed in a given year. Japan sees widespread use of snowplows in its many mountainous passes. Rotaries of newer construction are either diesel- or electric-powered, many steam plows were converted to electricity
19.
Rail inspection
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Rail inspection is the practice of examining rail tracks for flaws that could lead to catastrophic failures. According to the United States Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis, the leading cause of railway accidents is attributed to human error. The contribution of poor management decisions to rail accidents caused by infrequent or inadequate rail inspection is significant but not reported by the FRA, every year, North American railroads spend millions of dollars to inspect the rails for internal and external flaws. Nondestructive testing methods are used as a preventative measures against track failures, the first rail inspections were done visually. Many sources cite that the need for better rail inspections came after a derailment at Manchester, New York and that particular accident resulted in the death of 29 people and injuries to 60 others. The investigation of the accident revealed that the cause was a transverse fissure in the rail, further investigation in the late 1920s showed that this type of defect was quite common. With increased rail traffic at higher speeds and with axle loads today, critical crack sizes are shrinking. In 1927, Dr. Elmer Sperry built a rail inspection car under contract with the American Railway Association. Magnetic induction was the used on the first rail inspection cars. This was done by passing large amounts of field through the rail. Since then, many other cars have traversed the rails in search of flaws. There are many effects that influence rail defects and rail failure and these effects include bending and shear stresses, wheel/rail contact stresses, thermal stresses, residual stresses and dynamic effects. When a fluid fills a small crack and a train passes over, also, the trapped fluid could freeze and expand or initiate the corrosion process. This means that the entire rail needs to be inspected, the probes and transducers can be utilized on a walking stick, on a hand pushed trolley, or in a hand held setup. These devices are used when small sections of track are to be inspected or when a location is desired. Many times these detail oriented inspection devices follow up on indications made by a rail inspection cars or HiRail trucks, handheld inspection devices are very useful for this when the track is used heavily, because they can be removed relatively easy. However, they are considered slow and tedious, when there are thousands of miles of track that need inspection. Rail inspection cars and HiRail trucks are the answer to today’s high mileage inspection needs, the first rail inspection cars were created by Dr. Sperry
20.
Crane (rail)
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A railroad crane is a type of crane used on a railroad for one of three primary purposes, freight handling in goods yards, permanent way maintenance, and accident recovery work. Although the design according to the type of work, the basic configuration is similar in all cases. The body supports the jib and provides all the lifting and operating mechanisms, on larger cranes, the chassis is fitted with buffing and/or coupling gear to allow the crane to be moved by a locomotive, although many are also self-propelled to allow limited movement about a work site. For cranes with a jib that extends beyond the length of the chassis, the idler car is usually a long, flat wagon that provides a means of securing the jib for transportation, storage areas for special equipment or supplies are usually fitted too. It was not uncommon for the car to be built on a withdrawn revenue-earning wagon. They were often small enough to be operated by hand, and were not normally self-propelled, once cheap road-going mobile cranes were available, these superseded the rail-mounted variety due to their greater flexibility and mobility. The most varied forms of crane are used for maintenance work, general purpose cranes may be used for installing signalling equipment or pointwork, for example, while more specialised types are used for track laying. The largest cranes are used for accident recovery work, usually forming part of a train that includes staff accommodation. These are large enough to lift derailed rolling stock back onto the track, in US terminology, a breakdown crane is often referred to as a wrecker. A railroad crane generally resembles a conventional fixed-location crane except that the platform the crane sits on is a heavy-duty reinforced flat car. The trucks on the car under the crane will often include traction motors so that the crane is able to move itself along the track, larger cranes may be provided with outriggers to provide additional stability when lifting. Sleepers are often carried on the car to put under the outriggers to spread the weight applied to the trackbed. Breakdown cranes were necessary to every railroad to recover derailed rolling stock and locomotives, while assisting with bridge building. Enter into this the steam crane and cable winch, appearing about 1890, the cranes increased in size, commensurate with the rise of steel Pullman cars, so by 1910 steam cranes reached their peak of development. Many of these 1910-era cranes were so useful and powerful, that remained in service until the 1980s. The combination of a steam boiler, heavy steam winch, and cable hook could little be improved upon. Also, steam engines did not mind being parked for months, with a little care, in the 1980s big, hydraulic controlled diesel cranes appeared. Also, these cranes had the ability to travel on the highway so as to better able to get to the scene of an accident and they are much more mobile, and are able to manoeuvre around an accident scene, better than a crane only limited to rail access
21.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
22.
Autorack
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An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors. Amtrak also uses them on its Auto Train route, which carries passengers, in the early 20th century, when automobiles were still new technology, their production levels were low enough that they could be shipped in sufficient quantities in boxcars. Two to four automobiles would usually fit into one boxcar, but as the automobile industry grew in size, railroads found that they needed to modify the boxcars for more efficient loading. Some modifications included longer boxcars, larger sliding double doors located near one end of the boxcar. These modifications helped, but the demand for new automobiles outpaced the railroads abilities to build, the concept was not perfected and therefore failed to gain acceptance. In the 1940s and 1950s, some railroads experimented with automobile-loading assemblies that would lift one or more automobiles above others within a boxcar, by this time, in the United States, most circuses still traveled by rail. The circus solution to loading vehicles was to use a string of flatcars and this type of vehicle loading became known as circus style due to its frequent use by circuses. In the 1950s, most railroads took the cue from circuses, but, loading even up to six automobiles onto one flat car left a large amount of space above the vehicles that was unused. The natural solution was to take the temporary assemblies that were used to stack and load vehicles within boxcars, the assemblies, also called racks, created two levels on which automobiles could be loaded. To complete the flatcar, foldaway bridges were added to the ends of the decks to allow the vehicles to be driven the entire length of a train for loading. Such flatcars eliminated the need for specialized equipment to load and unload boxcar racks, all they needed now was a ramp at the right height. In the mid-1950s, in Germany, Volkswagen Beetle production was increasing beyond the capacity of highway trucks, Volkswagen engineers worked with German railroads to design a railroad car that was basically an extra long version of a vehicle hauling trailer. The design they came up with was able to carry 10 vehicles on one car, vWs two-level flatcar design effectively became the first autorack, entering service circa 1954. Two prototype units were constructed and mounted on conventional 53 ft flat cars for field testing, NYC500085 carried a semi-streamlined rack, while UP5800 had a more utilitarian rack mounted. Neither design went into commercial production, in late 1957, Canadian National introduced an innovative group of bi-level auto carriers. These CN cars were similar to conventional boxcars, except they had a second floor and they were huge by the standards of the time, the cars were 75 ft long and could carry eight vehicles. These cars were a big success and helped lead to the development of todays enclosed auto racks, eight to ten autos could be carried per flat car in this manner. By 1960 several U. S. railroads were handling new automobiles in this way, including the CB&Q, C&NW, CRIP, D&H, D&RGW, ERIE/EL, GN, KCS, L&N, MILW, MKT, MP/TP, NP, SL-SF, SP, SSW, WAB and UP
23.
Boxcar
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A boxcar is a North American railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, boxcars have side doors of varying size and operation, and some include end doors and adjustable bulkheads to load very large items. Similar covered freight cars outside North America are covered wagons and, depending on the region, are called goods van, louvre van. Boxcars can carry most kinds of freight, originally they were hand-loaded, but in more recent years mechanical assistance such as forklifts have been used to load and empty them faster. Their generalized design is still slower to load and unload than specialized designs of car, the other cause for this decline is the dramatic shift of waterborne cargo transport to container shipping. Even loose loads such as coal, grain and ore can be carried in a boxcar with boards over the door openings. Later grain transport would use metal reinforced cardboard which was nailed over the door and this was more common in earlier days, it was susceptible to losing much loading during the journey, and damaged the boxcar. It was also impossible to load and unload. Grain can also be transported in boxcars designed specifically for purpose, specialized equipment. However grain is transported in covered hopper cars. Livestock can be transported in a boxcar, but there is insufficient ventilation in warm weather, specially-built stock cars or converted boxcars are preferable. Insulated boxcars are used for types of perishable loads that do not require the precise temperature control provided by a refrigerator car. Circuses used boxcars to transport their workers, supplies, and animals to get from town to town, box cars were used for bulk commodities such as coal, particularly in the Midwestern United States in the early 20th century. This use was widespread that several companies developed competing box-car loaders to automate coal loading. By 1905,350 to 400 such machines were in use, historically automobiles were carried in boxcars, but during the 1960s specially built autoracks took over, these carried more cars in the same space and were easier to load and unload. The automotive parts business, however, has always been a big user of the boxcar, special boxcars carry newsprint paper and other damage-sensitive cargo. While not holding the dominant position in the world of rail borne freight that they had before World War II, the most common boxcars are 50-6 to 60-9 in length, 9-4 to 9-6 wide, and 10-10 to 11 high. A hi-roof boxcar is 13 in height, corresponding exterior dimensions would be 55-5 to 67-11 in length, and 10-6 to 10-8 in width
24.
British Railway Milk Tank Wagon
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Milk tank wagons were a common sight on railways in the United Kingdom from the early 1930s to the late 1960s. Often, the milk was delivered direct from the farmer to the railway station in milk churns. Under the milk churn system, the steel churn had been owned either by the farmer or the dairy, the first designs were introduced by the GWR and the LMS in 1927, followed a year later by the LNER. The GWR later trialled the idea, and some tanks were redeployed to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, the initial milk tank wagon designs were based on a 12-foot two axle railway wagon chassis. All designs unlike typical goods wagons used vacuum braking, due to their high-speed deployment, the various designs that railway companies used followed a common pattern, but even at this early stage differences appeared making them easy to spot. While GWR designs used flat-strip metal as bracing, LMS and SR designs used rounded steel bracing, SR designs had additional V-shaped support bracing either end, and had additional wooden packing behind each of the buffers. LMS designs had a catwalk around the filling dome, early tank design had no baffles, meaning that the milk self-churned during the journey, and made the wagon highly unstable. The last of the design were withdrawn pre-World War II, while three-axle designs continued in production under British Railways into the early 1950s. Later, limited production twin-tank designs were introduced, all based on triple-axle chassis, more common on the GWR, they were also used by the SR for transport of dairy products from the Channel Islands that came in via Southampton Docks. Twin-tanks allowed the collection from smaller dairies of both premium gold-top, as well as other silver-top products. In total, across all four companies, some 600 three-axle milk tank wagons were produced. Each railway company applied its own logo and number to the chassis, while each dairy applied its own separate colouring, fleet number and labelling to the carried milk tank. The wagons as out-shopped from various works were highly decorated - often to show both cleanliness, good hygiene, and as a travelling advertising board. Early designs had an amount of labelling, mentioning insulation, hygienic glass lining. The resultant wagons were very clean by both the dairies, and the handling railway companies. After the Milk Marketing Board was created in 1933, in 1942 during World War II they took control of all milk transport. Only when the wagons needed a repaint, did the MMB apply a standard branded design of silver-grey with MMB MILK embossed in 4 feet high black letters externally, some of the last MMB designs used a blue tank colour with white lettering. Hence, many of the private owner wagons designs survived well into British Railways ownership, in a now faded
25.
Coil car
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Coil cars are a specialized type of rolling stock designed for the transport of coils of sheet metal, particularly steel. They are considered a subtype of the car, though they bear little resemblance to a typical gondola. Prior to the invention of this type, coils of steel were carried on end or in cradles in open or covered gondolas. Load shifting, damage, and awkward loading and unloading were all problems, and since so much sheet steel is transported and these cars started to appear in the 1960s. Early examples include the Pennsylvania Railroad G40 and G41 class cars, the body of a coil car consists of a trough or series of troughs. Most commonly these run lengthwise, but there are transverse variants as well, the coils are set on their sides in the trough, and stops may be applied across the trough to keep the coils from shifting. The cars are equipped with hoods to cover the load, some cars use a single hood, but more commonly a pair of hoods is provided. Each hood has a point at its center, and often has brackets on the top at the corners in order to allow the hoods to be stacked when not in use. The hoods are largely interchangeable and it is common to see a car with mismatched hoods, wagon with opening roof CN187186 without hoods, showing how car is loaded
26.
Intermodal container
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These containers are known under a number of names, such as simply container, cargo or freight container, ISO container, shipping, sea or ocean container, container van or box, sea or c can. The common heights are 8 feet 6 inches and 9 feet 6 inches – the latter are known as High Cube or Hi-Cube containers, in 2012 there were about 20.5 million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes. Containers have largely supplanted the traditional break bulk cargo – in 2010 containers accounted for 60% of the seaborne trade. The predominant alternative methods of transport carry bulk cargo – whether gaseous, liquid or solid – e. g. by bulk carrier or tank ship, for air freight, the more light-weight IATA-defined unit load device is used. By the 1830s, railways on several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the United Kingdom was one of these. Simple rectangular timber boxes, four to a truck, they were used to convey coal from the Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, early versions of standardized containers were used in Europe before World War II. Construction of these containers had a frame with wooden walls, floor, roof. American containers at this time were not standardized, and these early containers were not yet stackable – neither in the U. S. nor Europe, in November 1932, the first container terminal in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company in Enola, PA. A system was selected for Western Europe, based on the Netherlands system for goods and waste transportation called Laadkisten. This system used roller containers for transport by rail, truck and ship, in various configurations up to 5,500 kg capacity and this became the first post World War II European railway standard of the International Union of Railways – UIC-590, known as pa-Behälter. It was implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the use of standardized steel shipping containers began during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when commercial shipping operators and the US military started developing such units. In 1948 the U. S. Army Transportation Corps developed the Transporter, a rigid, corrugated steel container, able to carry 9,000 pounds. It was 8 ft 6 in long,6 ft 3 in wide, and 6 ft 10 in high, with doors on one end, was mounted on skids. After proving successful in Korea, the Transporter was developed into the Container Express box system in late 1952, cONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements. By 1965 the US military used some 100,000 Conex boxes, making this the first worldwide application of intermodal containers. From 1949 onwards, engineer Keith Tantlinger repeatedly contributed to the development of containers, as well as their handling, steel castings on the top corners provided lifting and securing points. In 1955 trucking magnate Malcom McLean bought Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, to form a container shipping enterprise, the first containers were supplied by Brown, where McLean met Keith Tantlinger, and hired him as vice-president of engineering and research. Under the supervision of Tantlinger, a new 35 ft x 8 ft x 8 ft 6 in Sea-Land container was developed, each container had a frame with eight corner castings that could withstand stacking loads
27.
Covered goods wagon
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A covered goods wagon or van is a railway goods wagon which is designed for the transportation of moisture-susceptible goods and therefore fully enclosed by sides and a fixed roof. They are often referred to simply as covered wagons, and this is the used by the International Union of Railways. Since the introduction of the classification for goods wagons by the UIC in the 1960s a distinction has been drawn between ordinary and special covered wagons. Other types of wagon, such as refrigerated vans and goods wagons with opening roofs, are related to covered wagons from a design point of view. Similar freight cars in North America are boxcars, covered goods wagons for transporting part-load or parcel goods are almost as old as the railway itself. Since then however the wagon and flat wagon have become more common. By contrast the covered goods wagon still forms the majority of two-axled wagons in countries like Germany, during the 1950s the International Union of Railways developed a standard design for covered goods wagons. This has 8 ventilation hatches and is suitable for the transportation of cattle. Since then, European railways have procured covered wagons which at least match the dimensions of this standard. For example, there are wagons with different axle bases or a different number of ventilation hatches, the body is of a mainly wood and steel compound construction. Refrigerated vans were developed, based on the long, twin-axled types. The following table contains details of the UIC ordinary covered wagon according to Behrends because this is the available source with systematic specifications. Other sources may differ in some respects from this, in particular the door height has not been clarified beyond doubt and it is also unclear to what extent the present-day, twin-axled, sliding wall wagons were standardised. The UICs ordinary covered wagon class has rigid, fixed walls with sliding doors on each side, the upper third of the side walls has closable openings of various types. These may be designed as ventilation openings, loading hatches or combined ventilation, today, Class G wagons have been largely superseded by other classes. The transportation of goods that are susceptible to the weather in boxes, sacks. One disadvantage they have is that the side door does not facilitate rapid loading and unloading of large unit loads. The demand for G wagons fell with the use of intermodal freight transport
28.
Covered hopper
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A covered hopper is a railroad freight car designed for carrying dry bulk loads, varying from grain to products such as sand and clay. The cover protects the loads from the weather - dry cement would be hard to unload if mixed with water in transit. However, they are unsuitable for such as fruit or meat - these are transported in refrigerator cars. Similar to a hopper car, covered hoppers tend to contain two to four separated bays. Each of these can be loaded and emptied individually, with access at the top to load the materials, covered hoppers in North American service have been built by most of the freight car manufacturers of the 20th century. Originally, boxcars were used for the transport of bulk materials, not having been specifically designed for this, it was very hard to use any form of bulk material handling to load or unload them. Also, an amount of product was liable to be lost, either during loading or unloading, or in transit - since the cars had to be boarded up, rather than using the doors. Hoppers with bays are used for different purposes, two-bay hoppers are used for the most dense loads, therefore, by trading off cubic capacity, two-bay hoppers are able to transport these heavy loads. As technology has advanced, some of the heavier loads formerly assigned to two-bay hoppers have been assigned to larger, large unit trains of various grain crops are a common sight in North America, reaching up to 125 cars long. These predominantly haul grain from the farming areas of the Great Plains to various markets. These trains may originate from a grain elevator, or may be marshaled in a yard from various locals. The destinations tend to be large flour mills or ports, or they may be split up, the empty cars may return as a whole train, or may be sent back in smaller quantities on manifest trains. These trains are used primarily for hauling products such as corn, wheat and barley
29.
Milk car
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Milk cars are a specialized type of railroad car intended to transport raw milk from collection points near dairy farms to a processing creamery. Some milk cars were intended for loading with multiple cans of milk, milk cars were often equipped with high-speed passenger trucks, passenger-type buffer plates, and train signal and steam lines seldom found on conventional refrigerator cars. Milk has long been a food of agricultural societies. Fresh milk sours quickly if kept warm, railways were used as early as 1840 to rapidly transport fresh milk from farms to cities. Early milk transport was in covered, tin-plated steel cans containing about 10 U. S. gallons, passenger trains typically offered the fastest service, so milk cans might have first been loaded into baggage cars. A farmer would adjust his herd milking schedule to have the milk cans filled shortly before scheduled arrival of the train. Once the handling advantages of a car were recognized, milk cars were built with insulation to reduce warming during transit. A few milk cars were built or retrofitted with mechanical refrigeration following World War II, increased availability of motor vehicles after World War I encouraged bulk transport of milk to minimize inefficient handling, washing and redistribution of milk cans. A standard 46.5 US quarts milk can weighed 27 pounds, farmers needed two sets of milk cans so one might be filled while the other was at the dairy. Early milk cans had been soldered from three pieces, but they were replaced by rolled and molded single-piece cans, which avoided uncleaned cracks in the solder joints. Milk tank cars were first made of glass-lined steel, and later of stainless steel and these tanks were often enclosed for insulation within a car body resembling a boxcar. Milk was shipped from Wisconsin to Florida as a test, caspar Pfaudler invented a method of lining cast iron tanks with glass while working with the brewing industry. The first glass-lined tanks were built by the Dickson Manufacturing Company in 1887, the Boston and Maine Railroad was using a milk car with glass-lined steel tanks in 1910. Pfaudler designed what became a milk car with two 3, 000-US-gallon tanks inside a closed car. Earlier cars featured a roof to replace damaged tanks. Stirring also helped maintain a uniform temperature throughout the tank, large cities in the eastern United States encouraged nearby rural areas to specialize in production of milk, but milk cars were transporting milk up to 300 mi by 1900. Railroads connecting these areas to cities scheduled daily milk trains to pick up loaded milk cars from collection points along their route. These trains sometimes carried a car and a passenger car
30.
Refrigerator car
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A refrigerator car is a refrigerated boxcar, a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars, neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus, reefers can be ice-cooled, come equipped with any one of a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or utilize carbon dioxide as a cooling agent. Milk cars may or may not include a system, but are equipped with high-speed trucks. After the end of the American Civil War, Chicago, Illinois emerged as a railway center for the distribution of livestock raised on the Great Plains to Eastern markets. Driving cattle across the plains also caused tremendous loss, with some animals dying in transit. Costly inefficiencies were inherent in transporting live animals by rail, particularly the fact that about sixty percent of the mass is inedible. The death of animals weakened by the long drive further increased the shipping cost. Meat sought a way to ship dressed meats from his Chicago packing plant to eastern markets, during the mid-19th century, attempts were made to ship agricultural products by rail. The first refrigerated boxcar entered service in June 1851, on the Northern Railroad and this icebox on wheels was a limited success since it was only functional in cold weather. That same year, the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad began shipping butter to Boston in purpose-built freight cars, the first consignment of dressed beef left the Chicago stock yards in 1857 in ordinary boxcars retrofitted with bins filled with ice. Placing meat directly against ice resulted in discoloration and affected the taste, the method proved too limited to be practical. Detroits William Davis patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend the carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. In 1868, he sold the design to George H. Hammond, a Detroit meat packer, the load had the tendency of swinging to one side when the car entered a curve at high speed, and use of the units was discontinued after several derailments. The meat was packed tightly at the bottom of the car to keep the center of gravity low, in 1880 the Peninsular Car Company delivered the first of these units to Swift, and the Swift Refrigerator Line was created. Within a year, the Lines roster had risen to nearly 200 units, competing firms such as Armour and Company quickly followed suit. By 1920, the SRL owned and operated 7,000 of the rail cars. The General American Transportation Corporation would assume ownership of the line in 1930, in the 1870s, the lack of a practical means to refrigerate peaches limited the markets open to Samuel Rumph, a Georgia peach grower. In 1875, he invented a railcar and crates that allowed him to grow peaches on a very large scale
31.
Refrigerated van
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A refrigerated van is a railway goods wagon with cooling equipment. Today they are designated by the International Union of Railways as Class I, the first wagons were cooled with ice that had been cut in winter from special pools or lakes. It was Gustavus Swift who succeed in the winter of 1877 for the first time in developing an efficient cooling system for railway wagons for Chicago businesses and it circulated air through the ice and then through the entire wagon in order to cool it down. This system was the basis of the success of the Union Stock Yard, the cooled wagons made it possible for the first time to transport the meat of slaughtered animals to the whole of the USA. Later, manufactured ice was used, but this gave way to other means of cooling. With the increasing reliability of combustion engines, engine-powered refrigerator vans emerged, there are even vans whose cooling is achieved by the evaporation of liquid gas. Compared with machine-cooled vans, ice-cooled wagons have the disadvantage of uneven temperature control, on the other hand, machine-cooled wagons are expensive to maintain and operate, but can be set to the desired temperature and maintained at that temperature throughout the entire journey. They are also suited to transporting goods at deep-freeze temperatures of around −30 °C, whereas evaporators. These wagons can only operate at temperatures between 0 and +20 °C, where a constant internal temperature is desired, in Asia, Chinese and Kazakh railways are experimenting with using refrigerated rail cars to transport sensitive consumer electronic goods manufactured in China to European markets. The products are transported in climate-controlled rail cars from factory towns in the interior of China to Almaty, Kazakhstan, the use of insulate climate-controlled cars makes it possible for these kinds of goods to be transported by rail even in winter, which had not been done previously. In long-distance trains in the former Eastern Block countries, refrigerator trains were used that comprised a refrigeration plant wagon, most food is transported by road nowadays due to the shorter journey times. The stock of refrigerated vans owned by railway companies has shrunk considerably. Most refrigerated vans in Europe today are operated by Interfrigo and these wagons are easy to tell apart externally, white vans are normal refrigerated wagons, blue ones with white stripes along the side are machine-cooled refrigerator vans. Almost all refrigerated vans currently in service are built to UIC standard classes, the two-axled wagons have the same overall dimensions as the covered goods wagons of classes Gbs or Hbfs. 1) Refrigerated and insulated vans / Refrigerated vans with cooling equipment Refrigerator car Information on the Intercontainer/Interfrigo wagons Refrigerated van from Waggonau Dessau
32.
Roadrailer
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In railroad terminology a Roadrailer or RoadRailer is a highway trailer, or semi-trailer, that is specially equipped for use in railroad intermodal service. The advantage of using roadrailers is their ability to be used directly behind other freight equipment without the use of trailer flatcars, roadrailers first appeared on American railroads in the 1950s. The trailers were built with integrated railroad wheelsets that could be lowered into position when the trailer was pulled behind a train. More modern roadrailers do not include integrated railroad wheels, but ride on regular trucks that do double-duty, each regular truck is equipped with ONE fifth wheel at one end and a connector plate at the other end. The connector plate slides into a receptacle on the rear of the trailer in front and is secured with a steel pin. At the head of a Road Railer train there is a truck equipped with one fifth wheel. Each semi-trailer has one king pin at each end, because the truck is significantly lighter than a rail flatcar or well-car, roadrailer freight trains are much lighter and therefore are more energy efficient than traditional intermodal trains. RoadRailers were built by the Bi-Modal Corporations in the early 1980s located in West Chester Pennsylvania, the trailers were built by the Budd Corporation locally with the integration of the wheelsets and railroad braking system done at the nearby Bi-Modal factory. This was a modern up-date of C&Os Railvan used in the 1950s, the railroad wheelsets attached to the aft portion of the trailer were lowed pneumatically by activating a simple valve controller on the left rear of the trailer. To transfer from highway mode to rail mode the driver would position the trailer over tracks inlaid into a paved rail yard. First the operator would activate the valve to remove the air from the airbags that supported the trailer in the highway mode, in the fully lowered or squat position, hooks which held the railwheel set up above the road surface released. Then the operator would move the valve to inflate the two large airbags used for rail mode and these rail air bags were similar to those used in passenger rail cars at this time. After being fully transferred, the trailer would be fully level, throughout the early 1980s various railroads experimented with the RoadRailer concept to determine if the equipment would be durable enough to endure railroad use. The positive attributes of the RoadRailer were its exceptionally smooth ride, light weight, since no flatcars were involved, no crane systems were needed to transfer the trailers between modes. Another note was that a RoadRailer train did not have a car which at the time was still required for freight trains. A box was designed with a strobe light, and equipment for monitoring air pressure through the brake line was designed to be installed in the unused coupler of the last car. Later, as cabooses were phased out, railroads moved to their current use of a strobe to mark the end of the train. In 1982, Conrail operated a route between Buffalo, Rochester, and Highbridge, New York, called the Empire State Xpress, the concept was to offer customers rapid freight service that would be competitive with traditional over-the-road service
33.
Stock car (rail)
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In railroad terminology, a stock car, cattle car or cattle wagon is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock to market. Specialized types of cars have been built to haul live fish and shellfish and circus animals such as camels. Until the 1880s, when the Mather Stock Car Company and others introduced more humane stock cars, improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced losses. Rail cars have used to transport livestock since the 1830s. The first shipments in the United States were made via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in general purpose, thereafter, and until 1860, the majority of shipments were made in conventional boxcars that had been fitted with open-structured iron-barred doors for ventilation. Some railroads constructed combination cars that could be utilized for carrying both live animals as well as conventional freight loads, driving cattle across the plains led to tremendous weight loss, and a number of animals were typically lost along the way. The suffering of animals in transit as a result of hunger, thirst, increased train speeds reduced overall transit times, though not enough to offset the deleterious conditions the animals were forced to endure. Some of the railroad companies attempted to alleviate the problems by adding passenger cars to the trains that hauled early stock cars. The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company followed this practice as early as 1839, and these early passenger accommodations were the predecessors of the later drovers caboose designs that were used until the mid-20th century. Railroad operating rules for livestock and handlers that rode the trains were limited, as the handlers were private contractors or employees of the shippers. A1948 rulebook for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, for example, wishes of attendants regarding care of livestock should be ascertained and assistance rendered in caring for such shipments. In absence of instructions, hog shipments should be watered as necessary. Particular attention must be given to stock unaccompanied by attendants, most railroads resisted the call for as long as possible from shippers for improvements to cars specifically designed to carry livestock. The railroads generally preferred to use standard boxcars because that type of car proved more versatile in the number of different types of loads it could carry. When the railroads and cattle industry failed to act quickly enough to correct these perceived deficiencies, claims were made that the meat of neglected animals was unfit for human consumption. In 1869, Illinois passed the first laws to limit the time on board. However, double-deck stock cars had been experimented with as early as the 1830s on the Liverpool, other states such as Ohio and Massachusetts soon followed with similar legislation, though effective federal laws were not enacted until the passing of the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. The first patented stock car designs that actually saw use on American railroads were created by Zadok Street, streets designs were first used in 1870 on shipments between Chicago and New York City
34.
Tank car
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A tank car is a type of railroad car or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities. 1869, Wrought iron tanks, with an capacity of 3,500 US gal per car. 1888, Tank-car manufacturers sell units directly to the oil companies,1903, Tank-car companies develop construction safety standards. More than 10,000 tank cars are in operation,1915, A classification system is developed by the tank-car industry to ensure the correct match of car type to product being shipped. Some 50,000 tank cars are in use,1920, Welding replaces riveting in tank-car construction, enhancing the safety of cars. 1930,140,000 tank cars transport some 103 commodities, 1940s, Virtually every tank car is engaged in oil transport in support of the war effort. 1950, Pipelines and tank trucks begin to compete for liquid transport business,1963, The Union Tank Car Company introduces the Whale Belly tank car. Many variants exist due to the variety of liquids and gases transported. Tank cars can be pressurized or non-pressurized, insulated or non-insulated, non-pressurized cars have various fittings on the top and may have fittings on the bottom. Some of the top fittings are covered by a protective housing, pressurized cars have a pressure plate, with all fittings, and a cylindrical protective housing at the top. Loading and unloading are done through the protective housing, Tank cars are specialized pieces of equipment. As an example, the interior of the car may be lined with a material, such as glass, care is taken to ensure that tank contents are compatible with tank construction. As a result of this specialization, tank cars have generally been one-way cars, other cars, like boxcars, can easily be reloaded with other goods for the return trip. Combinations of the two types were attempted, such as boxcars with fluid tanks slung beneath the floors, while the car could certainly carry a load in both directions, the limited tank size made this unsuccessful. A large percentage of cars are owned by companies serviced by railroads instead of the railroads themselves. This can be verified by examining the marks on the cars. These marks invariably end in X, meaning that the owner is not a common carrier, within the rail industry, tank cars are grouped by their type and not by the cargo carried. Food-service tank cars may be lined with steel, glass
35.
Wagon with opening roof
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The wagon with opening roof is a type of railway goods wagon that is, nowadays, defined and standardised by the International Union of Railways as Class T. They are a category of rail vehicle, predominantly used for the transport of hygroscopic bulk commodities such as cement, plaster, lime, potash. To date, there are four different types of wagon with an opening roof and its disadvantage was that the bars to which the lids were attached meant they could only be opened individually. In 1951 the sliding-roof wagon was built, whereby half the area could be opened up. This was achieved by sliding one half of the roof over the other. In 1958 came the swing-roof wagon which enabled the loading area to be opened up by swinging the roof out on the longer side of the wagon. Its disadvantage is that, in variants, the opened roof does not fit within the loading gauge. The latest development is the rolling roof wagon that entered service in 1973 and its plastic rolling roof can be completely rolled up at one end enabling the entire wagon to be loaded from above. The overall design and use of wagons is however governed far more by the configuration of their wagon floors. These features, which are coded by index letters, form the basis of this articles structure. The classic lidded wagon for the transport of bulk goods was only procured by railway authorities in relatively small batches in comparison with other types of goods wagon. They were used by on standard, as well as narrow gauge and their design was based closely on that of contemporary open wagons. They were loaded from above and unloaded, like covered wagons, because unloading involved a lot of manual work, alternatives were already being sought by the 1920s. In the 1950s the self-discharging wagon with roof completely ousted the lidded wagon from its field of operations. The last large batch of lidded wagons was procured by the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1958, sliding-roof wagons were developed for the DB in the 1950s. From a design perspective they were initially just a development of the classic lidded wagon, however, they were no longer intended for bulk goods, but for awkward, moisture-sensitive part-load goods. The latter could be loaded and unloaded vertically by crane, the sliding roof enabling half the length of the wagon floor to be available at one time. Soon the small side doors were replaced by large, sliding sides, for example, the wagons could be loaded at a port directly from the ship by crane, at their destination they could then be unloaded through the side doors
36.
Chaldron
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A chaldron was an English measure of dry volume, mostly used for coal, the word itself is an obsolete spelling of cauldron. The chaldron was used as the measure for coal from the 13th century, measuring by volume being much more practical than weighing low-value and it was not standardized, and there were many different regional chaldrons, the two most important being the Newcastle and London chaldrons. The Newcastle chaldron was used to all coal shipped from Northumberland and Durham. Many attempts have been made to calculate the weight of a Newcastle chaldron as used in medieval and early modern times. A London chaldron, on the hand, was defined as 36 bushels heaped up, each bushel to contain a Winchester bushel and 1 imperial quart. This approximated a weight in coal of around 28 long hundredweight or 3,140 lb or 1,420 kg, the chaldron was the legal limit for horse-drawn coal wagons travelling by road as it was considered that heavier loads would cause too much damage to the roadways. Railways had standard chauldron wagons which were about 10 ft and around 6 ft 3 in high, the value of a chaldron of coal depended on the size of the lumps of coal and also their water content. Unscrupulous merchants would purchase their coal in lumps as large as possible then sell them in smaller sizes and this was abolished by the Weights and Measures Act of 1835, which legislated that from January 1836 coal was only to be sold by weight. Chalder Notes Sources This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chambers, Ephraim. Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, james and John Knapton, et al
37.
Class U special wagon
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The International Union of Railways groups all special classes of railway goods wagon into Class U in its goods wagon classification system. These are, Bulk goods wagons for transporting powders, etc, between 1964 and 1979 bulk goods wagons for liquid and gaseous materials were included in Class U before being reclassified in 1980 as Class Z. The powder wagon is a form of bulk goods wagon designed to transport goods in powder form. These wagons are pneumatically unloaded, usually by using compressed air, for goods that might react with oxygen in the compressed air, nitrogen is used instead. These wagons are used for commodities, such as cement, that are so fine-grained they cannot be poured, or at least do not pour very well. Under the UIC system they are given the category letter U, the do not normally have their own compressors but must be unloaded using external equipment. This group has a variety of different types of wagon that range from the two-axle well wagon to the 36-axle Schnabel wagon. The current designation for all well wagons is Ui, which can be supplemented as necessary by the letters a, aa, k. The load limits on low-loading wagons are not indicated by letters, the former German wagon classes were St and SSt. In 1998 the Deutsche Bahn had a total of 180 well wagons of 43 different types and they are used to move very large and heavy goods that would exceed the loading gauge on flat wagons. Such loads typically include, combine harvesters, generators or narrow gauge vehicles, the largest low-loading wagons are designed as Schnabel wagons, made from two completely separate sections. Each section rests on multiple-axle bogies or groups of bogies, the two sections each support a beak-shaped carrying arm which, in turn, supports one side of a low-loading platform or is directly fixed to the outsize load to be transported. In the latter case the load becomes temporarily part of the vehicle itself, the wagons have hydraulic equipment with which the load can be raised or lowered in order to manoeuvre it past obstacles. There are about 30 examples of Schnabel wagon in Europe, North America, typical loads for these vehicles are large boilers for power stations, turbine components or power station transformers. Due to their weight and outsize dimensions these goods are not usually transported in normal goods trains. Whenever transportation restrictions arise with a wagon and its due to its weight and size, it is designated as an abnormal load. When the vehicle is unladen the two carrying arms are joined directly to one another, the wagon can travel in goods trains at normal speeds. The Class Uaai low-loading wagon with special equipment is marketed Europe-wide exclusively by the heavy load department, Heavy Cargo + Service, a range of funnel-shaped self-discharging wagons is also classed as special wagons
38.
Conflat
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Conflat is a United Kingdom railway term for a short wheelbase container wagon. British Railways used several types of wagon. Conflat is the code within the Great Western Railways coding of railway wagons for a container wagon. The wagons were removed from service when more modern containers came into use, model Railway Site featuring some detail on Conflats
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Well car
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A well car, also known as a double-stack car or stack car, is a type of railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal containers used in intermodal freight transport. The well is a section which sits close to the rails between the wheel trucks of the car, allowing a container to be carried lower than on a traditional flatcar. This makes it possible to carry a stack of two containers per unit on railway lines wherever the loading gauge assures sufficient clearance, the top container is secured to the bottom container either by a bulkhead built into the car, or through the use of inter-box connectors. Four IBCs are needed per wellcar, advantages to using well cars include increased stability due to the lower center of gravity of the load, lower tare weight, and in the case of articulated units, reduced slack action. Double-stack cars are most common in North America where intermodal traffic is heavy and electrification is less widespread, southern Pacific Railroad, along with Malcom McLean, came up with the idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977. SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year and that same year, the first all double stack train left Los Angeles for South Kearny, New Jersey, under the name of Stacktrain rail service. Along the way the train transferred from the UP to CNW, each unit of a double-stack car is constructed with a single well, but are often constructed with multiple units of three to five units, connected by articulated connectors. Articulated connectors are supported by the centerplate of a single truck, also, in a number of cases, multiple single-well cars are connected by drawbars and share a single reporting mark. On both types of cars, the units are typically distinguished by letters, with the unit on one end being the A unit. Middle units are labeled starting with C, and going up to E for five-unit cars starting from the A unit, double-stack cars come in a number of sizes, related to the standard sizes of the containers they are designed to carry. Well lengths of 40 ft,48 ft and 53 ft are most common, a number of 45 ft wells and 56 ft wells also exist. On 40,45,48, or 53 cars, larger containers are placed on top of smaller containers that fit in the available wells to efficiently use all available space. All wells are also capable of carrying two 20 ft ISO containers in the bottom position, some double-stack cars have been also equipped with hitches which allow them to carry semi-trailers as well as containers. These are known as all-purpose well cars, foreign intermodal trains carry 20s, 40s, 45s and 53 foot containers to and from coastal container ports to import or export intercontinentally. Domestic intermodal trains carry 53 foot containers plus trailer-on-flatcar and they travel throughout North America, econo Stack well cars are a variation of conventional well cars and their main purpose is to give the double stacked containers more support. The down side to them is they do not allow 53 containers to be stacked on top, australia - double stack trains operate between Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Parkes, NSW6.5 m clearances. China - using double stacked container trains under 25 kV AC overhead lines, india - Mundra Port operates double stack diesel trains on 1,676 mm gauge using flat wagons. Experiments for double stacking under 25 kV AC overhead lines have begun because of given by Japan
40.
Flatcar
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A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks or bogies, one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry heavy or extra large loads are mounted on a pair of bogeys under each end. The deck of the car can be wood or steel, flatcars designed for carrying machinery have sliding chain assemblies recessed in the deck. Flatcars are used for loads that are too large or cumbersome to load in enclosed cars such as boxcars and they are also often used to transport intermodal containers or trailers as part of intermodal freight transport shipping. Aircraft parts were hauled via conventional freight cars beginning in World War II, the Sky Box consists of a two-piece metal shell that is placed atop a standard flatcar to support and protect wing and tail assemblies and fuselage sections in transit. Boeing 737 aircraft have been shipped throughout the United States on special trains, bulkhead flatcars are designed with sturdy end-walls to prevent loads from shifting past the ends of the car. Loads typically carried are pipe, steel slabs, utility poles and lumber, though lumber, bulkheads are typically lightweight when empty. An empty bulkhead on a train puts it at a speed restriction to go no more than 50 MPH, since bulkheads are lightweight when empty, hunting can occur when the car is above 50 MPH. Hunting is the movement of the trucks on a freight car or a locomotive. If the wheels hunt against the rails for a period of time and they must be loaded symmetrically, with half of the payload on one side of the centerbeam and half on the other to avoid tipping over. Heavy capacity flatcars are designed to carry more than 100 short tons. Loads typically handled include electrical equipment and large industrial production machinery. A circus train is a method of conveyance for circus troupes. Some companies, such as CSX Transportation, have former wood-carrying flatcars rebuilt into platforms which mount remote control equipment for use in operating locomotives, such platforms are fitted with appropriate headlights, horns, and air brake appliances to operate in the leading position on a cut of cars. COFC cars are typically 89 feet long and carry four 20-foot intermodal containers or two 40-foot /45-foot shipping containers, with the rise of intermodal freight transport-specific cars, and given the age of most of these flats, numbers will decline over the next several years. Indeed, when the first well cars appeared, allowing double stacking, the few new build container flats are identifiable by their lack of decking, welded steel frame, and standard 89-foot length. One variant is the 50-foot car, these are actually re-built old boxcars, common reporting marks are FEC, CP, SOO and KTTX. The ATTX cars, which feature no spark grips and sides, are built for hauling dangerous goods, a TOFC car once again, is usually an 89 ft car
41.
Flat wagon
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Flat wagons, as classified by the International Union of Railways, are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck and little or no superstructure. By contrast, open wagons have high side and end walls and covered goods wagons have a fixed roof, flat wagons are often designed for the transportation of goods that are not weather-sensitive. Some flat wagons are able to be covered completely by tarpaulins or hoods and are suitable for the transport of weather-sensitive goods. Unlike a goods wagon with opening roof, the area of a flat is entirely open. Gravel, sand and other goods are transported on flat wagons with side panels. Flat wagons are classified by the UIC into, Ordinary goods wagons with category letters K, O and R, within both types of flat wagon, there are variants with separate axles as well as bogie wagons. In addition numerous other terms are used to classify flat wagons according to their purpose, attempts by the International Union of Railways to standardise flat wagons go back to the 1950s. These efforts led to the establishment of characteristics for so-called standard wagons, since the end of 1977, flat wagons that partially conform to these guidelines are identified by the designation UIC. Flat beds that comply fully with the leaflets, and are therefore true UIC standard wagons, are given the designation UIS St. The Class K flats were originally one of the largest families of goods wagons, not least in Germany, the bulk of their work has since been taken over by special flat wagons. By 1998, DB only had 10,000 of this type left. The majority of ordinary two-axle flat beds built since the 1950s were those with folding sides and short swivelling stanchions of UIC type 1 with, at least in Germany, in recent years new K wagons have been developed. These have fixed ends and a cover and are therefore also suitable for hygroscopic goods. Their designation is Kils, based on the UIC classification of goods wagons, as a rule, L wagons do not have stanchions. The UIC has standardised three types of L wagon, the Class Lgss being based heavily on the Class Ks, The standard mixed open flat wagon group has folding sides, stanchions, most types have short, removable, swivelling stanchions. They are especially suited to the transport of long steel elements, building materials, machines, in the 1990s, the DB purchased Class R wagons with long, sturdy, light metal stanchions and high end walls for the increasing amount of log transport required. In 1998, the DB had about 17,000 R wagons in service, the UIC has specified two standard R wagons, both of which are very common e. g. in Germany. In the mid-1970s there was a switchover to newly built wagons with foldable sides and this is the largest group of flat wagons both in terms of variety and numbers
42.
Gondola (rail)
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In US railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-topped rail vehicle used for transporting loose bulk materials. Because of their low side walls gondolas are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargos as steel plates or coils, or of bulky items such as prefabricated sections of rail track. Before the opening of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, since timber was an abundant resource, flat boats, called gondolas, were constructed to navigate the black diamonds down river to markets around Washington, DC. There, both the boat and cargo were sold and the boatmen returned home by foot, the railroad cars first employed in the haulage of coal were thus named after these shallow-draft boats called gondola cars. Early gondola cars typically had low sides and their contents had to be shoveled out by hand, and they took a long time to unload. In 1905, the Ralston Steel Car Company patented a flat bottom gondola with lever operated chutes that allowed the gondola to be unloaded automatically from the bottom, the chutes would direct the contents of the gondola to the sides. This coincided with the switch from wood to steel freight cars, an open railroad car with a tipping trough, often found in mines. Known in the UK as a tippler or chaldron wagon and in the US as a mine car, the first railway bulk-cargo gondolas, indeed the first freight wagons, were the chaldron cars of the early coal-carrying plateways. These were relatively short in length and tall in proportion, with a body that widened upwards. Once locomotive haulage began, the unstable and top-heavy nature of design became a problem with increasing speeds. The chaldron shape survived in a few cases, such as low-speed working around a large factory sites including steelworks, in the second half of the 20th century, coal haulage shifted from open hopper cars to high-sided gondolas. Using a gondola, the railroads are able to haul a larger amount of coal per car since gondolas do not include the equipment needed for unloading. However, since cars do not have hatches for unloading the products shipped in them. The term bathtub refers to the shape of the car, double Stack Intermodal Cars-Freight Origins of name in railroad use In Australia these wagons are called open wagons. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #72312 — photos and short history of an example of a steel, four-axle, solid bottom, fixed end. Guide to Railcarsdead link] Rail car manufacturing Flexiwaggon
43.
Minecart
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The minecart or mine cart is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Shaped like large, rectangular buckets, minecarts ride on metal tracks and were pushed or pulled by men. These were also used to pull trains transporting miners to the workfaces, minecarts range in size and usage, and are usually made of steel for hauling ore. Throughout the world, there are different titles for such carts, in South Africa, for instance, a minecart is referred to as a cocopan. In Great Britain, restored mine carts containing floral displays can commonly be seen on village greens and outside pubs in former mining areas such as Northumberland. Mine carts were an important source of transportation of ore. In Wales, UK, minecarts are known as drams, in the U. S. and elsewhere the term skip is used. Minecarts were very important in the history of technology because they evolved into railroad cars, minecarts have been depicted as a type of thrill ride, for instance Indiana Jones uses one in an escape scene. A minecart is also featured in Hoodwinked, minecarts and tracks can be crafted by the player in Minecraft and used for transportation. They are also found in abandoned mineshafts that generate naturally as a part of the procedural generation. Mine car Corf Media related to Mining carts at Wikimedia Commons
44.
Mineral wagon
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A mineral wagon or coal truck is a small open-topped railway goods wagon used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to carry coal, ores and other mine products. When the railways originated in the United Kingdom, the initial rules, hence the railway companies provided the track and locomotives, whilst the transporter for bulk goods provided both the goods and the carrying vehicle. The result was a proliferation of private owner wagons, and growth in wagon makers, but with few rules except that demanded by the railway companies, wagons were mostly specified by agreement between the wagon manufacturer and the transporting customer. The original goods wagons - with many based on farm carts. The wagons had no driver operated train brakes, but were equipped with independent hand-operated brakes, the railway companies had no control over the maintenance or design of private owner wagons but were legally obliged to operate them. To combat these issues the Railway Clearing House introduced minimum standards for private owner wagons in 1887, Wagons that complied with the standards carried a plate saying RCH. The result was a cheap sturdy wagon, and one damaged was easily repaired. Those from Roberts had sloping sides, and both companies a combination of riveted or welded construction, the basic wagon had numerous variants. On creation of British Rail in 1948 - which took control of all railway assets, officially termed MCO/MCV 16t Mineral Wagons, they were all given a B prefix in their 5-figure numbering. Overhauled by their manufacturers, they were subsequently given numbers in the B19xxxx-series. All were withdrawn by the end of the 1960s, the basic BR-commissioned variant stayed true to the MoT original specification, except they had linked Moreton brakes, using either welded, or riveted body construction. The most common variant was an opening flap above both of the side doors. Known as a London Traders flap, there are conflicting ideas about its function, BR through various large orders eventually brought the total number of wagons to over 300,000. This included a late-1950s order towards the end of their construction, re-bodying occurred throughout the wagons service with BR, until the end of their service in the late 1970s. This mainly resulted in a replacement steel body, often of a simpler design, but in 1975 under lot number 3863,394 former Palbrick wagons which were originally built on an extended 10 feet chassis were re-bodied, and then renumbered B596000 - B596393. BR eventually developed a 21 long tons version, which was a 16T wagon with extended wheel base, under TOPS, the remaining wagons were allocated codes MCO and MCV for those with clasp brakes, and from 1981 code MXV for those with push brakes. In BR days there were unfitted mineral trains run at express speed, locally known as the Annesley Cutters or Windcutters. These trains have been recreated on the preserved Great Central Railway, whilst there were many equivalent empty wagon trains run by the Midland/ LMS/ BR LM Region, they were never run at express speeds, nor did they attract any nickname such as Windcutters
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Open wagon
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Open wagons form a large group of railway goods wagons designed primarily for the transportation of bulk goods that are not moisture-retentive and can usually be tipped, dumped or shovelled. The International Union of Railways distinguishes between ordinary wagons and special wagons, open wagons often form a significant part of a railway companys goods wagon fleet, for example, forming just under 40% of the Deutsche Bahns total goods wagon stock in Germany. Since the 1960s, the majority of goods wagons procured by European railway administrations have been built to standards laid down by, or based on, in addition to open wagons the table also shows wagons with opening roofs, whose design is based on open wagons. These wagons have a floor and solid sides with at least one door on each side. They are mainly used for transporting goods, coal, scrap, steel, wood. The majority of wagons have folding sides and end walls, otherwise they are given the letters l or o, wagons may have one or two folding end walls. Steel rings enable ropes, nets or covers to be attached to secure the load, some of these wagons can also be completely tipped over, in other words, at certain places they can be lifted up and emptied by being turned about their longitudinal axis. This requires a very robust underframe, sometimes the wagons are fitted with rotatable couplings so that they do not have to be individually uncoupled. In 1998 the DB had about 16,000 four-axle Class E wagons and they have increasingly retired their twin-axled E wagons since the 1990s and they are now rarely seen. In addition to hopper and saddle-bottomed wagons there were also wagons with opening roofs, typical loads for these wagons are all sorts of bulk goods, like coal, coke, ore, sand or gravel. Hopper wagons can only be unloaded by gravity with no external assistance and are also classed as self-discharging wagons. The majority may be filled, when at rail or road level, because a controlled amount of the load can be discharged at any place the wagons may be sent anywhere and are even used individually. Railway companies also use hoppers as departmental wagons in maintenance of way trains for ballasting the track, since the 1990s there has been a trend for new hopper wagons to be built as bogie wagons which have not yet been standardised by the UIC. Saddle-bottomed wagons are large-volume hoppers are exclusively unloaded by gravity and are classed as self-discharging hoppers. Unlike normal hopper wagons, however, their discharge cannot be controlled, to unload the flaps on the side swing out allowing the load to empty. This is aided by the floor slopes downwards on both sides like a gable roof. The discharging chutes on either side are high up. These wagons are frequently seen in unit trains for transporting goods such as coal or mineral ore from mines or ports to steelworks or power stations
