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44-483: The society is divided into four groups: This group runs its own vehicles on the 5.7 kilometre long narrow gauge Amstetten–Laichingen railway from Amstetten to Oppingen, the so-called Albbähnle . Motive power is provided by locomotive 99 7203 and, from time to time, the diesel locomotive D8. Historical branch line steam trains run on the society's own line from Amstetten to Gerstetten (Amstetten–Gerstetten branch line). Since mid-2006 they have been joined by

88-698: A 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have metre-gauge railways . Narrow-gauge trams, particularly metre-gauge, are common in Europe. Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia , Greece, and Costa Rica. A narrow-gauge railway

132-785: A DRG Class 58 (ex Baden G 12 ) steam engine on the Alb Valley Railway between Ettlingen and Bad Herrenalb and the Rhine Valley Railway and Murg Valley Railway between Karlsruhe and Baiersbronn . This historic engine was built in 1921 by the Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe . Other steam locomotives also stationed with the Ettlingen Group, but not in working order, are a DRG Class 44 , DRG Class 50 and DRG Class 86 ). The fast-stopping coaches were mainly built in

176-425: A curve with standard-gauge rail ( 1435 mm ) can allow speed up to 145 km/h (90 mph), the same curve with narrow-gauge rail ( 1067mm ) can only allow speed up to 130 km/h (81 mph). In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent-way improvements have allowed trains on 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge tracks to exceed 160 km/h (99 mph). Queensland Rail 's Electric Tilt Train ,

220-455: A design speed of 137 km/h (85 mph). Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow-gauge railways allow sharper curves, but these limit a vehicle's safe speed. Many narrow gauges, from 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge, are in present or former use. They fall into several broad categories: 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ) track gauge (also known as Scotch gauge)

264-474: A heavy-duty narrow-gauge line is Brazil's EFVM . 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge, it has over-100-pound rail (100 lb/yd or 49.6 kg/m) and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. The line has a number of 4,000-horsepower (3,000 kW) locomotives and 200-plus-car trains. Narrow gauge's reduced stability means that its trains cannot run at speeds as high as on broader gauges. For example, if

308-503: A mine in Bohemia with a railway of about 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge. During the 16th century, railways were primarily restricted to hand-pushed, narrow-gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. In the 17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial , connecting mines with nearby transportation points (usually canals or other waterways). These railways were usually built to

352-518: A minimum radius. The first proper railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , which opened in 1830. Like the tram roads that had preceded it over a hundred years, the L&;M had gentle curves and gradients . Reasons for these gentle curves include the lack of strength of the track, which might have overturned if the curves were too sharp causing derailments. The gentler the curves, the greater

396-825: A number of large 3 ft ( 914 mm ) railroad systems in North America; notable examples include the Denver & Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern in Colorado; the Texas and St. Louis Railway in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; and, the South Pacific Coast , White Pass and Yukon Route and West Side Lumber Co of California. 3 ft was also a common track gauge in South America, Ireland and on

440-609: A range of industrial railways running on 500 mm ( 19 + 3 ⁄ 4  in ) and 400 mm ( 15 + 3 ⁄ 4  in ) tracks, most commonly in restricted environments such as underground mine railways, parks and farms, in France. Several 18 in ( 457 mm ) gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and other military facilities, particularly during World War I . Minimum railway curve radius The minimum railway curve radius

484-423: A small radius. Various types of articulated locomotives (e.g., Mallet , Garratt , Meyer & Fairlie ) were devised to avoid having to operate multiple locomotives with multiple crews. More recent diesel and electric locomotives do not have a wheelbase problem, as they have flexible bogies , and also can easily be operated in multiple with a single crew. Not all couplers can handle very short radii. This

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528-471: A tighter standard. A long heavy freight train, especially those with wagons of mixed loading, may struggle on short radius curves, as the drawgear forces may pull intermediate wagons off the rails. Common solutions include: A similar problem occurs with harsh changes in gradients (vertical curves). As a heavy train goes around a bend at speed, the reactive centrifugal force may cause negative effects: passengers and cargo may experience unpleasant forces,

572-407: A train negotiates a curve, the force it exerts on the track changes. Too tight a 'crest' curve could result in the train leaving the track as it drops away beneath it; too tight a 'trough' and the train will plough downwards into the rails and damage them. More precisely, the support force R exerted by the track on a train as a function of the curve radius r , the train mass m , and the speed v ,

616-491: Is a track gauge of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ). It has about 95,000 km (59,000 mi) of track. According to Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centre of each rail rather than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge, measured 950 mm ( 3 ft  1 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) between the edges of the rails, is known as Italian metre gauge . There were

660-611: Is being refurbished as a museum exhibit in the Augsburg Railway Park . The services operated by the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde are regularly reported in the railway press and in TV programmes such as Eisenbahn-Romantik ('Railway Nostalgia'). All railway operations are carried out by volunteer members, from coach attendants to qualified engine drivers. This does not just involve running railway trips, but also

704-446: Is built to accommodate for a 288-foot (88 m) radius, but normally a 410-foot (125 m) radius is used as a minimum, as some freight carriages (freight cars) are handled by special agreement between railways that cannot take the sharper curvature. For the handling of long freight trains, a minimum 574-foot (175 m) radius is preferred. The sharpest curves tend to be on the narrowest of narrow gauge railways, where almost all

748-486: Is given by with the second term positive for troughs, negative for crests. For passenger comfort the ratio of the gravitational acceleration g to the centripetal acceleration v /r needs to be kept as small as possible, else passengers will feel large changes in their weight. As trains cannot climb steep slopes, they have little occasion to go over significant vertical curves. However, high-speed trains are sufficiently high-powered that steep slopes are preferable to

792-488: Is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ). Historically, the term was sometimes used to refer to what are now standard-gauge railways , to distinguish them from broad-gauge railways , but this use no longer applies. The earliest recorded railway appears in Georgius Agricola 's 1556 De re metallica , which shows

836-563: Is particularly true of the European buffer and chain couplers , where the buffers extend the length of the rail car body. For a line with a maximum speed of 60 km/h (37 mph), buffer-and-chain couplers increase the minimum radius to around 150 m (164 yd; 492 ft). As narrow-gauge railways , tramways , and rapid transit systems normally do not interchange with mainline railways, instances of these types of railway in Europe often use bufferless central couplers and build to

880-509: Is the shortest allowable design radius for the centerline of railway tracks under a particular set of conditions. It has an important bearing on construction costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation (difference in elevation of the two rails) in the case of train tracks , determines the maximum safe speed of a curve. The minimum radius of a curve is one parameter in the design of railway vehicles as well as trams ; monorails and automated guideways are also subject to

924-620: Is tilted due to the cant, r is the curve radius in meters, v is the speed in meters per second, and g is the standard gravity , approximately equal to 9.81 m/s²: Rearranging for r gives: Geometrically, tan θ can be expressed (using the small-angle approximation ) in terms of the track gauge G , the cant h a and cant deficiency h b , all in millimeters: This approximation for tan θ gives: This table shows examples of curve radii. The values used when building high-speed railways vary, and depend on desired wear and safety levels. Tramways typically do not exhibit cant, due to

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968-1021: The Isle of Man . 900 mm was a common gauge in Europe. Swedish three-foot-gauge railways ( 891 mm or 2 ft  11 + 3 ⁄ 32  in ) are unique to that country and were once common all over the country. Today the only 891 mm line that remains apart from heritage railways is Roslagsbanan , a commuter line that connects Stockholm to its northeastern suburbs. A few railways and tramways were built to 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge, including Nankai Main Line (later converted to 3 ft 6 in or 1,067 mm ), Ocean Pier Railway at Atlantic City , Seaton Tramway ( converted from 2 ft ) and Waiorongomai Tramway . 800 mm ( 2 ft  7 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge railways are commonly used for rack railways . Imperial 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in

1012-535: The Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde - travels the length and breadth of Europe visiting, for example, Austria , Italy , France , Hungary , Sweden and Russia ( Kaliningrad ); albeit remaining mostly in south Germany . The express train steam locomotives and a working heating wagon are stationed at Heilbronn , the coaches in Stuttgart . The non-operational express train engine, number 01 1081,

1056-583: The 1930s and modernised in the 1950s. The luggage vans homed at Ettlingen, which are usually used for the free transportation of bicycles, were used to carry the mortal remains of Frederick the Great from Hechingen to Potsdam . This group maintains the most famous steam locomotives in the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde - 01 1066 and 01 509 - as well as historic, express train, 1st and 2nd class coaches. The vehicles were built between 1928 and 1954. The historic steam express - reinforced by express train coaches from

1100-587: The 500mm gauge tracks of their mine railway ; these locomotives were made by the Deutz Gas Engine Company ( Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz ), now Deutz AG . Another early use of internal combustion was to power a narrow-gauge locomotive was in 1902. F. C. Blake built a 7 hp petrol locomotive for the Richmond Main Sewerage Board sewage plant at Mortlake . This 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge locomotive

1144-952: The Philippines demonstrate that if track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance almost as good as a standard-gauge line is possible. Two-hundred-car trains operate on the Sishen–Saldanha railway line in South Africa, and high-speed Tilt Trains run in Queensland. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge; in New Zealand, some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service), and Auckland One Rail (Auckland suburban services). Another example of

1188-920: The coal industry. Some sugar cane lines in Cuba were 2 ft  3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 699 mm ). 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British colonies. The U.S. had a number of railways of that gauge , including several in the state of Maine such as the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway . 1 ft  11 + 3 ⁄ 4  in ( 603 mm ), 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) and 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) were used in Europe. Gauges below 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) were rare. Arthur Percival Heywood developed 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge estate railways in Britain and Decauville produced

1232-434: The equipment is proportionately smaller. But standard gauge can also have tight curves, if rolling stocks are built for it, which however removes the standardisation benefit of standard gauge. Tramways can have below 100-foot (30 m) curve radius. As the need for more powerful steam locomotives grew, the need for more driving wheels on a longer, fixed wheelbase grew too. But long wheel bases do not cope well with curves of

1276-544: The fastest train in Australia and the fastest 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge train in the world, set a record of 210 km/h (130 mph). The speed record for 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge rail is 245 km/h (152 mph), set in South Africa in 1978. A special 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railcar was built for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company with

1320-575: The former British colonies . 760 mm Bosnian gauge and 750 mm railways are predominantly found in Russia and Eastern Europe. Gauges such as 2 ft 3 in ( 686 mm ), 2 ft 4 in ( 711 mm ) and 2 ft  4 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 724 mm ) were used in parts of the UK, particularly for railways in Wales and the borders, with some industrial use in

1364-408: The inside and outside rails will wear unequally, and insufficiently anchored tracks may move. To counter this, a cant (superelevation) is used. Ideally, the train should be tilted such that resultant force acts vertically downwards through the bottom of the train, so the wheels, track, train and passengers feel little or no sideways force ("down" and "sideways" are given with respect to the plane of

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1408-483: The low speeds involved. Instead, they use the outer grooves of rails as a guide in tight curves. A curve should not become a straight all at once, but should gradually increase in radius over time (a distance of around 40m-80m for a line with a maximum speed of about 100 km/h). Even worse than curves with no transition are reverse curves with no intervening straight track. The superelevation must also be transitioned. Higher speeds require longer transitions. As

1452-411: The museum railbus, number T06. Occasionally goods trains are also worked. Steam locomotive 75 1118 hauls the historic steam trains. The Group ( UEF Lokalbahn Amstetten-Gerstetten e. V. ) owns other diesel locomotives and railbuses and historic branch line passenger coaches. The Albtal Transport Company ( Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ) runs a historic fast stopping train ( Eilzug ) hauled by

1496-1041: The preparation and clearing up afterwards as well as restoration and repair wherever possible and permitted. Narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway ( narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge . Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) and 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves , smaller structure gauges , and lighter rails ; they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where

1540-425: The reduced speed necessary to navigate horizontal curves around obstacles, or the higher construction costs necessary to tunnel through or bridge over them. High Speed 1 (section 2) in the UK has a minimum vertical curve radius of 10,000 m (32,808 ft) and High Speed 2 , with the higher speed of 400 km/h (250 mph), stipulates much larger 56,000 m (183,727 ft) radii. In both these cases

1584-550: The same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed. The world's first steam locomotive , built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a 3 ft ( 914 mm ) plateway . The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's Salamanca built in 1812 for the 4 ft 1 in ( 1,245 mm ) Middleton Railway in Leeds . Salamanca

1628-405: The track and train). Some trains are capable of tilting to enhance this effect for passenger comfort. Because freight and passenger trains tend to move at different speeds, a cant cannot be ideal for both types of rail traffic. The relationship between speed and tilt can be calculated mathematically. We start with the formula for a balancing centripetal force : θ is the angle by which the train

1672-475: The traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge . In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard: Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland , Western Australia and Tasmania have

1716-441: The visibility, thus boosting safety via increased situational awareness. The earliest rails were made in short lengths of wrought iron , which does not bend like later steel rails introduced in the 1850s. Minimum curve radii for railways are governed by the speed operated and by the mechanical ability of the rolling stock to adjust to the curvature. In North America, equipment for unlimited interchange between railway companies

1760-565: The world; 19th-century mountain logging operations often used narrow-gauge railways to transport logs from mill to market. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland, and narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for building tunnels. In 1897, a manganese mine in the Lahn valley in Germany was using two benzine -fueled locomotives with single cylinder internal combustion engines on

1804-525: Was adopted by early 19th-century railways, primarily in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland. 4 ft  6 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,384 mm ) lines were also constructed, and both were eventually converted to standard gauge. 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) between the inside of the rail heads, its name and classification vary worldwide and it has about 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of track. As its name implies, metre gauge

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1848-563: Was also the first rack-and-pinion locomotive. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the 1,100 mm ( 3 ft  7 + 5 ⁄ 16  in )-gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway

1892-560: Was in 1865, when the Ffestiniog Railway introduced passenger service after receiving its first locomotives two years earlier. Many narrow-gauge railways were part of industrial enterprises and served primarily as industrial railways , rather than general carriers. Common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways included mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and conveying agricultural products. Extensive narrow-gauge networks were constructed in many parts of

1936-536: Was probably the third petrol-engined locomotive built. Extensive narrow-gauge rail systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I . They were a short-lived military application, and after the war the surplus equipment created a small boom in European narrow-gauge railway building. The heavy-duty 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge railways in Australia (Queensland), New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and

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