The following shows the main loading gauges in use in mainland Europe, compared with Britain:
The locomotive in this picture is to the maximum British loading gauge (other than the HS1 high speed line to the Channel Tunnel, which is built to the standard European loading gauge), while outside of that can be seen the loading gauges to be found in various countries in mainland Europe. North American loading gauges are considerably larger still.
Perhaps the most extreme examples of these loading gauge differences can be shown by comparing a Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’ steam locomotive (acknowledged as the largest railway locomotives ever built) and a London deep level Tube train side by side.
Both may travel on the same 1435 mm gauge tracks, but the Big Boy is certainly suited only to the wide open spaces of North America.
Some years ago, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York did have a Big Boy on display. While it could sit on the Standard gauge tracks within the Museum confines, its loading gauge was far too big to allow it to travel on British rails beyond these confines, so transporting it to York and then hoisting it on to – and subsequently off – the Museum’s internal rail network must have been quite an achievement – the empty weight of the locomotive, without tender, is around 345 t, while the tender added another 155 t.
(Today, the NRM has a Chinese KF Class 4-8-4 steam locomotive in its collection, donated by China a few years ago – see photo below. As can be seen, while it too sits on 1435 mm gauge rails, and is a bit smaller than the Big Boy, nonetheless it towers well above the British locomotives on the adjacent tracks. Like with the Big Boy, getting it to the NRM constituted a huge challenge, with travel to the NRM by road, not rail.)
While the American Union Pacific Big Boy may be the largest locomotive built, it is not the largest railway vehicle, in terms of physical dimensions, that is in normal service. That record belongs to the double deck Eurotunnel le Shuttle trains running through the Channel Tunnel.
As can be seen in the above picture, the Shuttle vehicle transporter wagons tower well above and extend outwards well beyond the Bo-Bo-Bo locomotives, which in themselves are no lightweights (they are the most powerful locomotives in the world, and each one is capable of hauling 2400 t). Because of their huge size, neither the locomotives nor the transporter wagons (some 4.1 m wide by 5.6 m tall – the maximum permitted height on a British train is just over 3.6 m) can run beyond the confines of the Tunnel and its turning loops each end.
Throughout the following Parts of this book, I’ll make mention of the loading gauge now and then. This Chapter hopefully explains what is meant.
ON TO PART 2…
I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of this seven-part book. Part 2 will embark on our odyssey around the world, and will cover the United Kingdom, Ireland, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe.
If you have any questions or comments, please send your email details to my editor at:
[email protected]
If you are interested in other titles that comprise the Kindle book collection published by Frewston Books Online, please email as above, and we can send you a list of all our titles.
Michael Frewston
© Frewston Books Online 2016.
Gauges and Wheels Page 6
