Bogie exchange

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Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the rail gauge. It is generally limited to wagons and carriages, though engines can be exchanged if more time is available.

[edit] Wagons and carriages

Wagons can have their gauge changed by lifting them off one set of bogies and putting them back down again on another set of bogies. The pin that centres the bogies and the hoses and fittings for the brakes must be compatible. There needs to be a generous supply of bogies of each gauge to accommodate the ebb and flow of traffic.

The bogies and wagons also need to have standardized hooks, etc, where they may be efficiently lifted.

[edit] Engines

[edit] Steam

Steam engines can be designed for more than one gauge by having reversible wheel hubs that suit two alternative gauge. This was done in the 1930s and beyond in Victoria for possible gauge conversion, though no engines were ever converted in this manner. Some 1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜ in) Garratt locomotives of East Africa were designed for easy conversion to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge.

[edit] Diesel

Diesel locomotives have bogies like wagons and carriages, only with more cables for the traction motors and take a little longer to convert. In Australia, some classes of diesel locomotives are regularly gauge-converted to suit traffic requirements on the 1435 mm, 1600 mm and 1067 mm networks.

[edit] Raising or lowering

[edit] Raise

The simplest way to carry out bogie exchange is the lift the wagons off the wheels and replace them back on new bogies. This may require the wagons in a train to be uncoupled, and continuous brakes disconnected. As the bogies are swung out of the way, they sway, which wastes time settling them down.

[edit] Lower

A cleverer way of carrying out bogie exchange is to lower the bogies onto a trolley in a pit, after which the trolleys are rolled out of the way and others return. This keeps the train couplings and continuous brakes connected. In addition, the bogies never need leave a solid surface, so that they can be wheeled in and out more quickly. This method was used at Adelaide. ^[1]

[edit] International

[edit] Argentina

Between 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge and 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)

[edit] Australia

Between 1961 and 1995, Australia had five bogie exchange centres, which opened and closed as gauge conversion work proceeded. The gauges served were 1435 mm and 1600 mm, though the 1067 mm Queensland did acquire 100 bogie-exchange compatible QLX wagons just in case. All the wagons involved had wagon codes ending in "X", such as VLX.

The centres were:

Dynon, Melbourne, Victoria
Wodonga near Albury on state border.
Port Pirie, South Australia
Peterborough, South Australia
Dry Creek, Adelaide, South Australia - the youngest and most modern. ^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

[edit] Bolivia

Bogie exchange used between 762 mm and 1000 mm gauge on the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia Railway.

[edit] Canada

Between 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge and the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge of the former Newfoundland Railway (Terra Transport) at Port aux Basques

[edit] China

Bogies exchange operation in Ussuriisk (near Vladivostok) at the Chinese–Russian border

A bogie exchange station exist at the Chinese border to Mongolia. Both the Moscow-Peking passenger train (Trans-Siberian) and freight trains get their bogies exchanged. Mongolia has Russian gauge (1520 mm), China has 1435 mm.

[edit] Finland

A bogie exchange station exist in the port of Turku. Freight cars get their bogies exchanged. Train ferries go from Germany and Sweden. They carry no passenger trains, and passengers must walk on and off ferries, and need a bus transfer to the railway station. Finland has Russian gauge.