Car with an opening roof
The rail freight cars with an opening roof with the generic letter "T" make up about one sixth of all freight cars in Germany. The earlier German main genre was "K" or "KK". The type designation in the 5th position of the UIC wagon number has been the "0" since 1988, until then it was the "5" as with open freight wagons .
They are mainly used to transport moisture-sensitive bulk goods such as cement , gypsum , lime , potash salt and grain . The loading can be done by pouring devices or conveying devices, the unloading by gravity. In addition, some newer types with a flat wagon floor are also suitable for the transport of craneable, bulky piece goods .
To date there are four different constructions of roofs that can be opened (the years refer to the DB ):
- The hinged-lid wagons with several “roof” flaps that can be opened upwards (hence the name) as the oldest design are rarely used any more. Their disadvantage is that the roof cannot be opened over a large area due to the webs to which the flaps are attached.
- From 1951 sliding roof wagons were therefore built in which half of the loading area is accessible from above without obstacles by sliding one part of the two-part roof longitudinally over the other part.
- With the swing roof wagons used from 1958 , the loading area can be completely released by swiveling the roof out to the long side of the wagon. The disadvantage is that with some types the open roof does not adhere to the vehicle gauge and can thus block the neighboring track.
- The latest development are rolling roof wagons that have been in use since 1973. The plastic roller roofs can be completely rolled up towards the front, which means that the entire trolley can be loaded from above.
However, the overall construction and intended use of the wagon are determined much more by the floor and walls and the resulting unloading options. These properties, which are also coded as identification letters , therefore also form the basis of this article.
Car with opening roof and level car floor
Hinged lid trolley with a level trolley floor
The classic hinged-lid wagons for the transport of moisture-sensitive bulk goods were only procured by the railway administrations in relatively small numbers compared to other types of freight wagons. They were used both on the standard gauge and on narrow-gauge railways (e.g. Saxon narrow-gauge railways ). Their construction was based closely on the contemporary open freight cars .
They were loaded from the top and through the side doors analogous to the covered wagons unloaded. Since this unloading involved laborious manual work, alternatives were sought as early as the 1920s. From the 1950s onwards, self-unloading wagons with a roof ( see below ) completely pushed the hinged-lid wagons out of their original area of use. The DR procured the last large-scale hinged-lid wagons in 1958.
Standard-gauge hinged-lid wagons can be viewed in some railway museums, and on some Saxon narrow-gauge railways they can occasionally be seen in operation at special freight train events.
Sliding roof wagons and sliding roof sliding wall wagons
The sliding roof wagons were built for the DB from the 1950s. In terms of design, they initially represented a further development of the classic hinged-lid wagons, but were no longer intended for bulk goods, but rather for bulky, moisture-sensitive piece goods. These can be loaded and unloaded vertically by crane, whereby the roof, which can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the car, releases half of the loading area.
Soon they proceeded to the small side doors through large sliding walls ( Code letter i replace) to the loading and unloading of palletized goods by forklift to allow. For example, the wagons in a port can be loaded directly from the ship using a crane , but unloaded through the side doors at the destination station.
In the 1970s it was found that the movable roof is rarely used for palletized goods, while the swing-roof wagons ( see below ) are more suitable for larger, bulky goods . Therefore, the sliding wall wagons were moved to the fixed roof, from which the sliding wall wagons emerged from 1977 .
Swing roof wagons and roll roof wagons with level wagon floors
For the transport of heavy, bulky and moisture-sensitive goods, the DB has had four-axle wagons with movable roofs since 1964. Initially, these were swivel roofs that swivel out to both sides, divided lengthways in the middle. In order to avoid the impairment of the vehicle gauge when the roof is open, rolling roofs were later used.
In terms of design, the wagons are based closely on the four-axle open freight wagons of the standard design . The main dimensions of the UIC -standardized roll-top wagon also correspond to its open counterpart Ea (o) s:
| standard | UIC 571-3: special design |
|---|---|
| design type | Four-axle rolling roof wagon |
| UIC designation | Taems to 1979: Taes |
| Pivot spacing | 9.00 m |
| Length over buffers | 14.04 m |
| Loading length, min. | 12.40 m |
| Loading area, for example | 33 m² |
| Hold, for example | 74 m³ |
| Net weight, max. | 24.0 t |
| Doors per side | 1 |
| Door width | 4.00 m |
The swivel and roll-top wagons with a level wagon floor are characterized by a high load limit of at least 50 t and are therefore often used in heavy industry. In addition, they can also be used for bulk goods that are sensitive to moisture and are to be unloaded upwards. This type of wagon shares its area of application with the flat wagons with tarpaulins or hoods of the types K, R and S.
Freight car with an opening roof and gravity discharge
In order to rationalize the handling of moisture-sensitive bulk goods , the Deutsche Reichsbahn had self-unloading cars built with hinged lids . They were designed as saddle wagons and thus enabled a sudden gravity discharge.
Since 1958, large numbers of self-unloading wagons with a swing roof have been used. They have meanwhile completely displaced both the wagons with an opening roof and level wagon floor (see above) and the covered freight wagons of the standard design from the transport of moisture-sensitive bulk goods.
Most of these wagons allow unloading from the side and, like the open freight wagons with gravity unloading, correspond to two basic shapes:
- Hopper car: carriage with a funnel-shaped floor of the vehicle and dosable gravity discharge ( genus T ... D ... )
- Saddle wagons : wagons with a saddle-shaped wagon floor and sudden gravity discharge (today type T ... l ... , until 1979 T ... d ... )
The main dimensions of the two UIC standard freight wagons are also identical to those of the open freight wagons (Fcs and Fals):
| standard | UIC 571-3: special design | |
|---|---|---|
| design type | Two-axle hopper wagon with a swivel roof | Four-axle saddle wagon with a swivel roof |
| UIC designation | Tds | Valley |
| Wheelbase | 6.00 m | - |
| Pivot spacing | - | 7.50 m |
| Length over buffers | 9.64 m | 12.54 m |
| Hold, for example | 38 m³ | 72 m³ |
| Net weight, max. | 13.5 t | 15.5 t |
The cars are usually reserved for a load to bypass the cleaning after each unloading, but also because some goods require an inner lining of the load compartment to prevent sticking on the walls or in chemicals, protecting the walls from corrosion to ensure . Many of the Td wagons are used exclusively for transporting food and therefore also have the code letter g .
In addition, there are special designs for certain purposes, for example with centrifugal gravity discharge (type T ... oo ... ).
The transition to the U-car is fluid. Even if the wagon does not have a discharge device that corresponds to the UIC standard or only has a dome cover for loading instead of a roof, it falls under the category of special wagons. Many French grain wagons therefore have a 9 instead of the 0 in the wagon number.
literature
- Stefan Carstens: The DB AG freight cars . MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1998.
- Stefan Carstens et al .: Freight Cars (Volume 2). MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 2000.
- Stefan Carstens et al .: Freight Cars (Volume 4). MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 2003.