Transporter wagon#Transporter flatcar

Transporter wagons were used extensively for a great many years in Germany, Austria (gauge {{track gauge|760mm|disp=or}}), Switzerland ({{track gauge|1000mm|disp=or}} Brünigbahn) and Sweden (gauges {{track gauge|802mm|disp=or}}, {{track gauge|891mm|disp=or}}, and {{track gauge|1067mm|disp=or}}). This was a boon especially to exchange traffic on the extensive Swedish {{Track gauge|891mm|lk=on}} network, which once comprised almost {{convert|2000|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} - in fact a number of local country areas in southern Sweden had nearly no {{track gauge|sg|allk=on}} lines at all, just narrow gauge ones. On the other hand, Rollböcke were not much used there.

An interesting development of the original transporter wagon concept (with bar couplers between each wagon) was that the bar couplers were discarded in favour of connecting all standard gauge wagons directly with each other by means of their ordinary buffers and chain coupler. This was tried for a few years in Sweden just before the last narrow gauge freight lines were closed in the 1980s.

Special adaptors could be employed to couple a set of transporter wagons onto the end of an "ordinary" narrow gauge freight train. Continuous braking was no problem, either, as the train air line could be incorporated into the bar couplers, too.

Judging from early literature,{{which|date=October 2020}} the transporter wagon idea came about in Germany sometime around 1880 or 1890 (where in fact, later, Rollböcke were used a lot more than transporters). Transporter wagons with the unique Heberlein-type friction brake system were in daily use in the old GDR (East Germany) well into the late 1980s.

In Britain, they were introduced to the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway in 1904 by Everard Calthrop, who also introduced them to the Barsi Light Railway in India of 1897. They carried the bulk of the freight traffic on the Leek and Manifold Valley.

Transporter wagons are widely used to get rolling stock including locomotives from gauge-isolated branch lines to main maintenance centres.

The South Australian and Victorian Railways used broad gauge transporter wagons to carry narrow gauge rolling stock and locomotives to workshops and other isolated narrow-gauge sections. In South Australia, these were called crocodile wagons.{{cite book| title=A history of the South Australia Railways| volume=1: The early years| page=214}}

The GWR also had crocodile wagons. One is in the Didcot Railway Centre{{cite web| first=Nick| last=Baxter| url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/25830408@N08/4166640119/ |title=GWR 41934 'Crocodile F' Bogie Well Wagon| website=Flickr |date=2010-04-16 |accessdate=2013-02-02}}

File:Commonwealth Railways narrow-gauge cattle cars on rails laid on standard-gauge flatcars, Stirling North-Marree line, 1955.jpg cattle cars on continuous rails laid on {{Track gauge|sg|allk=on}} flatcars (outback Australia)]]

In 1955, during an intermediate phase of the replacement of the narrow-gauge ({{track gauge|1067mm|disp=or}}) Port Pirie to Marree railway with a standard gauge line, train-lengths of standard-gauge flat wagons were fitted with narrow-gauge rails, allowing narrow-gauge trains carrying coal (from Leigh Creek coalfield), livestock or general freight to travel more quickly by standard gauge on the new, well-engineered alignment. The rails on the flat wagons were continuous, so that the upper train could be rolled on and off in one piece.{{cite book| title=Uniform Railway Gauge| first=Eric| last=Harding| publisher=Lothian Publishing| year=1958| page=14}} The leading wagon on the narrow-gauge train was also secured to anchoring on the front wagon on the standard gauge train.{{cite book| title=Tales from a Railway Odyssey| authorlink=Keith Smith (engineer)| first=Keith A.| last=Smith| page=114}} Air brakes on the narrow-gauge train were connected to the standard-gauge train's air brakes. A narrow-gauge locomotive pushed the narrow-gauge train up an earthen ramp to the deck of the standard gauge train. There were no overhead structures to restrict operation of the trains.

{{main|Train on Train}}

"Train on Train" was a Japan Railways concept, similar to the South Australian scheme above, for hauling narrow-gauge container wagons at speeds of up to {{Convert|200|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} on standard-gauge Shinkansen track through the {{Convert|53.85|km|mi|abbr=on}} long, undersea Seikan Tunnel.{{cite news | script-title=ja:独自の研究開発 人と物流 高速化に活路 |trans-title=Own R&D leading to increased speed| newspaper = Hokkaido Shimbun | location = Japan | language = Japanese | publisher = The Hokkaido Shimbun Press | date = 20 December 2008 | url = http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/cont/shinkansen/45633.html | accessdate = 30 September 2009}}

Between c1900 and c1950 transporter trains were used to carry narrow gauge ({{Track gauge|762mm|disp=or}}) rolling stock between four separate narrow gauge branchlines and the workshops. The main lines were {{Track gauge|1600mm}} gauge. A ramp joined the narrow and broad gauge track end to end in a straight line and the ramp lifted the narrow gauge track by about one metre to the level of the rails on the broad gauge flat waggons.

• Upper Ferntree Gully{{Cite web |url=http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/uftgyd.htm |title=Upper Ferntree Gully |access-date=9 September 2020 |archive-date=12 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412175708/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/uftgyd.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|first=Bill|last=Russell|url=http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/uftgyd.htm|title=Upper Ferntree Gully station yard (track diagram)|website=optusnet.com|date=1997-09-07|accessdate=2020-09-09|archive-date=12 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412175708/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/uftgyd.htm|url-status=dead}} - Gembrook
• Colac{{cite web|last=Russell|first=Bill|url=http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/colac.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040717022635/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/colac.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 July 2004|title=Colac yard (track diagram)|date=1996-09-17|accessdate=2020-09-09}}- Crowes
• Moe{{cite web|last=Russell|first=Bill|url=http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/moe.htm|title=Moe yard (track diagram)|date=1996-09-04|accessdate=2020-09-09|archive-date=3 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403170545/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/moe.htm|url-status=dead}} - Walhalla
• Wangaratta{{cite web|last=Russell|first=Bill|url=http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/wang.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050104234446/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~narrow.gauge/wang.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 January 2005|title=Wangaratta station yard (track diagram)|date=1996-01-01|accessdate=2020-09-09}} - Whitfield
• Newport workshops

{{main|Rollbock}}

Image:Oberheinsdorf Rollbock Detail.jpg

Also common on German and eastern European narrower gauge are transporter trailers, which are small-wheeled full trailers that fit beneath each pair of the wagon's wheels or each bogie of the car and are hauled by a drawbar. These are Rollböcke in German. Some times one long small-wheeled full trailer carries the entire rail car.

Transporter Trains are also used to carry road vehicles such as cars, lorries and buses through long rail tunnels.

For long distance freight transport, trucks with trailers or semi-trailers (without tractor) are loaded on specialized rail vehicles. See articles about

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• Autorack
• Car shuttle train
• car transporter
• Modalohr
• Motorail
• Rolling highway

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• East African Railway Master Plan
• Keith Smith (engineer) - devised transporting vehicles by the trainload in Australia the 1950s
• Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway 1904 used a Rollbock like wagon.
• Padarn Railway
• Piggyback (transportation)
• Weltrol – a standard gauge well wagon for carrying narrow gauge rolling stock; built 1960{{cite magazine|title=Narrow Gauge |magazine=The Railway Magazine| date=July 2011| page=89}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|author=Hilton, George W.|year=1990|title=American Narrow Gauge Railroads|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=0-8047-2369-9}}

{{Commons category|Transporter wagons}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100806230526/http://www.playmerrilytoys.co.uk/product/2698/wooden-car-transporter-train Wooden toy Transporter Train]
• [http://www.worldrailfans.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3217&start=20 WorldRailFans]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_VkDuem0c Lötschberg Tunnel]
• [http://members.ozemail.com.au/~telica/Norway_Hamar_Railway_Museum.html Early Norwegian Transporter waggon - NG on SG (Scroll to end)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821043317/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~telica/Norway_Hamar_Railway_Museum.html |date=21 August 2020 }}

{{Freight cars}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transporter Wagon}}

Category:Freight rolling stock

Category:Track gauges