Aldershot Narrow Gauge Suspension Railway
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The Aldershot Narrow Gauge Suspension Railway ( English for Aldershot-Schmalspur- Schwebebahn ) was built in 1872 as an experimental combination of narrow-gauge railway and monorail in the garrison of Aldershot , Hampshire , England. It was based on a monorail system invented and patented by John Barraclough Fell and had a track width of 18 inches (457 mm).
history
The substructure of the narrow-gauge suspension railway consisted of a wooden or metal structure. The two main longitudinal beams rested on supporting pillars embedded in the ground at regular intervals, the lower ends of which stood on wooden sleepers. They were stiffened by diagonal struts. The track could run one to nine meters above the ground and thus compensate for height differences in the landscape. She could go through curve radii like any other path.
Four rails were attached to the main longitudinal beam: two on the top and two on the sides. The rails on the top were made of iron and could be laid with a gauge of 8 inches (200 mm) to 18 inches (457 mm). The side support rails were either made of wood or iron and were pinned to the side of the main beam. They stabilized the wagons with their side support wheels and prevented them from falling off the bridge in the event of derailments. The switches were designed as tow switches by pivoting a six-meter-long piece of the beam on rollers around a joint.
Passenger trains ran at 32 km / h on the route, freight trains with passenger transport at 24 km / h and freight trains at 16 km / h. The maximum speed that could be reached with passenger trains was 48 km / h, and the passenger cars drove as smoothly as that of a standard-gauge railway. There were no noticeable vibrations in the substructure, and the vibrations were no greater than those of contemporary iron and wooden bridges.
In the last quarter of 1872 experiments were carried out with the train, which confirmed the claims of the inventor. The experiments were carried out by a committee of Royal Engineers which reported positively on the results. The testing of the railway was considered a success, although Fell's similarly constructed Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway was unsuccessful and was replaced by a standard-gauge railway . After the experiments had been carried out, the track was torn down without a sound. Reusable material was reused in the Trench - Light Railroad experiments at Chatham .
Track construction
The rails were laid with a gauge of 18 inches (457 mm) from the Field Stores Depot to the Barrack Stores . The railway line was more than 1½ kilometers long. About two thirds of the route ran in curves with a radius of 60 to 140 meters. There was a 235 m long and 6 to 7½ meter high trestle bridge with a gradient of 1 to 50. The lateral support rails rested on wooden longitudinal beams that were placed on posts at a distance of 3 to 4½ meters. The support rails were 12 inches (304 mm) below the top of the rails, so that the stability of the railway corresponded to that of a normal-gauge line.
Rail vehicles
locomotive
Manning, Wardle & Co. at Boyne Engine Works, Leeds designed and built a special locomotive based on a concept by JB Fell. It had to meet military and other requirements. The locomotive weighed 4½ t and the tender 3½ t with coal and water. It had three coupled drive axles, each 16 inches (406.4 mm) in diameter. It also had four horizontal support wheels that could be supported on the side rails attached to the lower end of the girder. The cylinders of the prototype steam locomotive were too low due to a faulty design, so that they were installed in a higher position in another locomotive.
dare
The wagons were attached to two axles that were attached not under the wagon, but on its front sides, so that the loading area was only 3 inches (76.2 mm) above the upper edge of the rails, thus allowing a very low center of gravity. With this railway, military supplies could in principle be transported in sufficient quantities, including field cannons weighing 7 t.
The car bodies were 8 feet (2.5 m) long, 5 feet (1.5 m) wide and 2 feet (0.6 m) deep and were designed to carry 3 tons of cargo or 300 to 400 cubic feet (8, 5 to 11.3 m³) for bulk goods.
See also
- Yarlside Iron Mines Tramway
- Fell locomotive
- Lartigue monorail
- Bradford and Foster Brook Railway
- Epsom Salts Monorail
Individual evidence
- ^ Narrow Gauge Suspension Railway designed by Mr. JB Fell, CE, The Engineer, September 30, 1870, p. 230.
- ↑ a b c d The Engineer, November 1, 1872, pp. 296-297. ( Memento of February 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
- ↑ a b Narrow Gauge Suspension Railway . Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3611, September 24, 1872.
- ^ Walter Hefti: Unconventional mountain railways. Springer-Verlag, 2013, p. 19.
- ^ Mark Smithers: Tramway near the Lines - Gillingham.
- ↑ a b c Narrow-gauge railway experiment. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW, 1843-1893), Saturday, January 11, 1873. Page 4.