A Schnabel car or Schnabel wagon is a specialized type of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

freight car A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

. It is designed to carry heavy and oversized loads in such a way that the load makes up part of the car. The load is suspended between the two ends of the cars by lifting arms; the lifting arms are connected to an assembly of span bolsters that distribute the weight of the load and the lifting arm over many wheels. When a Schnabel car is empty, the two lifting arms are connected to one another and the car can usually operate at normal freight train speeds. Some Schnabel cars include hydraulic equipment that will either lift or horizontally shift the load while in transit (at very low speeds) to clear obstructions along the car's route. As of 2012, there were 31 Schnabel cars operating in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, 30 in North America, 25 in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, and one in Australia.

Gallery

Image:Tragschnabelwagen mit Transformator (8789).jpg,

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

Schnabel car with an electrical transformer near Koblenz in May 2009 Image:JRF Shiki810-2.jpg, Two Schnabel cars without loads in Japan File:FRM Shiki160.jpg, Empty japanese wagon. File:Db-Uaai687.9-9960005-10.jpg, Many wheels of a German schnabel wagon. File:Db-Uaai687.9-9960005-09.jpg, Arrival of a Schnabel wagon at its destination with a large transformer, the load will now be transported by road on a

lowboy A lowboy is an American collectors term for one type of dressing table, vanity, or duchess ( Australian English).Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching highboy ". It is a small ta ...

. File:Trafotransport.jpg, Onward transportation of the large

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

by road to the electricity substation. File:Ж.Д. транспортёр.jpg, Russian Zh. D.

railway gun A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best-known are ...

at Krasnaya Gorka fort.

Design

The largest Schnabel car in public railroads operation, reporting number WECX 801, was completed in 2012 by Kasgro Railcar for Westinghouse Nuclear and is used in North America primarily to transport reactor containment vessels. It has 36 axles (18 for each half). Each half contains nine

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

which are connected by a complex system of span bolsters. Its

tare Tare or Tares may refer to: * Tare (armour), a leg and groin protector used in a number of Japanese martial arts * Tare (surname), a surname * Tare (tufted grass), a genus of nine species of tufted grasses * Tare, Rwanda * Tare River, in Roman ...

(unloaded) weight is and has a load limit of for a maximum

gross weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar ...

of . WECX 801 has the ability to shift its load vertically and up to laterally on either side of the car's center line. When empty, this car measures long; for comparison, a conventional

boxcar A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

currently operating on North American railroads has a single two-axle truck at each end of the car, measures long and has a capacity of . The train's speed is limited to when WECX 801 is empty, but only when loaded and requires a crew of six operators in addition to the train's crew.

CEBX 800 in North America

The second largest Schnabel car in service, owned by ABB, bears the CEBX 800 registration, and is used in North America. Built by Krupp AG, it has 36

axles An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...

(18 for each half). Each half has 9

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of tr ...

s linked together by a complex system of span bolsters. Its

tare weight Tare weight , sometimes called unladen weight, is the weight of an empty vehicle or container. By subtracting tare weight from gross weight ( laden weight), one can determine the weight of the goods carried or contained (the net weight). Etym ...

(empty mass) is . When empty, this wagon is long. It can carry a load of long and . By comparison, a classic

has only one bogie with two axles at each end, is about long and carries a load that does not exceed .

History

The word ''Schnabel'' is from German , meaning "carrying-beak-wagon", because of the usually tapered shape of the lifting arms, resembling a bird's

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for fo ...

. In World War II the German used Schnabel cars for transporting the heavy-calibre (54 cm and 60 cm calibre) siege mortars. These were self-propelled with a continuous-track suspension chassis of substantial length to maneuver into a firing position over a short range, but depended on a pair of purpose-designed Schnabel cars for long-range transport by rail. The same system was also used at the same time for the rail transport of the French FCM 2C super-heavy armoured fighting vehicle. In the United States, the first Schnabel car, WECX 200, was built for Westinghouse Nuclear by manufacturer Greenville Steel Car in the 1960s.

Patent history

The Schnabel design was covered under US patent #US 4041879Ahttps://patents.google.com/patent/US4041879A, filed December 1, 1975, issued to Charles R. Cockrell, with Combustion Engineering, Inc. as assignee, now expired.
/ref>

List of selected schnabel wagons

The Class Uaai low-loading wagon with special equipment is marketed Europe-wide exclusively by the heavy load department, ''Heavy Cargo + Service'', of Nuclear Cargo + Service. Domain for sale

References

External links

Schnabel cars
nbsp;– photos and technical information on Schnabel cars used worldwide.

{{freight cars Freight rolling stock