One of the interesting things in the UK are its railway operations. These are clearly informed by US practice, European UIC practice and what is left of purely British practice but, obviously, everything has to fit within the restricted British loading gauge. Details soon enough give away what rail culture stood at the cradle of any particular vehicle, however. A typical such cross-breed as far as traction is concerned is, for instance, the GM-EMD CT42JWR (class 66) diesel electric locomotive. Designed and built in the US and Canada as an SD40-2 clone for operation in the UK, nowadays these machines can be seen from the Polar circle in Norway and Sweden right through the entire European standard gauge networks (including the UK) all the way to North Africa and Egypt. Just as interesting are British freight vehicles. No one normally takes much notice, but they tell you a lot about their inheritance, especially when you have an opportunity to observe different vehicles that were built to serve the same purpose. What is done in the same way and what is different, based on the different railway cultures from which they sprouted? Travelling back from a meeting in Swindon one day I had an opportunity to photograph a short train of steel coil (rolled up sheet steel) vehicles sitting in the BMW/Mini tracks next to Swindon station. The locomotive dealing with them was (you guessed right) a class 66, on which long ago I did get instructions but never actually drove one. I left Stewart’s Lane depot in South London for Bristol a mite too early for that.
Two Greenbrier, Poland, built steel coil transporters. Design-wise typical US vehicles on what in Europe are called three-piece bogies (trucks) that would not be allowed through the Channel Tunnel on to Continental track. Which isn’t correctly stated, actually, as the Russian version can, by special agreement, be seen in Finland, Poland and Germany. Looking into detail we see that the vehicles are coupled with US AAR couplers, in the UK known as “Buckeye” couplers (the State of Pennsylvania, where around 1875 this coupler was developed by Mr. Eli Janney, is known as the Buckeye State). In Britain this coupler was widely used on passenger rolling stock from just before WWII onward. The simple looking gear to uncouple the equipment can be seen on the left-hand vehicle: a sort of rod with an S-bend and partially painted white, connected to a rod sticking out above the coupler that has a loop at the end and a wire that goes down to the top of the coupler. Pull the white handle and see the loop pull the coupler locking wedge up, therewith unlocking the claw and so uncoupling the two vehicles. No shunter required between them, except to couple up the brake pipe. Please observe that the buffers don’t touch; that would make uncoupling virtually impossible as the coupler jaws would be under stress and could not be unlocked.An American designed vehicle coupled to a French registered UIC vehicle. That wagon sits on the standard UIC Y28 bogies of originally French provenance and has no automatic couplers. As a result the AAR of the US designed vehicle must be turned sideward to expose the European hook for the screw-link coupler. Now the two may be coupled, as clearly is the case here. None too tight, precisely the way it should be. Where the US designed vehicle has rolling metal hoods, that can be seen on certain types of European vehicles as well, the French vehicle has a sliding hood with rolling rungs and a cloth cover to save on vehicle weight. Typical for a UIC vehicle are indications such as the computer number, the RIV owner and vehicle type indications. Long ago this would have been SNCF, the French national railway operator, but is now the underlined F, as even in France private operators are now active. The Sfhimms-u indicates rather precisely the vehicle type, whilst under it we see the CT Channel Tunnel sign to indicate that the vehicle is allowed in trains crossing the Channel Tunnel. The vehicle has ferry hooks, the yellowy-white eyelet under the frame between bogie and buffers, but the ferry sign itself has been removed as no scheduled rail ferries operate between the Continent and the UK any longer. Very obvious are the claws that hold the cloth cover closed. None of these vehicles may ever be moved with loose or open covers, see also the text within the step of the British vehicle.The yellow wheel of the parking brake of a Dutch registered vehicle (NL) with indication that the vehicle is owned by GE Rail Services; the US General Electric Financial services. Ownership of European rail vehicles is rather interesting at times, especially when it is leased to one of the small private railway undertaking that earn a lot more income from short-term provision of wagons to freight train operation undertakings than actually running freight trains on their own network. Also, observe a sticker near the parking brake wheel indicating that the loaded vehicle is not allowed on inclines with a greater angle than maximally 2.6% out of level. Clearly, when rolling along one doesn’t really want to see steel coils or slabs start to move about on their own: accidents due to cargo ending up on the track are well-documented. The yellow handle all the way to the right is the air switch to put the brakes in the freight (slower application) or passenger train (quicker application) setting: it is in the freight setting here. The small oval plate under the ownership sticker is the builders plate. Behind the chicken wire in a little box one finds the destination papers for the cargo.The same sort of indication of a French vehicle in the train: the owner is the well-known French lessor Ermewa SA. In French an indication that the vehicle is leased to CapTrain UK. CapTrain is a Swiss undertaking with among others Belgian roots. In French, to the left, the home base of the vehicle (Gare d’Attache) is indicated as Port Talbot in South Wales, where British Steel or whoever operates them now (I think TaTa Steel from India) and the permitted cargo is “transport de Steel Coils”. How much more international can one get? Interestingly, virtually all these vehicles, whether from US or European descent, are in fact manufactured in Eastern Europe and Turkey. We see the ferryboat lashing hooks and the parking brake hand wheel; the bogie is the standard Y28 of French origin that now is also manufactured in Eastern European nations. The wire between body-frame and bogie-frame to the right of the owner and operator stickers is a static electricity discharge connection.The Dutch registered vehicle. This one is still allowed on train ferries, see the CT indication with the anchor above it. Earlier there would be additional information as to which train ferries could be used, but there hardly are any left these days. The design is clearly German, even if it sits on French designed bogies.Far left the end of a US designed vehicle built in Poland, then a French designed and owned vehicle and to the right a German registered vehicle owned by a US financial institution, both leased to a UK operator. The GE marking is clearly visible on the blue cloth of the hood.Last but not least; Automatic couplers in Europe do by no means only roam the track in the UK: as shown on a picture that by no means could have been made in the UK due to the size of the vehicle involved. Taken at Eschede sidings near Hannover in Germany this is a six-axle self-discharging vehicle of the well-known boxy German pattern. This sort of vehicle has been cruising the rails in Continental Europe from before WWII; I well remember the 3,000 tonne ore trains from Amsterdam and Rotterdam, hauled by four 900 hp class 22/2300 diesel electrics past Oosterbeek. It was hard to miss them, in fact, as the four loco’s could be heard virtually throughout the village. If you were close to the cutting between Arnhem and Oosterbeek on a windless day, it was quite interesting to see the cloud of exhaust gas from the four diesels rise above the edge of the cutting. Truth to be told, I am the proud owner of four N-gauge models of these locomotives and 30 such Fals (at the time, 4-axles) self-dischargers. Will I ever grow up, eh? This vehicle, operated by DB-Cargo that at the time sported the silly name Railion. This was the period that other such silly names like Thalys popped up as well, apparently it was an advertising bureau in Berlin that had this sort of head-scratching creativity as speciality. They let a computer do the job. The wagon, registered in Germany (80 D ) is part of a long block-train operated with Deutsche Bahn (DB) and is empty on its way back to the coast for re-loading. When loaded it is easy to spot this, as the leaf springs of the primary suspension look like chevrons in that case. Interesting is a yellow triangular sign at the left lower edge of the discharge door; it indicates that these vehicles have been fitted with automatic couplers only. Have a look between the vehicles and spot the coupler shank of the coupler of the adjacent vehicle, no buffers to be seen. The electric DB locomotives used in this pool (two class 52 Co’Co’ per train) all are auto-coupler fitted as well. The wagon operating code is Falrrs, the last s indicating that the vehicle is allowed to be operated at 100 km/h or 60 mph. In the UIC grid at the top there is no indication that this vehicle is permitted to come on to other networks without special agreements (CE), for which reasons they can be seen in the port of Rotterdam as well. In such a case the train must have weighted coupler-wagons with buffers either end and the Bo’Bo’ electrics must have multi-voltage (15 kV ac 16.65 HZ, 25 kV ac 50 Hz, 1.5 kV dc) and multi-ATP capabilities to operate under German and Dutch conditions. These trains at present are allowed to be loaded to 5,000 tonnes gross, the heaviest freight trains in Western Europe at the moment, but in case 25 tonne axle-loads and longer trains of 750 metres are permitted the train may be loaded substantially heavier again. Top left on the discharge door the loading regimes can be seen and 03/04 shows 140.5 tonnes, 23.41 tonnes per axle, to be moved at 100 km/h. Empty these sets may be moves at 120 km/h, 75 mph, as shown in the lower box. These cars may not be pushed over the hump (small white sign under the destination grill) and the sign above the auto-coupler triangle I’ve never seen before but it appears to deal with a loading grab. Probably maximum dimensions to avoid basing the vehicle top. These vehicle tops look pretty pristine, incidentally; which indicates loading with chutes rather than grabs.
I am a former driver and active Transport Museology Consultant and Writer. I have an avid interest in anything rail safety related and have published the book "An unexpected end to the Journey" and am in the process of publishing a book on the history and predecessors of the Dutch 1200 class loco.
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Another bit of Ruminating on Railways 