Sign of the poor economy perhaps?

[fanie kleynhans]

Hi all, shot this short container train yesterday at Muldersvlei heading towards Cape Town. Why is that 5th from last flat car a bit lower than the rest, it looks like the ones used in the US with their double stack trains.

[John Ashworth]

A very nice picture with a sharpness and colour contrast that makes it almost like a model railway...

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Glad to see the 14E's back on containers.

[Gabor Kovacs]

. . . . . Why is that 5th from last flat car a bit lower than the rest, it looks like the ones used in the US with their double stack trains.

Fanis, the vehicle that you are reffering to is a "well truck"! Strange that this particular vehicle is used for container traffic. I thought all had already been seen to by the scrap-cutters' torch, because of lack of use!

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Would they not consider using them to double up containers like they do in the USA. Are our overhead wires and tunnels high enough for two containers on top of one another. Reading the financial time last week, the daily trains on the Natcor line is at 16 at present. A big jump from five a few years ago. They aim to push that up to 25 a day. Surely most of the traffic is containers.

[fanie kleynhans]

Gabor, what is a well truck, cant think that i have seen one before? Stefan i was also wondering if double stacks were ever considered here, although the overhead wire might be a problem.

[Steve Appleton]

There is insufficient loading gauge clearance to permit double-stacking of containers on TFR tracks.
A well-truck is the "low-loader" of the railways. The wagon is designed to allow the carriage of taller (and sometimes heavier) loads than can be accomodated on the deck of a normal flat-bed wagon. The bogies are placed at each end under a short normal-height floor. The frame and deck of the the centre section is then stepped down until it is just a few hundred mm above the track, thus providing extra clearance above for taller items such as transformers, etc. Besides increasing the clearance, this also lowers the overall centre of gravity which increases stability (important for tall, heavier loads). Unfortunately placing the bogies further apart than normal makes the wagon longer which lengthens the train, reducing train capacity. The effectcan be seen in the picture as a greater spacing between the containers.
Incidently, in the USA, it is also possible to load a container carrying road vehicle (semi-trailer), piggy-back style, onto special wagons for longer distance transportation, thus saving trans-shipment of the containers off a trailer and back on again. This is also not possible to do in SA because of the restricted height.