Train Truckers - Immingham to London by road

[Jim K...]

Will it be allowed to move & tamp our track if it isn't?

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Why take a 170ton new special tamping machine all the way from Linz in Austria by rail to catch a ferry all the way to Immingham, and with the eventual destination London - take it by road from Immingham to London?

Why could not have gone by rail, instead of causing chaos on the roads?

Why not deliver it closer to London directly?

[Andy Burns]

when brand new trains are delivered by road on low-loaders, what hope is there for rail freight?

[Robin]

Do you know that it was within our smaller loading gauge?

[Robin]

That'd be after it was unpacked.

[whisky-dave]

This eurostar carraige was being transported down leabridge road oct 2017

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[Martin Brown]

That is the usual reason why such kit has to be moved by road.

Like the Shinkansen going to the York railway museum.

Incidentally what is the limit these days on wide vehicles travelling on motorways and trunk roads before they have to have a "wide load" escort vehicle in attendance. I saw one recently that was significantly wider than a single motorway lane and the only concessions were red/yellow triangles on its bottom rear corners.

It was blocking two lanes as it trundled along the A1(M)at under 50mph.

Oversized portacabin at least 1.5m wider than a single motorway lane (which ISTR is about 3.6m).

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Robin was thinking very hard :

I'm not sure what you were asking there, but from what I gathered...

It was a 170 ton rail tamper intended for Network Rail, in two sections. It had already travelled 700 (?) miles by rail from Linz to the channel ferry port. It was loaded onto a road transport at the ferry port, then onto the ferry to Immingham, off the ferry then by road all the way to west London. No doubt

[charles]

The loading gauge defines the height of the load that can go under our comparatively low rail bridges. It's higher on the continent.

[ARW]

The first accident with a Channel tunnel train/carriage was on Stocks Lane in Barnsley.

[Robin]

Is that "by rail" or "on the rails"? In other word, was it running on its own wheels as it would be when in operation or was it loaded on other stock?

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Robin has brought this to us :

It was towed by a rail engine, on its own wheels.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

charles wrote on 11/10/2019 :

As it was intended for use on the UK's railway lines, I suppose it would be no higher than standard UK height.

[alan_m]

I seem to remember seeing at York railway museum different rail heights/cross sections for high speed trains From memory the rail that the Shinkansen run on was 2x to 3x the height of the standard British track so perhaps the wheels would bottom out on the sleepers or ballast on the UK track

[Steve Walker]

It depends upon which lines it is to be used. Lines have different loading gauges depending upon when they were built and by which company and different permissible axle loadings depending upon the type and "weight" of rail, bridge limits, etc.

Some lines required steam trains (and later diesels) with cut-down cabs compared to the same class of locos used on other lines and locos were/are often prohibited due to their overall weight or axle loads.

All locos and rolling stock have a route availability, which combines axle loading and loading gauge and informs where they can and cannot be used.

It may be possible to send an out of gauge loco or train along a line, but only with accurate measurements beforehand; removal of some structures that are too close to the track; at slow speed and under special instruction and supervision.

Generally though, locos, carriages, etc. are transported by road, because they cannot easily be fitted between the scheduled trains and because it is cheaper!

SteveW

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Steve Walker presented the following explanation :

That might be a possibility, cheaper for the rail companies, but everyone else pays due to the delays and hold ups on the road.

[charles]

If it was goingb to west London, it was probably for HS2. That may well use a 21st Century loading gauge rather than a 19th C one.

[Jim White]

It was going to Plasser and Theurer's West Ealing works for commissioning and handover to Network Rail

Jim

[tim...]

It's a Eurostar train which is quite possibly out of gauge for the rest of the network

tim

[Andy Burns]

It's a class 80x "azuma" which run from Kings Cross to Waverley and Paddington to Bristol (other than knowing that loading gauges exist, I don't know what those trains/routes are classed as)