Rail tractor
A rail tractor , also known as a construction tractor , serves as a small autonomous vehicle for various services of railway companies .
As a rule, rail tractors have a diesel engine , sometimes an electric motor , which, if it can be operated with battery power, is independent of the catenary . Gasoline engines were also common in the past . They form a special class of locomotives . Smaller than shunting locomotives , they can drive individual rail cars and short relief trains , or they can drive alone. Depending on the size and equipment, they are either only suitable as a towing vehicle or allow the transport of maintenance teams and work material. Some designs are specially designed for the use of construction services on railway lines , for which they optionally have staff cabins, load bridges and, if required, other equipment such as lifting platforms or hydraulic cranes . The light rail vehicles are also suitable for inspection trips. If, in addition to the railway wheels , they are also equipped with tires with tires , they can also be used as a two-way vehicle outside the rail area.
In Germany and Austria, vehicles are referred to as tractors that are smaller than small locomotives , e.g. B. rail -going road tractors or the Breuer locomotives . In contrast, the small locomotives themselves are also referred to as tractors in Switzerland. Although there is no exact demarcation between rail tractors and shunting locomotives, tractors are more simply built and - in contrast to shunting locomotives - were often allowed to be operated by station staff with additional training.
Germany and Austria
Small tractors are used
- in order to bring the wagons to be overhauled to the work stations in the depot ,
- to access medium and small stations with freight cars to maneuver,
- for the transportation of passenger and freight trains on park , field and forest railways , widely used in Germany .
Switzerland
In Switzerland practically all two-axle locomotives (with the exception of rack-and-pinion locomotives) are called tractors; they have the following type designations:
- Te for tractors with electric drive that is fed from the contact line
- Ta for tractors with an electric drive, which is fed by accumulators (mainly found in workshops)
- Tm for tractors with thermal drive ( diesel engine or gasoline engine )
- Tem for electric tractors for catenary operation or combustion engine with generator
- Tea for electric tractors with an additional accumulator
Some railway companies also write the axle ratio after the type designation, i.e. Ta 1/2 for a battery tractor with one driven axle or Tm 2/2 if both axles of the diesel tractor are driven. There were or are isolated tractors with more than two axles at the BLS with the Te 2/3 31 and 32, at the Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU) with the Tm 236 508 and the Freiburgische Verkehrsbetriebe (tpf) with the narrow-gauge Te 4/4 13 and 14. There are also isolated two-way vehicles which are referred to as Tm .
Tractors are used for many maneuvering tasks as well as for construction services, to reach construction sites and to guide lighter construction trains. Many construction tractors also have snow plows that can be fitted in winter.
See also
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- ↑ Example of a rail tractor from Germany (15th picture on the page)
- ↑ Rolf Löttgers: The Breuer tractors in: Railroad Magazine 4/1991
- ↑ Internet site with a brief historical description of the Breuer locomotives and the term tractor twice
- ↑ German forum discussion about "Breuer rail tractors"
- ^ Editor: Federal Office of Transport: A Century of Swiss Railways III, 1847–1947, rolling stock. Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1957, p. 229.
- ↑ : Directory of rolling stock of the Swiss private railways 1966. Eidgenössisches Amt für Verkehr, Bern 1968, p. 205.
- ↑ Example of a Tm "with snow plow Example Tm 232 with snow plow