Scorpion MOW Vehicle

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

A Scorpion rolls down the track - these are Nissan based MOW vehicles used by Transnet Frieght.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Is this the Transnet version of a hybrid

[Dylan Knott]

Yup its a transnet version of a "snorkel". You know the little truck Escom use for power lines.

[Derek Walker]

Are the wheels retractable? can it literally retract its wheels and drive off on roads? or is it tied to the rails because of the steel wheels?

[Dylan Knott]

Ja thats how it accesses the tracks, via a level crossing. I think the rear axle drives the vehicle forward. There are various models though.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

The wheels are retractable, and off it goes!

The Scorpion's tyres do not not contact the rails at all when it is in use - it rides only on the bogies and has a fairly high clearance.

Power is via the rear truck axle to the rear bogies. The power train is doubled up i.e. instead of a single drive to each bogie, there is a double drive to each bogie.

The running gears and bogies are very substantial and solid - as they have to be to provide a stable base when operating the lift.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Here is another picture showing the underside of the vehicle and the clearance refered to in the previous post. Note also the protective steel plates behind and in fromt of the bogies.

[John Ashworth]

That's a great picture, Kevin. Some road-railers seem to be powered by the rubber tyres touching the rails, or in some cases the tyres touching the rail wheels, but this one quite clearly has its own drive to the rail wheels as you explain.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Here is a different Scorpion prancing down the rails - note how high the tyres at the front are off the rails.

They are very rapid vehicles and cover a lot of ground quickly - as I suppose they should when doing MOW.

These vehicles I assume replace the old Wickhams etc.

[allanroy]

I found this interesting webpage
http://www.ipet.co.za/news/2004raillube1.htm
and is about RAIL LUBRICATION ON THE RICHARDS BAY COAL LINE using one of these trucks which is called a Hi-Rail vehicle

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Thanx for that Allan. Most interesting. That photo in Vryheid look just like Devils Peak. Only the AC Cantenary gave it away.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Allan - an interesting article. I have also posted the link under the Technology Section as it worth more readers!

Thanks.

[Geoff Pethick]

I heard a story a while ago that these vehicles were not in fact road legal in this form and the lack of registration plates tends to bear this out.

[Steve Appleton]

Hi Geoff, Yet there appears to be what look like tax discs on the windshields. Maybe those discs are TFR internal permits. Nonetheless if these vehicles are not road legal, then I wonder why not; what rule/s do they break? Perhaps it's a homologation thing: these vehicles, as modified, do not conform to the reference example of their make and model. In which case each hi-rail vehicle may need to be individually submitted to the authorities for examination and testing ahead of permit issuance. That might be too much of a hassle.
I would have thought that not being able to run on the public road network would somewhat limit their presumed advantage (over pure rail vehicles) of being able to get to remote points of the rail network quickly. Perhaps their useful off-rail excursions are simply limited to off-tracking to allow trains to pass, running on the parallel rail service roads and parking in TFR yards and depots. Perhaps the motivation for not licensing them is to save money on public road taxes, which would additionally and presumably lead to a reduction in public insurance costs and allow the legal use of cheaper, untaxed fuel.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

These particular vehicles are road legal Geoff - see the discs on the windscreens. They carry plates for use on the roads.

See below for an example running with plates on.