Ramsey Umspuranlage

Drawing from the first patent application

A Ramsey Umspuranlage ( English : Ramsey's Car Transfer Apparatus ) was used to change bogies of railroad cars without a crane, especially when changing gauges from standard gauge to narrow gauge or broad gauge .

invention

The concept was invented and patented by Robert Henry Ramsey in 1876 as a simple device for changing bogies in railway depots or when driving on railways with different gauges . But there are earlier patents for changing bogies.

workflow

Ramsey Umspuranlage

Two narrow-gauge tracks were laid to the right and left of a pit in which the track or the tracks of the bogies to be changed ran. At one end of the pit, the car was supported at the front and rear on a beam that rested on two auxiliary bogies that ran on the sideways laid tracks. When driving slowly, the bogies lowered into the pit and detached themselves from the pivot , through which they otherwise carried the weight of the car. The detached bogies were pulled out of the pit with a horse or a cable winch and replaced by bogies of a different gauge. At the other end of the pit, the trunnions were then inserted into the bearings of the new bogies which, after passing the incline, carried the car body. The procedure could be carried out in less than 8 minutes with unbraked cars. It took a little longer for cars with hand brakes or the air brakes that were common from 1880 onwards .

user

Ramsey Umspuranlage in Phenicia , 1882

The Ligonier Valley Railroad used the method from 1878 in Latrobe , Pennsylvania . In the same year it was also introduced by the standard gauge Rochester & State Line Railroad at the junction with the narrow gauge Atlantic & Great Western Railroad in Salamanca , New York . It was also used to re-gauge New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad cars for the tracks of the Tonawanda Valley & Cuba Railroad.

In addition, the procedure was used on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Wilmington, Columbia & Augusta Railroad, the WC Virginia Midland & Gt. S. Railroad, the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, the Pittsylvania [sic] Railroad, the Pittsburg [sic] Southern Railroad, the Dayton, Covington & Toledo Railroad, the Dayton & Southeastern Railroad, the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad, and many others . The East Broad Top, a Pennsylvania coal railroad, used it at Mt. Union Yard until the railroad was closed in 1956.

Patents

U.S. Patent 178,079 , May 30, 1876, Car Truck Shifting Apparatus
U.S. Patent RE8,259 , May 28, 1878, Revised Version of U.S. Patent 178,079
U.S. Patent 204,087 , May 21, 1878, Car Transfer Apparatus
U.S. Patent 304,562 , September 2, 1884, Car and Freight Transfer Apparatus
U.S. Patent 304,563 , September 2, 1884, Car and Freight Transfer Apparatus

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Mid-Continent Railway Museum: Ramsey's Car Truck Shifting Apparatus.
↑ US Patent 127,095, May 21, 1872. Inventors: John S. Newberry, Edward C. Dean, and James McMillan of Michigan Car Company.
↑ US Patent 94,680, September 7, 1869. Inventor: Reuben Wells, who later became Superintendent of Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works.
^ Ligonier Valley Rail Road History.
^ Allegany County Historical Society: Tonawanda Valley & Cuba Railroad - Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus

[midcontinent-1] Mid-Continent Railway Museum: Ramsey's Car Truck Shifting Apparatus.

[2] US Patent 127,095, May 21, 1872. Inventors: John S. Newberry, Edward C. Dean, and James McMillan of Michigan Car Company.

[3] US Patent 94,680, September 7, 1869. Inventor: Reuben Wells, who later became Superintendent of Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works.

[4] Ligonier Valley Rail Road History.

[5] Allegany County Historical Society: Tonawanda Valley & Cuba Railroad - Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus