Wagon Designs-Bazis

STANDAHDISED WAGON DESIGNS-BAZIS. MEETIhG ON 25th FEBRUARY, 1919. The Second Ordinary General Meeting (1919 Session) of the Leeds Centre of the Institution was held at the Philo- sophical Hall, Leeds, on 25th February, 1919,at 7.0 p.m., lfr. H. N. Gresley, Chairman of the Leeds Centre, presiding. The minutes of the meeting held on 28th January were read and confirmed. The formal business having been concluded, a Paper 1)) llr. J. R. Bazin, Member, Doncaster-who was unable to be present, through illness-n " Suggestions for Standardised Wagon Designs," was read by Mr. A. T. Houldcroft, the 1,oc;il Hon. Serretar?. SUGGESTIONS FOR STANDARDISED WAGON DESIGNSFOR BRITISH RAILWAYS. Paper read by J. R. Baein, Member, Doncaster, on Tuesday, 25th February, 1919. PAPER NO. 71. Among the many urgent reforms shown by the war to be necessary is uniformity in the design and capacity of the wagon rolling stock .of British railways. From the earliest days each company has designed and adopted its own peculiar type of vehicle, while private firms have been required to provide wagons for their own and other traders' use, so that at the present time approximately half the wagons in service on the railways of the United Kingdom are privately owned. Since 18%) the design of irivately owned wagons has been controlled so far as leading dimensions and important details of design are cmcerned by instructions issued by the Railway Clearing House, intended more to ensure safety in transit than the standardisation of any particular types, to increase their efficiency and reduce the cost of maintenance. Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at Purdue University Libraries on June 5, 2016 192 JOURNAL OF THE IKST. OF LOCO. ENQINEEBS. Prior to 1917the wagons of each railway company were chiefly employed in carrying merchandise over the home linc, and whenever loaded for stations beyond had to be returned within three days of unloading, otherwise dehurrage charges followed. This practice naturally resulted in a large amount of empty mileage running, empty vehicles often crossing each other in transit between stations on different company’s systems. In January, 1917, this wasteful practice was reduced by the introduction of the “ Common User ” arrangement, under which wagons of certain types, so far as use was concerned, became the common property of all the chief railways. Subsequently the arrangement was extended tb include all company owned open wagons, except a few reserved for service use. -4s a resuIt of this arrangement company owned wagons are dispersed throughout the kingdom. This Paper does not deal with the areounts side of the question, it being sufficient to say that pharges have been reduced to a minimum, while for each wagon leaving the home line another is received in replacement. So far as repairigg charges- are concerned, claims between companies for wages are rendered monthly, materials being generally supplied by the owrhg companies. From a practical point of view it is chiefly the question of maintenance which causes those responsible for wagon upkeep to consider standardisation. Owing to its absence a much greater number of spare parts is required for wagon repairs, entailing much expense and delay in effecting the release of damaged vehicles. From a military point of view standardisation is of the utmost importance, and want of uniformity has greatly added to the difficulties of those responsible for the carriage of military and other stores for our Armies in France. These wagons have been drawn from the wagon stock of British railways, and are consequently of various designs and differ considerably in matters of constructional detail, so that spare parts have to be provided to meet the require- ments of each design of wagon, although they pay be of the same carrying capacity. It is clear that large numbers of spare parts have had to be supplied, which has not only eptailed lists of parts for each design of wagon being drawn up, but has meant the provision of a great deal of extra Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at Purdue University Libraries on June 5, 2016 BTANDARDISED WAGON DESIGNS-BAZIS. * 93 material through the multiplicity of the types of wagons given over to military use. In considering the subject of wagon standardisation, the first point to be determined is how far the system should be carried, and this may be viewed from two aspects, that of the user, represented by the Goods and Traffic Depart- ments, and that of the builder and repairer by the Wagon Department of a railway. So far as the former is concerned, the main features are the carrying capacity and types of wagons selected for standardisation, and the re- quirements of these two Departments would probably be met if the leading dimensions of each type were fixed so that all wagons of a class owned by one railway company would be of the Same length, width, depth, and have the same tare and wheelbase, as a similar class of wagon belonging to any other railway company. However advan- tageous it might be if the wagdns were constructed to standard dimensions from the traffic point of view of handling and loading, undoubtedly the real benefits from the maintenance point of view to be obtained by standardisation would only be realised if the details of construction were included as well, so that the parts of one railway company’s wagons would be interchangeable with those belonging to any other railway company. TYPES OF WAGONS TO BE STANDIIRDISED. The selection of types of wagons for standardisation should be kept as few in number as possible. While it will probably always be necessary for railway companies to construct wagons to their individual designs for special work and for service use, all other wagons should be built to a standard specification, as these are the wagons which will be available for common use. Five types might be selected, namely :- Fig. I. 12-ton open wagon with high sides. ,, 2. Iz-ton open wagon with medium sides (to fall). ,, 3. iz-ton open wagon with low sides. ,, 4. 12-ton covered wagon. ,, 5. 20-ton open wagon for coal. It will be seen that 12 tons is the carrying rapacity of four of the types chosen, this being the size of wagon which undoubtedly seems to be preferred, chiefly on account of its dimensions being able to. be kept within reasonable limits, and, while its load is higher than the 9- and lo-ton nagons Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at Purdue University Libraries on June 5, 2016 194 JOURSAL OF THE INBT. OF LOCO. ENGINEERS. which are at present chiefly used on British railways for coal and goods traffic, it can be handled in the shunting yards, warehouse docks and sidings with equal ease. An important point in favour of 1-7-ton wagons is the advantage gained in carrying capacity, as compared with ro-ton wagons without a corresponding increase in tare. With regard to the inclusion of a ao-ton coal wagon, it seems advisable that a wagon of this type should be standardised for the conveyance of " loco. coal," as most collieries are now able to deal with them. -.1 he four types of rz-ton ivagons can all be constructed with the same wheels and underframe, but the 2o-ton wagon would need another design of slightly increased, dimensions on account of its greater carrying capacity. Having pointed out the need for wagon standardisation and selected the types to be standardised, it is necessary to fix the leading dimensions of each class and afterwards, proceed to consider some of the chief details of ronstrur- tion. LEADING DIMENSIOSS. 'These arz governed by the loading gauges of the various railways. Unfortunately in this country each company has its own loading gauge, and in order that a standard type of wagon may be ubiquitous, its maximum dimension must not exceed the minimum gauge of each. individual railway. It is therefore necessary to construct a composite loading gauge which will combine the minimum dimensions of each railway in one gauge (Fig. 6), so that the standard vehicles must be built to pass this gauge to enable them to work over any railway system in Great Britain. It may be suggested that a better method vould he for the loading gauges of all railways to be standardised and a new gauge introduced which would embody the maximum dimen- sicns of eagh railway company's loading gauge in one. This would, of course, be the most satisfactory way of dtaling with the point under consideration, but until this is done there is no reason why standard wagons should not be constructed to the greatest width permissible within the limits of existing gauges, as the standard wheels, axkboxes, axleguards, brake gear, buffing and drawgear could all be used on the wider wagons which would k built when the alteration to existing gauges had taken place. It is pro- posed, therefore, to submit suggestions for standard wagons that can run under existing conditions. and, in order to. Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at Purdue University Libraries on June 5, 2016 STASD.4RDISED W.4GON DESIGSS-BAZIN. "33 abtain wagons of as large a capacity as possible, they must br constructed to the greatest width permissible within the limits of the composite loading gauge. By doing this it is found that a wagon of large capacity can be obtained, at the same time keeping the length within reasonable limits. l'his is of considerable importance, as the question of the size of existing turntables, hoists, dock sides, and clearance in warehouses and length of sidings must be borne in mind, in order that a standard wagon can be dealt with at any dep8t in the United Kingdom without restrictions.

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