Goods wagon

Hbillns wagon with sliding sides inITL’s green livery

Commonwealth Oil Corporationgoods wagon in Australia

Goods wagonsorfreight wagons(North America:freight cars),also known asgoods carriages,goods trucks,freight carriagesorfreight trucks,are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation ofcargo.A variety of wagon types are in use to handle different types of goods, but all goods wagons in a regional network typically have standardizedcouplersand other fittings, such as hoses forair brakes,allowing different wagon types to be assembled intotrains.For tracking and identification purposes, goods wagons are generally assigned aunique identifier,typically aUIC wagon number,or in North America, a companyreporting markplus a company specific serial number.

Development

At the beginning of the railway era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four-wheeled(twowheelset) vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively smallcovered wagons,open wagonswith side-boards, andflat wagonswith or without stakes. Over the course of time, an increasing number of specialised wagons were developed.

Special wagons for specific purposes or wagons with special features were already being introduced around 1850 by private companies. Amongst these were tank wagons and numerousrefrigerated vans.In countries like Germany, wagon hire firms procured large numbers of these wagons and hired them to the end users.

In the early days of the railway,goods trainsstill ran at top speeds of only about 20 mph (32 km/h). However, the introduction ofthrough brakesusing air pipes (such as theKunze-Knorr brakesin Germany) from the 1920s enabled higher speeds to be safely achieved. Modern goods wagons are authorised for speeds up to around 75 mph (121 km/h) and in certain countries, wagons are increasingly equipped withGPSreceivers andtransponderswhich provide location monitoring as required. TheDeutsche Bahn (DB)even has goods wagons cleared for high-speed rail travel at up to 100 mph (160 km/h). Because the braking distance of fast goods trains is longer than the separation between distant and home signals (as are Express Passenger trains), they may only run at high speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) with locomotives on routes with early signalling systems in the driver's cab (LZB,FZBandETCS).

German wagon history

In Europe, the first agreements were struck very early on between the national state railways (Länderbahnen) and private companies for the mutual use of each other's goods wagons. Around 1850, theUnion of German Railway Administrations(Verein Deutscher Eisenbahnverwaltungen) drew up regulations for the standardisation of dimensions and fittings. The formation of the Prussian State Railway Union in 1881 encouraged the emergence of wagon classes built to standardnorms.

One further European milestone was the formation of theGerman State Railway Wagon Associationon 1 April 1909. With the participation of all the German state railways, it created a common pool of goods wagons, which by the end of 1911 had no less than 560,000 wagons. In addition, they all had standardised inscriptions and red-brown livery. In order to standardise future procurements, a total of 11 wagon classes were defined (Sheet nos. A1 to A11). These wagons of the so-called standard class (Verbandsbauart) and subsequent developments from them (theAustauschbauartclass with interchangeable parts) dominated goods traffic in Germany up to theSecond World Warand had a significant impact in many other countries which acquired these wagons either throughwar reparationsor simply because they were left behind by the Germans after the two world wars.

From 1939, wagons were developed primarily from a military point of view and were known as wartime classes (Kriegsbauart). After the war, in East Germany, some pre-war goods wagon classes were given a new lease of life as ‘reconstructed goods wagons’ (Reko-Güterwagen) and continued in service for several more decades.

Since the Union of Private Goods Wagon Companies (Vereinigung der Privatgüterwagen-Interessenten (VPI)) was founded in 1921, the interests of private transport organisations in Germany (including wagon hire firms, goods wagon builders and repair firms, and owners of private sidings) has been jointly represented. The Union has around 100 members who own 50,000 goods wagons. In 2007, they transported 361,000,000t(355,298,556long tons;397,934,383short tons) of goods.Other countries have similar organisations.

European wagon history

Since 1922, the agreement for the mutual use of goods wagons in international traffic (RIV) has regulated the exchange of goods wagons in Europe and the Middle East. In addition, international goods wagon fleets were created in 1953 in Western Europe with theEurop-Verbandand in 1965 in Eastern Europe with the Common Goods Wagon Park (OPW). During the second half of the 20th century, national goods wagon classes in Europe were increasingly replaced byUnion internationale des chemins de fer(UIC) standard wagons. Since 1964, all goods wagons in Germany, for example, have had to be classified using the UIC goods wagon classification system.

North American history

Freight railroads in North America have always been almost entirely privately owned. The separate northern and southern U.S.track gaugeswere unified on June 1, 1886,allowing freight cars to be interchanged throughout the continent. TheSafety Appliance Actof 1893 made air brakes and automatic couplers mandatory on all trains in the United States, effective 1900. TheAssociation of American Railroads(AAR) had its origins in 1872 as theAmerican Railway Association,initially to coordinate time tables. The AAR has developed various standards for freight cars over the years, includingcouplers,loading gauges,reporting marks,interchange rules, and information systems, through itsManual of Standards and Recommended Practicespublications.

Types of goods wagon

The numerous types of goods wagon are categorised here based on their main design features and in accordance with the internationalUICclassification system:

• Open wagons(US/Canada:gondolas) were formerly referred to in Germany asOwagons; today the international standard types are:
  • Open wagons of standard design (UIC ClassE) with at least 85 cm (33.5 in) high walls, with side-doors, and without self-discharging equipment
  • Open wagons of special design (UIC ClassF) – especially self-discharging wagons (see photo) of type Fcs092.
  • Lowmacs
  • Bogie bolster wagon
  • Class U special wagon
  • Pocket wagon
• Covered wagonsor vans (US/Canada:boxcars) have a fixed roof and are mainly used for the transportation of part-load goods or parcels. Today these are divided into:
  • Ordinary classes (UIC ClassG)
  • Special classes (UIC ClassH), which are often distinguished by their large loading volumes.
  • Livestock vans(US/Canada:stock cars) for transporting cattle are no longer used. In Germany they were calledVwagons and were counted as a special class.
• Refrigerated vans(ClassIwagons), formerly known in Germany asTwagons (T = "Thermos" ) – are insulated covered vans which are either cooled by a cooling medium such as water ordry icelike conventional refrigerated vans, or are machine-cooled wagons with their own cooling system.
• Flat wagons(US:flatcars) have no walls or low walls no higher than 60 cm (23.6 in). Today these include wagons with individual axles in UIC ClassesK(standard) orL(special), bogie wagons of UIC ClassesR(standard) orS(special).
  • Conflats
• Wagon with opening roof
  • Wagons with sliding roof(UIC ClassT) either have a flat wagon floor or equipment for self-discharging.
• Special wagonsof UIC ClassUinclude powder wagons and low-loading wagons
• Tank wagons(UIC ClassZ) are suitable for a wide variety of fluids and gases.
• Spine carsto carryintermodal containers.

Goods wagons for special purposes include:

• Departmental wagonsare used by railway administrations exclusively for their own internal purposes (such as the slag wagons of Class X in Germany which were mainly based on old open wagons of Class O),
• Ferry wagonswith smallerloading gaugesfor traffic travelling toGreat Britain,which were designated with a lower case letterf.
• the rarely mixed open, flat wagons of UIC ClassO,which are equipped with folding sides or stakes and can be used either as flats or as open goods wagons.
• Mineral wagons
• Kiruna Wagons
• Railwaypost vans(Mobile post offices) are not counted as goods wagons.

The UIC's instructions were sometimes interpreted differently by the various railway administrations, so that it could happen that almost identical wagons were grouped into different classes. In addition wagons had occasionally to be reclassified after slight modifications. For example, an E Class wagon can become an F Class simply through welding on a door.

Gallery

• Goods wagon gallery
• 
  Range of goods wagons atKornwestheimmarshalling yard
• 
  The side-discharging Class Fcs092 became the UIC standard for the transportation of coarse-grained goods
• 
  Small covered van on theRhBinSwitzerland
• 
  Semi-traileron aKangourou wagon
• 
  Tank car
• 
  ADRrail maintenance vehicle converted from a formerfreight van
• 
  Presflo bulk cement wagon (UK)

See also

• British Railway Milk Tank Wagon
• Covered goods wagon
• Forty-and-eights
• General Utility Van
• Goods trains
• Goods wagons of welded construction
• List of railway vehicles
• List of rolling stock manufacturers
• Rail ambulance
• Rolling stock
• Types of freight cars- this section ofrailroad car
  contains a list of US freight car types
• UIC classification of goods wagons
• Verbandsbauart

Sources

• The original source for this article is theGerman Wikipedia:Güterwagen

External links

• DB goods wagons with Railion
• Comprehensive goods wagon photo archive
• German goods wagons from 1910 to 1945