The Little Dancer is a low-floor tram brand built by Alna Sharyo, a Japanese manufacturer of trams and light rail vehicles .
26-461: The name "Little Dancer" was chosen by Alna Sharyo for two reasons, firstly to evoke an image of a lively dancer, and secondly for its similarity to the Japanese word "dansa". "Dansa" in Japanese means "step", pertaining to the step-free access that the trams provide. The result is aimed to evoke an image of a lively, cute, and small tram. Little Dancer trams feature conventional bogies so that it
52-479: A semi-trailer , whether permanently attached to the frame (as on a single trailer) or making up the dolly that can be hitched and unhitched as needed when hitching up a second or third semi-trailer (as when pulling doubles or triples ). Some tanks and other tracked vehicles have bogies as external suspension components (see armoured fighting vehicle suspension ). This type of bogie usually has two or more road wheels and some type of sprung suspension to smooth
78-538: A swivel , as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung (as in the landing gear of an airliner ), or held in place by other means (centreless bogies). Although bogie is the preferred spelling and first-listed variant in various dictionaries, bogey and bogy are also used. A bogie in the UK, or a railroad truck , wheel truck , or simply truck in North America,
104-624: A component of the vast majority of mainline locomotive designs. The first use of bogie coaches in Britain was in 1872 by the Festiniog Railway.The first standard gauge British railway to build coaches with bogies, instead of rigidly mounted axles, was the Midland Railway in 1874. Bogies serve a number of purposes: Usually, two bogies are fitted to each carriage , wagon or locomotive , one at each end. Another configuration
130-472: A frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached (as on many railroad cars and semi-trailers ) or be quickly detachable (as for a dolly in a road train or in railway bogie exchange ). It may include suspension components within it (as most rail and trucking bogies do), or be solid and in turn be suspended (as are most bogies of tracked vehicles). It may be mounted on
156-439: A retrograde step, as it leads to more wear of both track and wheels and also significantly reduces the speed at which a tram can round a curve. In the past, many different types of bogie (truck) have been used under tramcars (e.g. Brill , Peckham, maximum traction). A maximum traction truck has one driving axle with large wheels and one nondriving axle with smaller wheels. The bogie pivot is located off-centre, so more than half
182-430: A small rail car with axles at either end. The same effect that causes the bogies to rub against the rails at longer radius causes each of the pairs of wheels to rub on the rails and cause the screeching. Articulated bogies add a second pivot point between the two axles ( wheelsets ) to allow them to rotate to the correct angle even in these cases. In trucking , a bogie is the subassembly of axles and wheels that supports
208-413: Is a specialized type of bogie that is inserted under the wheels of a rail wagon/car, usually to convert for another track gauge . Transporter wagons carry the same concept to the level of a flatcar specialized to take other cars as its load. In archbar or diamond frame bogies, the side frames are fabricated rather than cast . Tram bogies are much simpler in design because of their axle load, and
234-465: Is a structure underneath a railway vehicle (wagon, coach or locomotive) to which axles (hence, wheels) are attached through bearings . In Indian English , bogie may also refer to an entire railway carriage . In South Africa , the term bogie is often alternatively used to refer to a freight or goods wagon (shortened from bogie wagon ). A locomotive with a bogie was built by engineer William Chapman in 1812. It hauled itself along by chains and
260-436: Is any one of a number of bogie designs that allow railway equipment to safely turn sharp corners, while reducing or eliminating the "screeching" normally associated with metal wheels rounding a bend in the rails. There are a number of such designs, and the term is also applied to train sets that incorporate articulation in the vehicle, as opposed to the bogies themselves. If one considers a single bogie "up close", it resembles
286-507: Is easier for railway companies and their maintenance staff to adjust to the trams when they are introduced. There are several variants of the Little Dancer. Type S series are a short body type tram with a single section. Type L series have an articulated three section body. Type A series adopt 3 or 5 articulated bodies. (Some of the articulations have no bogies and are floating.) Type S,L,A series weren't 100% low floor, because
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#1732772397760312-411: Is often used in articulated vehicles , which places the bogies (often Jacobs bogies ) under the connection between the carriages or wagons. Most bogies have two axles, but some cars designed for heavy loads have more axles per bogie. Heavy-duty cars may have more than two bogies using span bolsters to equalize the load and connect the bogies to the cars. Usually, the train floor is at a level above
338-404: The locomotive or railroad car at one rotating mounting point. In effect, they make one "super-truck" out of the two, while permitting each truck to move relative to the other. The most common use on locomotives is to give a more flexible alternative to a four-axle truck; two two-axle trucks linked by a span bolster allows the wheels to follow a curve better, without excessive side forces or
364-536: The bogies, but the floor of the car may be lower between bogies, such as for a bilevel rail car to increase interior space while staying within height restrictions , or in easy-access, stepless-entry, low-floor trains. Key components of a bogie include: The connections of the bogie with the rail vehicle allow a certain degree of rotational movement around a vertical axis pivot (bolster), with side bearers preventing excessive movement. More modern, bolsterless bogie designs omit these features, instead taking advantage of
390-597: The individual axles to align with curves in addition to the bogie frame as a whole pivoting. For non-radial bogies, the more axles in the assembly, the more difficulty it has negotiating curves, due to wheel flange to rail friction. For radial bogies, the wheel sets actively steer through curves, thus reducing wear at the wheel's flange-to-rail interface and improving adhesion. In the US, radial steering has been implemented in EMD and GE locomotives. The EMD version, designated HTCR,
416-602: The motors attached the bogies. U series devises to position the motor. So, U series are 100% low floor. "U" is an initial of "Ultimate". "C" is an initial of "Combination". The traction motor is downsized to the limit, and the same driving system as the conventional vehicle is adopted. In Japan, the three brand compete with Little Dancer. Bogies A bogie ( / ˈ b oʊ ɡ i / BOH -ghee ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle ), in
442-506: The need for lateral motion of the axles in the truck. The use of a span bolster is normally signified in the AAR wheel arrangement notation by a + sign; thus a locomotive with two span bolsters, each with two two-axle trucks (the most common arrangement) is a B+B-B+B . Span bolsters have been used for some high-capacity freight cars . The most common use is for large flatcars to haul very heavy loads. These cars need many axles to distribute
468-447: The principle of radial steering. The Cleminson system involved three axles, each mounted on a frame that had a central pivot; the central axle could slide transversely. The three axles were connected by linkages that kept them parallel on the straight and moved the end ones radially on a curve, so that all three axles were continually at right angles to the rails. The configuration, invented by British engineer John James Davidge Cleminson,
494-417: The ride across rough terrain. Bogie suspensions keep much of their components on the outside of the vehicle, saving internal space. Although vulnerable to antitank fire, they can often be repaired or replaced in the field. Span bolster A span bolster , in rail terminology , is a beam or frame used to link two trucks ( US ) or bogies ( UK ) so that they can be articulated together and be joined to
520-517: The running wheels, as well. The unusually large flanges on the steel wheels guide the bogie through standard railroad switches , and in addition keep the train from derailing in case the tires deflate . To overcome breaks of gauge some bogies are being fitted with variable gauge axles (VGA) so that they can operate on two different gauges. These include the SUW 2000 system from ZNTK Poznań . Radial-steering trucks, also known as radial bogies, allow
546-541: The sideways movement of the suspension to permit rotational movement. Modern diesel and electric locomotives are mounted on bogies. Those commonly used in North America include Type A , Blomberg , HT-C and Flexicoil trucks. On a steam locomotive , the leading and trailing wheels may be mounted on bogies like Bissel trucks (also known as pony trucks ). Articulated locomotives (e.g. Fairlie , Garratt or Mallet locomotives) have power bogies similar to those on diesel and electric locomotives. A rollbock
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#1732772397760572-471: The tighter curves found on tramways mean tram bogies almost never have more than two axles. Furthermore, some tramways have steeper gradients and vertical as well as horizontal curves, which means tram bogies often need to pivot on the horizontal axis, as well. Some articulated trams have bogies located under articulations, a setup referred to as a Jacobs bogie . Often, low-floor trams are fitted with nonpivoting bogies; many tramway enthusiasts see this as
598-419: The weight rests on the driving axle. The retractable stadium roof on Toronto's Rogers Centre used modified off-the-shelf train bogies on a circular rail. The system was chosen for its proven reliability. Rubber-tyred metro trains use a specialised version of railway bogies. Special flanged steel wheels are behind the rubber-tired running wheels, with additional horizontal guide wheels in front of and behind
624-773: Was first granted a patent in the UK in 1883. The system was widely used on British narrow-gauge rolling stock, such as on the Isle of Man and Manx Northern Railways . The Holdfast Bay Railway Company in South Australia , which later became the Glenelg Railway Company, purchased Cleminson-configured carriages in 1880 from the American Gilbert & Bush Company for its 1600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ) broad-gauge line. An articulated bogie
650-870: Was made standard equipment for the SD70 series , first sold in 1993. The HTCR in operation had mixed results and relatively high purchase and maintenance costs. EMD subsequently introduced the HTSC truck, essentially the HTCR stripped of radial components. GE introduced their version in 1995 as a buyer option for the AC4400CW and later Evolution Series locomotives. However, it also met with limited acceptance because of its relatively high purchase and maintenance costs, and customers have generally chosen GE Hi-Ad standard trucks for newer and rebuilt locomotives. A 19th century configuration of self-steering axles on rolling stock established
676-556: Was not successful, but Chapman built a more successful locomotive with two gear-driven bogies in 1814. The bogie was first used in America for wagons on the Quincy Granite Railroad in 1829. The first successful locomotive with a bogie to guide the locomotive into curves while also supporting the smokebox was built by John B. Jervis in 1831. The concept took decades before it was widely accepted but eventually became
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