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86-630: The majority of these vehicles were built by the Waggonfabrik Uerdingen. However, due to the large numbers ordered, vehicles were also made by other coach builders such as MAN , although these factories could offer their own classes of railbus like the MAN-Schienenbus  [ de ] , and in Spain they were built by CAF , Macosa , and Verdingen as FER-560/FRC-560 Ferrobús (railbus). The railbus, much loved by passengers,

172-401: A diesel locomotive or electric locomotive , the steam locomotive only works when its powerplant (the boiler, in this case) is fairly level. The locomotive boiler requires water to cover the boiler tubes and firebox sheets at all times, particularly the crown sheet , the metal top of the firebox. If this is not covered with water, the heat of the fire will soften it enough to give way under

258-467: A wheelbase of 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in), the twelfth had a wheelbase of 6.0 m (19 ft 8 in), which became the standard on the production vehicles. They were braked using a foot brake and had double doors. The prototypes were given operating numbers VT 95 901 to 911 and 912, the latter was soon renumbered to VT 95 9112 because of its longer wheelbase. Suitable trailer cars were also placed in service. The VT 95.9

344-477: A 20- tooth , 3-foot (914 mm) diameter cog wheel (pinion) on the left side that engaged in rack teeth (two teeth per foot) on the outer side of the rail, the metal "fishbelly" edge rail with its side rack being cast all in one piece, in 3-foot (1 yd; 914 mm) lengths. Blenkinsop's system remained in use for 25 years on the Middleton Railway, but it became a curiosity because simple friction

430-699: A 795 was still being used until 1983 for railway workers. Many Uerdingen railbuses were converted into railway departmental vehicles . For example, the prototype VT 95 906 was converted into an Indusi measurement car (and redesignated as DB Class 724 ). It was operated out of the signalling workshop at Wuppertal . Other converted Uerdingen railbuses are sometimes used today as cars for rail testing, track measurement and LZB measurement, and as tool vans or signalling maintenance vehicles. Many of these robust and well-loved railbuses were sold to railway societies and museums, and are still working today in museum duties. For example, railbuses are still used by

516-440: A continuous rack. So long as the breaks in the rack were shorter than the distance between the drive pinions on the locomotive, the rack rail could be interrupted wherever there was need to cross over a running rail. Turnouts are far more complex when the rack is at or below the level of the running rails. Marsh's first rack patent shows such an arrangement, and the original Mount Washington Cog Railway he built had no turnouts. It

602-534: A former manager in the company was charged with bribery of Turkmen state officials in exchange for project contracts in 2002. The trial began in Munich in 2019 after a delay of the initial trial set for 2016. The MAN manager was suspected in giving 8.4 million euros in bribes in 2002–2007 to the head of the state-owned Turkmennebit company, Saparmammet Veliev. Rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway , cog railway , or cogwheel railway )

688-445: A gradient. This is one of the reasons why rack railways were among the first to be electrified and most of today's rack railways are electrically powered. In some cases, a vertical boiler can be used that is less sensitive for the track gradient. On a rack-only railroad, locomotives are always downward of their passenger cars for safety reasons: the locomotive is fitted with powerful brakes, often including hooks or clamps that grip

774-495: A ladder between two L-shaped wrought-iron rails. The first public trial of the Marsh rack on Mount Washington was made on August 29, 1866, when only one quarter of a mile (402 meters) of track had been completed. The Mount Washington railway opened to the public on August 14, 1868. The pinion wheels on the locomotives have deep teeth that ensure that at least two teeth are engaged with the rack at all times; this measure helps reduce

860-711: A rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop . The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the U.S. state of New Hampshire , which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868. The track was completed to reach the summit of Mount Washington in 1869. The first mountain rack railway in continental Europe was the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi in Switzerland , which opened in 1871. Both lines are still running. As well as

946-468: A simplified but compatible rack, where the teeth on the engine pinions engaged square holes punched in a bar-shaped center rail. J. H. Morgan patented several alternative turnout designs for use with this rack system. Curiously, Morgan recommended an off-center rack in order to allow clear passage for pedestrians and animals walking along the tracks. Some photos of early Morgan installations show this. A simplified rack mounting system could be used when

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1032-483: A ticket counter for the engine driver. These railbuses were redesignated as Class 796. Eight power cars were designed as rack railway engines and designated as Class VT 97.9 ; the six driving cars as VS 97 001 to 97 006. Their top speed climbing uphill was 15 km/h on the rack section, otherwise it was 90 km/h (56 mph). The VTs were used on the Honau–Lichtenstein rack railway in

1118-473: A workforce of 12,000 by 1913. Locomotion, propulsion, and steel building were the big components of this phase. The early predecessors of MAN were responsible for numerous technological innovations. The success of the early MAN entrepreneurs and engineers such as Heinrich Gerber , was based on a great openness towards new technologies. They constructed the Wuppertal monorail (" Wuppertaler Schwebebahn ") and

1204-419: A world leader in design and construction of large diesel engines for large ships. In 1982/83, the "Gutehoffnungshütte" plunged into a deep corporate crisis. The enterprise suffered from the late effects of the second oil crisis and a bad economic situation. This was particularly displayed by the dramatic downturn of the commercial vehicle sales figures. Besides external factors, the chief course of these problems

1290-409: Is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail , usually between the running rails . The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep gradients of 100% (45 degrees) or more, well above the 10% maximum for friction-based rail . The rack and pinion mechanism also provides more controlled braking and reduces

1376-532: Is planned to save about 400 million euros per year, mainly by bundling procurement. Regulatory approval was granted, and the takeover was completed in November 2011. In April 2012, MAN SE announced that Volkswagen had increased its interest to a 73.0% voting stake and 71.08% of the share capital. On 6 June 2012, Volkswagen AG announced that it had increased its share of voting rights in MAN SE to 75.03%, paving

1462-577: Is very low, generally from 9 to 25 kilometres per hour (5.6 to 15.5 mph) depending on gradient and propulsion method. Because the Skitube has gentler gradients than typical, its speeds are higher than typical. The Culdee Fell Railway is a fictional cog railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry . Its operation, locomotives and history are based on those of

1548-803: The Many private railways have bought second-hand Uerdingen railbuses from the Deutsche Bahn. The Hersfelder Kreisbahn procure new ones, though, including a three-unit set with rubber corridor connectors and gangways. Used cars of this type were employed, inter alia by the Elbe-Weser Railway and Transport Company and the AKN Railway for local services. In 1993 the Düren Kreisbahn (DKB) bought ten VT 98, modernised them, painted them blue and white and placed them in service on

1634-723: The Rurtalbahn until their duties were subsumed by RegioSprinters in 1995. The Vt 203 was sold by the Düren Kreisbahn to the Hümmlinger Kreisbahn museum railway. The museums is refurbishing the railbus to make it operational again, giving it the DB number 798 514, and will work it between Werlte and Lathen. Other second-hand VT 98s were bought by the Prignitz Railway – both from Deutsche Bahn and

1720-540: The Nilgiri Mountain Railway . The Agudio rack system was invented by Tommaso Agudio. Its only long-lived application was on the Sassi–Superga tramway which opened in 1884. It used a vertical rack with cog wheels on each side of the central rack. Its unique feature, however, was that the 'locomotive' was propelled by means of an endless cable driven from an engine house at the foot of the incline. It

1806-598: The Swabian Jura and, from 1964 to 1965, VT 97 901 was even employed in goods duties on the Passau–Wegscheid line due to the lack of suitable locomotives. After the closure of rack railway routes the cogwheel drive was removed. The vehicles were once more designated as VT 97.9 or from 1968 as 797. Their area of operations included the branch line from Göppingen to Boll (the Voralbbahn ), until this line

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1892-639: The 50% share of the SMS Group and the strengthening of the turbomachinery division through the takeover of Sulzer Turbo induced MAN's focusing process. In 2006, MAN entered into an agreement with Indian company Force Motors to establish a 50:50 joint venture for the production of trucks and buses in India for the domestic and export markets. The joint venture established a truck manufacturing plant in Pithampur , Madhya Pradesh , and launched its first truck for

1978-798: The Abt system was on the Harzbahn in Germany, which opened in 1885. The Abt system was also used for the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales from 1894 to 1896. The pinion wheels can be mounted on the same axle as the rail wheels, or driven separately. The steam locomotives on the West Coast Wilderness Railway have separate cylinders driving the pinion wheel, as do the "X"-class locomotives on

2064-646: The Abt system, but typically wider than a single Abt bar. The Lamella rack can be used by locomotives designed for use on the Riggenbach or the Strub systems, so long as the safety-jaws that were a feature of the original Strub system are not used. Some railways use racks from multiple systems; for example, the St. Gallen Gais Appenzell Railway in Switzerland has sections of Riggenbach, Strub, and Lamella rack. Most of

2150-875: The British market. Between 1903 and 1909, the McKell Coal and Coke company in Raleigh County, West Virginia, installed 35,000 feet (10,700 m) of Morgan rack/third-rail track in its mines. Between 1905 and 1906, the Mammoth Vein Coal Company installed 8,200 feet (2,500 m) of powered rack in two of its mines in Everist, Iowa , with a maximum grade of 16%. The Donohoe Coke Co. of Greenwald, Pennsylvania had 10,000 feet (3,050 m) of Goodman rack in its mine in 1906. The Morgan system saw limited use on one common carrier railroad in

2236-723: The DKB ;– painted in a blue andred livery and used on lines in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern . Since 2003 the railbuses have been replaced however by Regio-Shuttle RS1s ; only one power car (T11) is still working and available for specials. At present the Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn works the Düben-Heide Railway between Wittenberg and Bad Schmiedeberg with a railbus running scheduled services. The Uerdingen railbus's successor from

2322-588: The Deutsche Bahn, even if the actual vehicles are provided by railway societies. One multiple is painted in Regionalbahn colours and runs on summer weekends for tourists on the Schwäbische Albbahn and the Ulm–Sigmaringen railway between Ulm Hauptbahnhof and Kleinengstingen . These trains run in the timetable as an entirely normal Regionalbahn service; The first car has a plate on it with

2408-592: The Hüttengewerkschaft und Handlung Jacobi (English: "Jacobi Iron And Steel Works Union And Trading Company"), Oberhausen, which was later renamed Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH). In 1840, German engineer Ludwig Sander founded in Augsburg the first predecessor enterprise of MAN in Southern Germany: the "Sander'sche Maschinenfabrik". It firstly became the "C. Reichenbach'sche Maschinenfabrik", which

2494-629: The Indian market in 2007. At the end of 2011, MAN bought out the stake of its Indian partner, and its operations in India became a wholly owned subsidiary of MAN in early 2012. MAN ended production and sales in India and sold the Pithampur plant back to Force Motors in 2018. In September 2006, MAN produced an offer for the take-over of the Swedish competitor Scania AB . The European Commission approved

2580-749: The MAN works in Nuremberg , which built 40% of Germany's Panther tanks , were often the target of massive Allied bombing attacks during World War II . After the end of World War II, the allies split up the GHH group. A vertical integration, in which mining, iron, and steel production are consolidated, was not allowed anymore. The "Gutehoffnungshütte", together with the MAN firms of Southern Germany, therefore concentrated on engineering, plant construction, commercial vehicles, and printing machines. This process has been supported by strategic acquisitions and dispositions; one of

2666-535: The Morgan rack was not used for third-rail power and the Morgan rack offered interesting possibilities for street railways. The Morgan rack was good for grades of up to 16 percent . The Goodman Equipment Company began marketing the Morgan system for mine railways , and it saw widespread use, particularly where steep grades were encountered underground. By 1907, Goodman had offices in Cardiff, Wales , to serve

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2752-547: The Strub system is on the Jungfraubahn in Switzerland. Strub is the simplest rack system to maintain and has become increasingly popular. In 1900, E. C. Morgan of Chicago received a patent on a rack railway system that was mechanically similar to the Riggenbach rack, but where the rack was also used as a third rail to power the electric locomotive. Morgan went on to develop heavier locomotives and with J. H. Morgan, turnouts for this system. In 1904, he patented

2838-617: The Swiss government. Eager to boost tourism in Switzerland, the government commissioned Riggenbach to build a rack railway up Mount Rigi . Following the construction of a prototype locomotive and test track in a quarry near Bern , the Vitznau–Rigi railway opened on 22 May 1871. The Riggenbach system is similar in design to the Marsh system. It uses a ladder rack, formed of steel plates or channels connected by round or square rods at regular intervals. The Riggenbach system suffers from

2924-716: The United States, the Chicago Tunnel Company , a narrow gauge freight carrier that had one steep grade in the line up to their surface disposal station on the Chicago lakefront. The Lamella system (also known as the Von Roll system) was developed by the Von Roll company after the rolled steel rails used in the Strub system became unavailable. It is formed from a single blade cut in a similar shape to

3010-461: The VT ;95.9 which, with its single motor, was too underpowered for many lines. The VT 98.9 was therefore fitted with two driving motors. Because this variant of the railbus was fitted with normal buffer and screw couplings , it could haul other types of wagon or be placed at the end of other trains hauled by other locomotives. Büssing Type 10 underfloor motors were installed in all units,

3096-401: The boiler pressure, leading to a catastrophic failure. On rack systems with extreme gradients, the boiler, cab, and general superstructure of the locomotive are tilted forward relative to the wheels so that they are more or less horizontal when on the steeply graded track. These locomotives often cannot function on level track, and so the entire line, including maintenance shops, must be laid on

3182-595: The centre rail, as well as by means of the normal running wheels. The first successful rack railway in the United States was the Mount Washington Cog Railway, developed by Sylvester Marsh . Marsh was issued a U.S. patent for the general idea of a rack railway in September 1861, and in January 1867 for a practical rack where the rack teeth take the form of rollers arranged like the rungs of

3268-475: The civil business was largely collapsing, the military business increased with the armament under the National Socialist regime. GHH/MAN enterprises supplied finished tanks, diesel engines for submarines and surface craft, and cylinders for projectiles and artillery of every description. Although MAN produced experimental diesel engines for tanks ( Panzers ), Maybach enjoyed a de facto monopoly on

3354-522: The company was renamed Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG , or in short, M·A·N. While the focus initially remained on ore mining and iron production in the Ruhr region , mechanical engineering became the dominating branch of business in Augsburg and Nuremberg. Under the direction of Heinrich von Buz, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg grew from a medium-sized business of 400 employees into a major enterprise with

3440-543: The company. In the course of this focusing process, many smaller subsidiaries and divisions have been sold. In 2009, investigators of the Munich Prosecutor's Office uncovered a corruption affair, in which MAN had been bribing business partners and governments in over 20 countries from 2001 to 2007, to get large orders for buses and trucks. MAN CEO Håkan Samuelsson and other board members had to resign. The board of directors appointed Dr.-Ing. Georg Pachta-Reyhofen,

3526-403: The construction of turnouts. If the rack is elevated above the running rails, there is no need to interrupt the running rails to allow passage of the driving pinions of the engines. Strub explicitly documented this in his U.S. patent. Strub used a complex set of bell-cranks and push-rods linking the throw-rod for the points to the two throw-rods for the moving rack sections. One break in the rack

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3612-449: The design and manufacture of all tank and half-track engines, which were water-cooled, four-stroke gasoline motors. No diesel engines were installed in production armoured fighting vehicles during the war. MAN also produced gun parts, including Mauser Karabiner 98k rifle bolts. MAN's Waffenamt code was WaA53, and ordnance code was "coc". The MAN works in Augsburg , which produced diesel engines for U-boats and surface craft, and

3698-579: The division under the control of MAN Latin America. Therewith, MAN now is a market leader in Brazil , with a market share of 30%. Since May 2009, the group is incorporated as European corporation MAN SE. In July 2009, MAN published to merge the two divisions, MAN Turbo and MAN Diesel , into one business area called Power Engineering. In addition, the group contracted a strategic partnership with Chinese truck manufacturer Sinotruk , purchasing 25% + 1 share of

3784-403: The early 1880s, Abt worked to devise an improved rack system that overcame the limitations of the Riggenbach system. In particular, the Riggenbach rack was expensive to manufacture and maintain and the switches were complex. In 1882, Abt designed a new rack using solid bars with vertical teeth machined into them. Two or three of these bars are mounted centrally between the rails, with the teeth of

3870-559: The effects of snow or ice on the rails. Most rack railways are mountain railways , although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire , England, United Kingdom , where the first commercially successful steam locomotive , Salamanca , ran in 1812. This used

3956-653: The end of the 1980s was the Class ;628 , which is still in widespread use today, although it is being largely replaced by more the modern multiples like the Bombardier Talent , Alstom LHB Coradia LINT and Siemens Desiro . MAN SE MAN SE (abbreviation of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg - Nürnberg , German: [maˈʃiːnənfaˌbʁiːk ˈʔaʊksbʊʁk ˈnʏʁnbɛʁk] ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich , Germany. Its primary output

4042-418: The engine driver, seats which can be folded two-ways depending on the direction of travel and simple lighting from bare light bulbs with no covers. The production vehicles were braked using a driver's brake valve . The vehicles had a Büssing motor and six gears. They had scharfenberg couplers and Stoßfederbügel instead of buffers. 15 VT 95 railbuses and 15 VB 142 trailer cars were delivered to

4128-567: The first spectacular steel bridges such as the Großhesseloher Brücke in Munich in 1857 and the Müngsten railway bridge between 1893 and 1897. The invention of the rotary printing press allowed the copious printing of books and newspapers, and since 1893, Rudolf Diesel puzzled for four years with future MAN engineers in a laboratory in Augsburg until his first diesel engine was completed and fully functional. During 1921,

4214-405: The former CEO of MAN Diesel, as successor. On 17 December 2009, Pachta-Reyhofen was assigned as speaker of the board and CEO of MAN SE by the board of directors. In July 2011, Volkswagen AG acquired a 55.9% voting stake and 53.7% of the share capital in MAN SE. Pending regulatory approval, Volkswagen planned to merge MAN and Scania AB to create Europe's largest truck maker. The combined trucks group

4300-464: The former subsidiaries of MAN SE were now directly owned by Traton, and MAN SE ceased to exist. MAN traces its origins back to 1758, when the "St. Antony" ironworks commenced operation in Oberhausen , as the first heavy-industry enterprise in the Ruhr region. In 1808, the three ironworks "St. Antony", "Gute Hoffnung" (English: "Good Hope"), and "Neue Essen" (English: "New Forges") merged, to form

4386-511: The latter's overall structure. As a result of the merger, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania AB, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus will become wholly owned, direct subsidiaries of Traton. In September 2020, the company announced that it will be cutting over 9,500 job positions at its MAN Truck & Bus division, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic economic effects. The company made the move to generate €1.8 billion of cost savings by 2023. In 2011,

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4472-504: The majority of MAN was taken over by the Gutehoffnungshütte Actienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, Sterkrade (GHH), (founded 1873). Through well-directed equities and acquisitions of processing industries, e.g., Deutsche Werft (1918), Ferrostaal (1921), Deggendorfer Werft und Eisenbau (1924), MAN advanced to a nationwide operating enterprise, with a workforce of 52,000 by 1921. MAN also produced tractors by

4558-470: The management in Oberhausen. In 1986, with Klaus Götte, the group got a new company structure and became a contractual group with an economically independent division at several locations. This was also attended by the transferring of the MAN headquarters from Oberhausen to Munich, and by the new company name, MAN AG. Rudolf Rupprecht repelled a takeover attempt in 2003. Furthermore, the disposition of

4644-413: The most common rack system in Switzerland at the time – was limited to a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%). Locher showed that on steeper grade, the Abt system was prone to the driving pinion over-riding the rack, causing potentially catastrophic derailments, as predicted by Dr. Abt. To overcome this problem and allow a rack line up the steep sides of Mt. Pilatus , Locher developed a rack system where

4730-478: The most important was the take-over of the truck and bus division of the commercial vehicles manufacturer Büssing (1971), the disposition of the shares of the shipyard Deutsche Werft (1966/67), and the acquisition of the printing machine producer Faber&Schleicher, as well as its fusion to MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG (1979). In 1980, MAN took control of Burmeister & Wain , the Danish company that had been

4816-486: The name MAN Ackerdiesel (1938-1962). The decision for tractor production was made due to increasing demand from eastern Germany. At the same time, the GHH's economic situation worsened. The causes for this were, among others, the reparations after World War I , the occupation of the Ruhr region and the world economic crisis. In only two years, the number of MAN employees sank from 14,000 in 1929/30 to 7,400 in 1931/32. While

4902-573: The notice "im Auftrag der DB" (under contract to the DB). To be consistent, all the normal DB local fares (and at times the NALDO and DING combined fares) apply. The former Chiemgaubahn railbuses, which were painted in white and mint green, are used for this, along with others. This formation is also called the Ulmer Spatz . Other vehicles are in service with the: Uerdingen railbuses are also owned by

4988-414: The pinions rotationally offset from each other to match. The use of multiple bars with offset teeth ensures that the pinions on the locomotive driving wheels are constantly engaged with the rack. The Abt system is cheaper to build than the Riggenbach because it requires a lower weight of rack over a given length. However the Riggenbach system exhibits greater wear resistance than the Abt. The first use of

5074-454: The possibility of the pinions riding up and out of the rack. The Riggenbach rack system was invented by Niklaus Riggenbach working at about the same time as, but independently from Marsh. Riggenbach was granted a French patent in 1863 based on a working model which he used to interest potential Swiss backers. During this time, the Swiss Consul to the United States visited Marsh's Mount Washington Cog Railway and reported back with enthusiasm to

5160-554: The problem that its fixed ladder rack is more complex and expensive to build than the other systems. Following the success of the Vitznau–Rigi railway, Riggenbach established the Maschinenfabrik der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Bergbahnen (IGB) – a company that produced rack locomotives to his design. The Abt system was devised by Carl Roman Abt , a Swiss locomotive engineer. Abt worked for Riggenbach at his works in Olten and later at his IGB rack locomotive company. In 1885, he founded his own civil engineering company. During

5246-399: The rack for driving (with the conventional rail wheels undriven) such as the Dolderbahn in Zürich , Štrbské Pleso in Slovakia and the Schynige Platte rack railway instead must switch the rack rail. The Dolderbahn switch works by bending all three rails, an operation that is performed every trip as the two trains pass in the middle. The geometry of the rack system has a large impact on

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5332-470: The rack is a flat bar with symmetrical, horizontal teeth. Horizontal pinions with flanges below the rack engage the centrally-mounted bar, both driving the locomotive and keeping it centered on the track. This system provides very stable attachment to the track, also protecting the car from toppling over even under the most severe crosswinds. Such gears are also capable of leading the car, so even flanges on running wheels are optional. The biggest shortcoming of

5418-401: The rack rail solidly. Some locomotives are fitted with automatic brakes that apply if the speed gets too high, preventing runaways. Often there is no coupler between locomotive and train since gravity will always push the passenger car down against the locomotive. Electrically powered vehicles often have electromagnetic track brakes as well. The maximum speed of trains operating on a cog railway

5504-412: The rack railways built from the late 20th century onwards have used the Lamella system. Rack railway switches are as varied as rack railway technologies, for optional rack lines such as the Zentralbahn in Switzerland and the West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania it is convenient to only use switches on sections flat enough for adhesion (for example, on a pass summit). Other systems which rely on

5590-518: The rack system used, lines using rack systems fall into one of two categories depending on whether the rack rail is continuous or not. Lines where the rack rail is continuous, and the cog-drive is used throughout, are described as pure-rack lines. Other lines, which use the cog drive only on the steepest sections and elsewhere operate as a regular railway, are described as rack-and-adhesion lines. On rack-and-adhesion lines, trains are equipped with propulsion and braking systems capable of acting both through

5676-455: The railways in Saarland in 1956. They were painted in DB red livery with the inscription SAAR . On the annexation of the Saarland into the Federal Republic of Germany these railbuses were taken over by the Bundesbahn. In 1968 the vehicles were reclassified into Class 795 (power car) and Class 995 (trailer car). Contrary to usual operating practice the VT 95 could also be coupled to two VB 142 trailers. The VT 98.9 evolved from

5762-464: The remainder of Scania being directly owned by Volkswagen Group's heavy commercial vehicle subsidiary, Traton SE. In 2008, the MAN group celebrated its 250th anniversary with numerous events, such as exhibitions in several museums, a vintage car tour with the motto "MAN on the road again", and a great anniversary gala. At the beginning of December 2008, MAN took over Volkswagen 's Brazilian truck and bus operation, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus , putting

5848-445: The running rail wheels and the cog wheels, depending on whether the rack rail is present or not. Rack-and-adhesion lines also need to use a system for smoothing the transition from friction to rack traction, with a spring-mounted rack section to bring the pinion teeth gradually into engagement. This was invented by Roman Abt, who also invented the Abt rack system. On pure-rack lines, the train's running rail wheels are only used to carry

5934-545: The same engine as those on the Büssing Type D2U double-decker buses used in Berlin. The six-way gearbox was supplied by ZF Friedrichshafen . In addition to the 329 power cars, 220 VB 98 trailer cars with luggage compartments, 100 VB 98s without luggage compartments and 321 VS 98 driving cars were produced. In the DB they were mainly used in a VT+VB+VS configuration. However, there were also two-unit VT+VS formations as well as longer rakes of up to six units: VT+VB+VS+VT+VB+VS. In 1968 they were reclassified into Class 798,

6020-424: The system is that the standard railway switch is not usable, and a transfer table or other complex device must be used where branching of the track is needed. Following tests, the Locher system was deployed on the Pilatus Railway, which opened in 1889. No other public railway uses the Locher system, although some European coal mines use a similar system on steeply graded underground lines. The Strub rack system

6106-431: The takeover on 14 December. Nevertheless, MAN voluntarily withdrew the offer on 23 January 2007, after Scania's major shareholders Volkswagen AG and the influential Wallenberg family had declined the offer. On 24 December 2008, MAN published to possess further stock options of Scania and to therefore maintain more than 20% of the voting rights. As of October 2019, MAN SE still owns 17.37% of the voting rights in Scania, with

6192-681: The trailers became 998.0-3 and driving cars 998.6-9. On the latter the serial numbers were increased by 600 (e.g. VS 98 001 became 998 601-9). A few VT were modernised and were given a special white and mint green livery. These railbuses worked in Chiemgau ( Aschau – Prien ), as did the vehicles of the Ulmer Spatz . Otherwise the railbuses were painted in red, the typical DB colour for motive power units. In 1988 47 power cars, 23 trailer cars and 43 driving cars were converted for one-man operation. They were given pneumatic door-closing equipment and

6278-424: The train and do not contribute to propulsion or braking, which is exclusively done through the cog wheels. Pure-rack lines have no need of transitioning systems, as the cog wheels remain engaged with the rack rail at all times, but all track, including sidings and depots, must be equipped with rack rail irrespective of gradient. A number of different designs of rack rail and matching cog wheel have been developed over

6364-721: The way for a domination agreement to be put in place. From January 2019, MAN's Power Engineering division, made up of MAN Energy Solutions (formerly MAN Diesel and Turbo) and MAN SE's 76% stake in RENK AG were sold to the Volkswagen Group, leaving MAN SE as the holding company for commercial vehicle units, MAN Truck & Bus , and MAN Latin America, under the responsibility of Volkswagen's subsidiary, Traton SE. In March 2019, MAN SE announced that 94.36% of its shares were held by Traton. In February 2020, Traton announced that it intends to merge MAN SE with Traton to simplify

6450-411: The years. With the exception of some early Morgan and Blenkinsop rack installations, rack systems place the rack rail halfway between the running rails, mounted on the same sleepers or ties as the running rails. John Blenkinsop thought that the friction would be too low from metal wheels on metal rails even on level ground, so he built his steam locomotives for the Middleton Railway in 1812 with

6536-652: Was also nicknamed the Rote Brummer ( Red Buzzer ) because of the loud noise it made when driving. In North Germany the railbus was also often known as the Ferkeltaxe ( Piglet Taxi ). Amongst railway fans it was also called the Retter der Nebenbahnen ( Branch Line Saviour ). In 1950 the Deutsche Bundesbahn placed twelve single-motored prototypes in a total of three different models; eleven units had

6622-531: Was closed on 27 May 1989. These railbuses were used on almost every branch line and for feeder services on many main lines in the Deutsche Bundesbahn and from 1994 Deutsche Bahn network. Its last regular work on passenger services with the Deutsche Bahn AG finished in 2000 at Bahnbetriebswerk Tübingen . These were twin-motored VT 98.9 versions, most of the single-motored VT 95.9 units had already been retired by 1980. In Köln-Nippes

6708-413: Was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin America divisions, and participation in the manufacturer Sinotruk . MAN SE was majority-owned by Traton , the heavy commercial vehicle subsidiary of automaker Volkswagen AG , until August 2021 when Traton completed a squeeze-out of all remaining shareholders and formally merged MAN SE into Traton SE, meaning

6794-548: Was converted to use the Strub rack system in 1934. The Locher rack system, invented by Eduard Locher , has gear teeth cut in the sides rather than the top of the rail, engaged by two cog wheels on the locomotive. This system allows use on steeper grades than the other systems, whose teeth could jump out of the rack. It is used on the Pilatus Railway . Locher set out to design a rack system that could be used on gradients as steep as 1 in 2 (50%). The Abt system –

6880-437: Was developed based on the experience gained with the prototypes and was delivered in 1952 by Waggonfabrik Uerdingen . 557 single-motored Class VT 95.9 units were built, as well as 564 Class VB 142 trailer cars and 60 two-wheeled railbus trailers for the transportation of luggage. Its furnishings are very simple and resemble those in a bus (hence the name Schienenbus or railbus ): one large open coach shared also by

6966-444: Was found to be sufficient for railroads operating on level ground. The Fell mountain railway system, developed in the 1860s, is not strictly speaking a rack railway, since there are no cogs with teeth. Rather, this system uses a smooth raised centre rail between the two running rails on steep sections of lines that is gripped on both sides to improve friction. Trains are propelled by wheels or braked by shoes pressed horizontally onto

7052-433: Was invented by Emil Strub in 1896. It uses a rolled flat-bottom rail with rack teeth machined into the head approximately 100 mm (3.9 inches) apart. Safety jaws fitted to the locomotive engage with the underside of the head to prevent derailments and serve as a brake. Strub's U.S. patent, granted in 1898, also includes details of how the rack rail is integrated with the mechanism of a turnout . The best-known use of

7138-656: Was named after the pioneer of printing machines Carl August Reichenbach, and later on the "Maschinenfabrik Augsburg". The branch Süddeutsche Brückenbau A.G. (MAN-Werk Gustavsburg) was founded when the company in 1859 was awarded the contract for the construction of the railway bridge over the Rhine at Mainz . In 1898, the companies Maschinenbau-AG Nürnberg (founded 1841) and Maschinenfabrik Augsburg AG (founded 1840) merged to form Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik Augsburg und Maschinenbaugesellschaft Nürnberg A.G., Augsburg ("United Machine Works Augsburg and Nuremberg Ltd."). In 1908,

7224-742: Was not until 1941 that a turnout was constructed on this line. There were more turnouts built for the line but all were hand operated. In 2003, a new automatic hydraulic turnout was developed and built at the base as a prototype. With the success of the new turnout, more new automatic hydraulic turnouts were built to replace the hand-operated ones. The new turnouts installed on the Mount Washington line in 2007 are essentially transfer tables . The Locher rack also requires transfer tables. Originally almost all cog railways were powered by steam locomotives . The steam locomotive needs to be extensively modified to work effectively in this environment. Unlike

7310-466: Was required to select between the two routes, and a second break was required where the rack rails cross the running rails. Turnouts for the Morgan Rack system were similar, with the rack elevated above the running rails. Most of the Morgan turnout patents included movable rack sections to avoid breaks in the rack, but because all Morgan locomotives had two linked drive pinions, there was no need for

7396-409: Was the obsolete company structure with extensive cross-subsidisation between the divisions. At this time, the former director of GHH presented a reclamation concept that envisioned a complete consolidation of the subsidiary with the holding company. This concept encountered great resistance with GHH's major shareholders Allianz AG and Commerzbank. The media speculated about a "Bavarian conspiracy" against

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