DJs are known for spinning tunes on a turntable – but what if they themselves were being spun around on a turntable themselves? Well, Slovakian DJ & producer Johnny de City did that recently, thanks to Slovak rail operator Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko.
Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a.s. (ZSSK) (English: The Railway Company of Slovakia) is a Slovak state-owned passenger train company based in Bratislava; and the track played by Johnny de City was a mash up of Da Hool’s 1997 track “Meet Her At The Love Parade” and “Meet Her at the Love Parade” is a song recorded by German disc jockey Da Hool and Anyma & Argy & Son Of Son “Voices In My Head“.
This photo of a Deutsche Bahn train running through on tracks almost covered by floodwater is quite extraordinary, but when I looked closer it at I found something else I had never seen before – Y-shaped railway sleepers. So that’s the story there?
An unusual form of tie is the Y-shaped tie, first developed in 1983.
Compared to conventional ties, the volume of ballast required is reduced due to the load-spreading characteristics of the Y-tie. The cross section of the ties is an I-beam.
Noise levels are high but the resistance to track movement is very good. For curves the three-point contact of a Y steel tie means that an exact geometric fit cannot be observed with a fixed attachment point.
As of 2006, less than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of Y-tie track had been built, of which approximately 90 percent is in Germany.
Along with a photo showing Y-shaped sleepers beside conventional track.
But who developed these unusual Y-shaped sleepers? Wikipedia led me to their German name “Y-Stahlschwellen” – which let me to Hyperion Verwaltung GmbH, who details the history of them.
Considering the many advantages of steel sleepers, consideration was given to a truss construction for track construction, in which steel sleepers would be inserted as struts between the running rails. The rails rest on the gusset plates and form the upper and lower chords. Such a track never came to fruition, as the track frame proved too rigid and unworkable for curved track sections.
The “truss concept” was revived and further developed by Jürgen Frenzel, a graduate engineer, and led to the development of a “dissolved” truss structure with Y-shaped steel sleepers. Jürgen Frenzel is therefore credited as the inventor of this Y-shaped steel sleeper superstructure; from 1983 onward, Günter Fasterding joined as co-developer and inventor.
Jürgen Frenzel first looked for a suitable support profile for the new steel sleepers. The Peine beam IB 100 S-1 was chosen because it met the requirements for producing Y-shaped steel sleepers. After selecting the support profile, the forming process had to be carried out. Through cooperation, the Peine-Salzgitter AG steelworks succeeded in obtaining cold-formed sleeper beams that, when placed side by side, form the shape of the letter “Y.”
With suitable rail support and fastening, the first Y-shaped steel sleeper track was built in 1984 at the Peine-Salzgitter steelworks. The first load tests on the Y-shaped steel sleepers in ballast and on slab track were conducted there under the supervision of the Munich Railway Control Center (BZA). These tests were supplemented by derailment and repair tests.
And their early rollout.
1986: 1,000 metres of track of the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) on ballast and asphalt base courses on the H–BS line.
1987: Main line and station tracks of the East Hanoverian Railways (OHE) and equipment of a main line track of the East-West S-Bahn S8 of the DB Netz with galvanized Y-steel sleepers on asphalt base courses in the Linderhauser Tunnel.
1989: Switches with Y-steel sleepers in Zurich main station and switches (area of the Deutsche Reichsbahn)
1993: The gap at Kaliningrad Central Station (formerly Königsberg) was closed. Y-shaped steel sleepers for standard, broad, and double gauge tracks were installed.
However 30 years on, the Y-shaped sleepers still seem to be a niche product – but still offered by ThyssenKrupp Schulte GmbH as part of their range.
Safety and cost-effectiveness even on the most demanding routes: This is what our Y-shaped steel sleeper stands for, which has been used in European railway networks for 30 years. Its advantages include a larger footprint, optimized track stability, and a significant reduction in the number of sleepers required and the ballast cross-section.
The smaller ballast cross-section, resulting from the geometric shape of this sleeper, creates a higher resistance to lateral displacement and improved frame stiffness of the track grid compared to the classic superstructure – conditions that make conversions possible even without further investment.
The preferred areas of application include narrow routes and routes with many constraints such as bridges, platforms or tunnels, where the specified height of the top edge of the rail cannot be achieved without complex earthworks, subgrade widening or land acquisition.
We manufacture Y-shaped steel sleepers for track gauges from 750 mm to 1520 mm and various rail types. We also design special applications such as rack and narrow-gauge railways, multi-rail tracks, temporary bridges, guardrails, and safety and guidance systems.
The range of applications extends from light mountain railways and mainline railways according to European standards to heavy-duty railways with 38 t axle load overseas.
Over the years there have been many examples of former railway lines being turned into roads. But in the Caucasus Mountains above Sochi in Russia the opposite is happening – the former Krasnopolyanskoe Highway running through the Akhtsu Gorge is being turned into a 1,700 metre long 750 mm gauge tourist railway.
Photo via В Сочи / T.me
Some history
The Krasnopolyanskoe Highway serves the ski resorts around Krasnaya Polyana high in the Caucasus Mountains, and was first built in 1891-1898 according to the design and supervision of mining engineer V.K. Konstantinov. The road followed the route taken by the Mzymta River flowing to the sea, with four kilometres through Akhtsu Gorge hugging the path of a narrow pack trail. During Soviet times the road was upgraded for larger vehicles, rock sheds were provided to shelter travellers from rockfalls in the steep terrain, and from June 2002 traffic lights were used to implement one way traffic flows along the four kilometre long stretch of gorge.
But despite this the narrow road did not meet modern standards, and so in 1998 work started on the 2580 meter long Краснополянский тоннель (Krasnopolyansky Tunnel) to bypass the narrow road through the gorge. Work stalled in August 2002 due to a lack of funds, but resumed in 2004, with the tunnel opened to traffic in August 2005.
However after Russia won their bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, the Krasnopolyanskoe Highway towards Krasnaya Polyana was in for another upgrade, with a combined motorway and rail route being built along the left bank of the Mzymta River, duplicating the existing two lane highway.
A key part of this was Тоннельный комплекс №3 (Tunnel Complex No. 3) – which consisted of a 3201 metre long road tunnel parallel to but across the river from the Краснополянский тоннель (Krasnopolyansky Tunnel).
Google Street View
Along with a parallel 4615 metre long single track railway tunnel.
Google Street View
Work started on this tunnel complex in 2009, and it was completed by 2013.
Reconstruction of the Old Krasnopolyanskoe Highway as a tourist attraction was floated in 2015.
Reconstruction of the famous rocky section of the Krasnopolyanskoye Highway will begin soon. Repair work includes clearing the section, strengthening the steep slopes and restoring the road surface on the oldest highway.
After the reconstruction is completed, the rocky section of the old Adler-Krasnaya Polyana highway will become an excellent excursion site. Many tourists will be able to take walking trips here, first of all, guests of the nearby ski resorts “Gorki-Gorod”, “Laura” and “Rosa Khutor”, – noted the head of the resort and tourism department of the Sochi city administration Alexey Grachev.
The investor in the highway reconstruction project was the company OOO “Yuzhnaya Zvezda”.
But it appears that nothing came of it.
And the railway
May 2024 saw rumours of another plan for the Old Krasnopolyanskoe Highway, with local media outlet Sochinews.io: Новости Сочи eventually getting to the bottom of them – a new tourist attraction called «Музей истории строительства горных дорог России Ахцу» (Museum of the History of Construction of Mountain Roads of Russia Akhtsu), including the 1,700 metre long 750 mm gauge «Поезд парковый на рельсах» (“Park Train on Rails”) tourist railway.
Last week, information about a narrow-gauge railway line under construction in the area of the old Krasnopolyanskaya road aroused great interest. Social media users shared their assumptions about the future of the currently dangerous facility.
We tell you what is actually happening there and what is planned in our exclusive material.
Indeed, the old road to Krasnaya Polyana is becoming more active. Work is underway to strengthen the slopes, and rails and sleepers for the future narrow-gauge railway are being laid. All this is the very beginning of a large project called the Museum of the History of Construction of Russian Mountain Roads in Akhtsu.
The first stage is the construction of a 1,700-meter-long railway. A train will soon be launched on it. A small tourist train with literally three open carriages, each with a capacity of up to 50 people.
“After the installation of the railway line is completed, the construction of tourist infrastructure will begin. There will be a museum here telling the history of the construction of mountain roads in Russia, recreation areas where you can have a snack and drink local tea with a view of the beauty of Krasnaya Polyana,” said the author, founder and owner of the project Alexey Grachev.
According to Alexey Grachev, it is also planned to place attractions here. But this is all in the future. At the initial stage, the new tourist route will be a mini-trip on a mini-train with one stop. To organize the movement, two observation platforms will be equipped – in front of the tunnel and behind it.
“The train will operate all year round, but twice a year the facility will be closed for maintenance – to ensure safety,” said Alexey Grachev.
By the way, special attention is paid to safety here.
As already mentioned, work is being carried out on the site to strengthen the mountain slopes. It is planned to equip special places, reliably protected from rockfall, where it will be possible to safely exit the train.
The composition itself is made of particularly strong modern materials, so that its body can withstand the impact of a stone falling from a slope.
Residents and guests of the resort will have the opportunity to see the legendary mountain road in just a couple of months. The opening of the first part of the initial stage of the historical and tourist project is scheduled for June-July 2024.
With a small diesel locomotive used to transport materials along the completed section of railway.
Photo via В Сочи / T.me
But media outlet SOCHI1.RU reported that local ecologists were against the project.
Scientists from the Sochi Geographical Society have filed a petition with the Sochi prosecutor demanding that the construction of a narrow-gauge tourist railway be stopped in one of the most beautiful places in the resort – the Akhtsu Gorge.
As reported by the SGO “Sochi Geographer” telegram channel, back in 1988, the Akhtsu Gorge received the status of a natural monument. On its slopes grow endemics listed in the Red Book: Circassian cyclamen, Voronov’s snowdrop, long-flowered muscari, as well as one of the rarest plants – hard-leaved bellflower, or mzymtella.
During the Olympic construction, the Sochi Geographical Society managed to save the mzymtella from extinction as part of a biodiversity conservation project.
Ten years have passed, and now the life of the rare bellflower is threatened by businessmen from OOO Simmetriya, who are laying rails for their little train on a closed rocky section of the old highway to Krasnaya Polyana.
Sochi National Park is the only place on the planet where this type of bellflower grows. In the Akhtsu Gorge, according to observations in August 2021, employees of the scientific department counted only about a hundred specimens of this relict plant.
Construction of the project was made possible because the former road being used for the tourist railway was not part of the national park.
After scientists from the Sochi Geographical Society raised the alarm about the construction of a dangerous entertainment in the form of a narrow-gauge railway on the old Krasnopolyanskoye Highway in the Akhtsu Gorge, our publication decided to find out the details in the Sochi National Park.
The management of the protected area neither denied nor confirmed that construction had begun in the gorge. It turned out that the old Krasnopolyanskoye Highway is not within the boundaries of the specially protected natural area, but belongs to the municipality. The national park is responsible only for part of the gorge.
The information that OOO Simmetriya, which began installing the trolleys on the narrow-gauge railway, did not enter into an agreement with the national park for the construction of dangerous entertainment has been confirmed.
“The Federal State Budgetary Institution “Sochi National Park” did not enter into any land lease agreements with OOO “Simmetriya ,” the national park’s management responded to Kuban Inform.
Our publication is preparing a request to the Sochi mayor’s office to find out who the businessmen who are trying to install trolleys for unsuspecting tourists in the previously closed part of the gorge are dealing with.
The city administration gave the land for the construction of a railway in the Akhtsu gorge to the company “Simmetriya”. This was reported to “Kuban Inform” by the Sochi administration. The company will use the land near the national park for almost 50 years.
“An agreement on the provision of a land plot for use under lease terms (lease agreement) was concluded between the municipal formation of the resort city of Sochi and the limited liability company “Simmetry”. The term of the agreement is set until 11/25/2069″ — the official response of the administration to our publication says.
In particular, the resort gave away two plots. One, with an area of 2,857 square meters, was designated for “nature tourism,” and the second, 21,746 square meters, was designated for “transport.”
The mayor’s office did not specify how the safety of tourists will be arranged, or whether the endemic and red-listed plants will really be destroyed. However, officials stated that the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources is responsible for this.
“Issues of regulating the use of flora and fauna listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation are assigned to the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources” the official response from the resort administration states.
The public civil movement “For Sochi!” does not share the enthusiasm of the developers: candidate of economic sciences Elena Bokacheva notes that the project has not been discussed and has not been approved by the city administration. The project has not been agreed upon or accepted by the city’s urban development council.
At this stage, the attraction was created only on the basis of an agreement with the Sochi administration for the lease of a section of the road for 49 years and a license for the use of subsoil issued by the Department of Subsoil Use for the Southern Federal District.
I contacted the Sochi Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Office and the Southern Department of Rosprirodnadzor, which identified gross violations of federal legislation. Rosprirodnadzor responded that the company did not have a positive conclusion from the environmental assessment of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation for the use of subsoil.
During the patrol, employees identified a violation of the protection regime of the Sochi National Park: the company “Simmetriya” installed metal structures fixed in the rock, with a stretched metal protective net against rockfall without design and technical and special permit documentation agreed with the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, — Elena notes.
According to her, on July 15 of this year, the environmental prosecutor’s office filed a motion regarding violations of the law on the protection of the environment and cultural heritage sites, the requirements of which were ignored. According to the environmental prosecutor’s office, the project has not passed the assessment of harmful impact on the environment, construction work is being carried out in the water protection zone of the Mzymta River, which negatively affects aquatic biological resources.
In addition, the project has not been agreed upon with the Federal Agency for Fisheries, and the land leased by the company is located within the boundaries of the protection zone of the cultural heritage site of federal significance “Kepshinskaya parking lot” in the area of the Akhtsu Gorge.
Part of the lessee’s land is located on the territory of the cultural heritage site “Place of execution of 21 Red Army soldiers of the 273rd Sochi regiment”. In addition, the site is partially located within the boundaries of the protected area of the cultural heritage site “Two scrap metal left by the builders of the Krasnopolyanskoye Highway in the area of the Akhtsu Gorge”, 1879-1902, Akhtsu Gorge, 33rd km.
The project to create the “Park Train on Rails” attraction has not been agreed upon with the Department of State Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites of the Krasnodar Territory Administration.
The Adler District Prosecutor’s Office of Sochi, following numerous requests from citizens and organizations, conducted an inspection of a new tourist facility in the Akhtsu Gorge on the old road to Krasnaya Polyana.
The specialists of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Department for Sochi, the Sochi Hydrometeorological Center and the Sochi Administration Civil Defense and Population Protection Department involved in the inspection unanimously noted the high degree of avalanche danger of the specified area and the lack of sufficient engineering and technical protection of potential consumers of the service, — the press service of the Krasnodar Territory Prosecutor’s Office reports.
The supervisory authority took into account that no activity has been carried out to date, and the head of the organization was warned about the inadmissibility of violating legislation in the field of population protection from emergency situations.
The 1,700-meter-long railway has already been built. A small tourist train with three open carriages, each with a capacity of up to 50 people, is supposed to run along it.
But despite their concerns, in September 2024 the first train ran, as a closed trial run at what was now called «Парка аттракционов Ахцу» (“Mountain Park Akhtsu”).
The Telegram channel “Море-зовет” recently wrote that very soon a new tourist attraction will open on the old Krasnaya Polyana road in Sochi – a narrow-gauge railway along a rocky section.
According to the organizers, special attention was paid to safety here. It is claimed that they strengthened the mountain slopes, equipped special places reliably protected from rockfall, for a safe exit from the train.
The road will be opened for tourists at the end of September, and it will be possible to “safely enjoy the infinitely high mountains, frightening cliffs and vaults of the mystical tunnel cut into a huge rock more than 100 years ago.” The cost of the trip is 1,400 rubles, the Telegram channel writes.
The train itself looking comical – a fibreglass steam locomotive body with non functional wheels plonked over the top of a diesel locomotive.
Photo via Море-зовет / T.me
However since the first trial run, there has been silence from the park operator – their VK Page and Instagram accounts have been silent since their “Opening in September 2024” announcement, and their website went dark sometime after April 2025.
And the train – parked at the station at the northern end of the line, getting covered in leaves.
Footnote: more on the old road
“Akhtsu Gorge: Exploring the abandoned Soviet road from Sochi to Krasnaya Polyana”.
And riding along the abandoned road on a motorcycle.
Footnote: and more tunnels
A piece of tunnels in Sochi (Russian language), along with a useful map:
Vienna was an early adopter of low floor trams on their network, so much design and development work was required before a wider rollout. And one part of this program was a ‘Frankenstein’ tram that combined a low floor test module into an existing low floor tram.
In 1989 the City of Vienna decided to purchase low-floor trams, the interiors of which would have neither steps nor platforms nor excessively steep ramps. A consortium of the companies SGP Verkehrstechnik GmbH (now Siemens) and ELIN EBG Traction (a subsidiary of VA Tech, which in turn was also taken over by Siemens) then developed a new type of vehicle, which was to be tested on a test vehicle.
For this purpose a low-floor center section including the new type of articulated portals was installed in a C2 trailer, coupled to an E1 railcar and tested on the network. The vehicle, which initially had no drive, was subsequently equipped with its own traction motors and presented to the public in November 1991.
As you can see, it was quite the bizarre looking combination.
But that wasn’t the end of odd looking test vehicles – the success of the initial tests saw the decision made in early 1992 to replace front trailer module with a fully functional front end section, to allow the test vehicle to operate autonomously.
The revised test vehicle was presented to the public in November 1992. The additional front end section was designed by Porsche Design, and the cab design was used as a basis for the later production trams.
The decision to order a production run of low floor trams was also made November 1992, with the first of two prototypes delivered in March 1995. This was followed in November 1996 by an order of production trams, the first of which was eventually delivered in November 1997, and entered service in June 1998.
The “Vienna Tramway Museum” has acquired the ULF test vehicle type ULF-197 consisting of the two-part head section in Porsche design with front portal chassis, the ULF test vehicle middle section, and the trailer section C2 1054 as the rear section.
The vehicle will be preserved in the museum without the C2 trailer section, which is of no historical value and has already been completely destroyed, in order to be able to show the construction of the portal chassis and the low vehicle floor height in cross-section.
There’s a lot of oddball railway vehicles out there, but the “Straßenroller” (“street scooter”) of Germany are something else altogether – a trailer designed to move railway freight wagons by road.
Also nicknamed “Culemeyer” after their inventor, there isn’t much written about Straßenroller in English, but German-language Wikipedia has a long article on them. Here’s the story of how they came to be:
Due to the increasing transport demands on the German Reichsbahn in the 1930s, technical solutions were sought in order to be able to meet these demands. One reason for this was the increasing motorization of road vehicles, which led to an increasing number of transport options using trucks. The freight transport options of the railways therefore had to compete with those of trucks. The small number of vehicles owned by the German Reichsbahn Company (DRG) was not enough to compete. Therefore, options were sought to attract companies that were not located near a railway siding to rail transport. The “door-to-door” concept offered customers the opportunity to receive containers of various sizes in so-called container transport or various freight wagons on site.
The Reichsbahn senior engineer Johann Culemeyer – responsible for mechanical engineering at the DRG – developed a trailer for transporting railway wagons based on these requirements. This road vehicle, the Straßenroller, enabled freight wagons and heavy loads to be transported economically and easily on the road.
A freight wagon could be transported from a freight yard to a company by road on a Straßenroller. This made it possible to transport goods in a wagon to and from a company that did not have a rail connection. The goods could be loaded and unloaded directly into the wagon, or fuel could be pumped directly from the tank wagon into the tanks of a gas station. When loading was finished, the wagon was put back on the tracks and could be transported over the rails again. It was also possible to park a freight wagon at a customer who did not have his own tracks. For this purpose, a mobile frame, the “mobile drop-off track”, was parked directly on the customer’s premises. The mobile drop-off track was a rectangular steel frame onto which a wagon was dropped off from a Straßenroller.
Under the motto “Bringing the railway to your home”, the DRG advertised the transport of freight wagons and the overland transport of heavy goods using the Straßenroller in its advertising brochure at the time. The Straßenroller was registered with the patent office on November 29, 1931 under the name “Mobile connecting track”; the patent was granted on November 9, 1933. On April 27, 1933, the Straßenroller and its possible uses were officially presented to the press and companies at the Anhalter freight station in Berlin.
The Kaelble company, which had already provided the 72 hp Z4 Express tractor, delivered the newly developed three-axle tractor “Z6R/1” with a 100 hp diesel engine in 1933, and Henschel delivered the three-axle tractor “33 D O” with a 100 hp petrol engine, both with solid rubber tires. In 1934, Kaelble delivered its successor, the “Z6R” with pneumatic tires, and in 1935, Henschel delivered the “33 G 0” with a 100 hp diesel engine and pneumatic tires. Since the turning circle of these tractors was too large for city traffic, Kaelble developed the two-axle “Z4GR”, which became the standard tractor for city traffic from 1934 onwards. Due to the increasing number of orders and heavier loads, Kaelble delivered the three-axle tractors of the type “Z6RL” to the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1937; the revised version, the “Z6R2A100”, followed in 1938, and the two-axle vehicles of the type “Z6GN125” were added in 1939.
How wagons were loaded and unloaded.
The Straßenroller, with a deadweight of around 10 tonnes and a load capacity of 32 tonnes, can transport a wagon with a payload of 20 tonnes and a deadweight of 11 tonnes. The maximum speed for transport with the Straßenroller was limited to 25 km/h for safety reasons.
It consists of two individual chassis that are connected to one another by a movable guide rod. Each individual frame is used to accommodate one axle of the railway wagon. The frames can be pulled apart to the axle spacing of the wagon. Each individual frame has eight wheels with highly elastic tyres; each of the wheels is movable. All wheels are connected to one another by a steering rod so that they can be steered into a circular arc for cornering.
The dimensions of a chassis without attachments are 3000 mm long, 2000 mm wide and 150 mm ground clearance. The maximum width across the wheel hubs is around 2821 mm.
After the wagon has been pulled onto the Straßenroller, it is lowered to transport height by a manually driven hydraulic lowering device. The lowering device was omitted from later Straßenrollern in order to save time when loading. The braking system is a combined air-oil brake and consists of a single-chamber pneumatic cylinder and two oil pressure pumps, each of which acts on two wheels of a single frame.
After a year of testing the Straßenroller on the grounds of the Berlin Anhalter freight station, the first official transport of freight wagons with a Straßenroller was opened on October 12, 1933 in Viersen on the Lower Rhine . The customer for this regular service was the “Kaiser’s Kaffeegeschäft GmbH”, which had built its own settling track system with transfer tables on the grounds of the chocolate factory and a permanent settling system with a turntable in the courtyard of the boiler house. The same year, the textile factory “Pongs & Zahn” in Viersen- Rahser and the “Benzin-Großhandels-Gesellschaft Heinrich Jansen” followed.
On June 15, 1934, Straßenroller transport began in the town of Aschersleben ; the first customers were the “Werkzeug-Maschinenfabrik u. Eisengießerei Billeter u. Klunz AG” , followed by the Gebrüder Ludewig wool blanket factory. Straßenroller operation for the rolling bearing manufacturer Kugelfischer in Schweinfurt began on July 10, 1934, and between eight and ten freight wagon transports were carried out daily. On November 2, 1934, freight wagon transport began in Elmshorn, among others for the “Gebrüder Asmussen Presshefefabrik” and the “Gebrüder Rostock AG”.
Other major customers included the Osram company from Berlin and Continental Gummiwerke AG in Hanover. Osram had two sidings on Utrechter Strasse, which were connected to each other by a transfer table inside the building. The first companies in Baden to use the Straßenroller services were the Freiburg brewery Ganter and the silk thread factory Mez AG, from June 5, 1935. In Saxony, regular service began in January 1935 in the town of Pulsnitz , where the long-distance power station and the consumer cooperative were supplied from the freight station.
And the growth in traffic.
When the “Culemeyer” was put into operation in 1933 in the Viersen district, a delivery rate of around 30 wagons per week was expected; after just a few months, the peak value was 90 wagons per week. In the first year, a total of 4,284 transports were carried out.
From October 1933 to April 1938, around 163,000 freight wagons were transported for 140 customers. By July 1942, 500,000 freight wagons had already been transported by road.
In 1964 there were a total of 123 locations in West Germany and 120 in East Germany with regular Straßenroller service.
A number of different designs of Straßenroller were created.
The first Straßenrollern were built by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG (GWF) on behalf of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and according to the plans of Johann Culemeyer, while the one-part 12-wheeled Straßenroller was manufactured by both the Waggon-und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft Görlitz (WUMAG) and GWF.
Two-part 16-wheel: 31 tonne capacity, each half having two axles and eight solid rubber tires across two rows. Originally equipped with a lowering device to lower the loaded wagons to transport height, this was removed in 1935 increasing load capacity to 40 tonnes.
Two-part 24-wheel: 100 tonne capacity, each half having three axles and 12 solid rubber tires across two rows.
One-piece 12-wheel: 40 tonne capacity, six axles with only outer wheels.
From 1953 onwards, a new generation of Straßenrollern was developed on behalf of the DB by Siegener Eisenbahnbedarf AG (SEAG) and Waggon-und Maschinenbau GmbH Donauwörth (WMD). This one-piece Straßenroller was based on the DB design.
Sometimes multiple Straßenroller were used to transport large railway carriages.
In 1933, the Deutsche Reichsbahn owned two Straßenrollern, by the end of 1934 there were already 16 and by the end of 1935 there were 32 Straßenrollern. In 1939, the Deutsche Reichsbahn had 49 two-part 16-wheeled Straßenrollern in its inventory, but only four two-part 24-wheeled Straßenrollern.
By the end of 1945, the Deutsche Reichsbahn owned around 200 Straßenrollern of various designs, and in 1947 around 132 of these were still operational.
In 1949, the German Federal Railway took over around 153 two-part and eight one-part Straßenrollern from the stocks of the German Reichsbahn.
In 1964, the Deutsche Reichsbahn had 104 Straßenrollern for 40 t payload, 6 Straßenrollern for 80 t and 6 for 100 t payload.
Retriment of the original Straßenrollern commenced in the mid-1970s, with the Deutsche Bundesbahn discontinuing the delivery of freight wagons by road in 1987, following the growth in truck swap bodies and ISO containers for intermodal freight. However the tractor units and trailers were sold to private companies who continued operating them, for the delivery of specialised cargoes or for special transfers of railway vehicles.
Footnote: “Vagnbjörn” of Sweden
Statens Järnvägar in Sweden also operated special vehicles to transport rail wagons by road – they were called “Vagnbjörn” (“wagon bears”).
In much of Europe it gets awfully cold in winter time, which presents difficulties for rail operators when carriages are parked overnight in a siding, and need to be warmed up the next morning ready for passengers to board. Their solution – converting retired locomotives as a power supply for the carriage heaters.
“Heizlokomotives” in the age of steam
During the days of steam, the heaters inside each carriage were fed with steam from the boiler of the locomotive that was hauling the train. This presented difficulties each morning as the train would needed to be preheated before departure, so rather than monopolising a mainline steam locomotive, retired locomotives were retained as source of steam.
German-language Wikipedia explains the modifications made to retired locomotives for their role as a “Heizlokomotive” (heating locomotive).
Old steam locomotives were often used for preheating carriages, or as switch heaters to prevent them from freezing in winter. Heating locomotives were also used as heat suppliers to heat the premises of the railway depots.
If a steam locomotive was only intended to be used as a heating locomotive, only a simplified overhaul was carried out. In many locomotives, the preheater was shut down and replaced by a second jet pump . Only the components required for heating, such as the boiler, were given a full inspection.
Photos of heating locomotives show high chimneys were often placed on the original locomotive chimney to improve the draft and to divert the smoke. In the case of rolling locomotives, this elevation was apparently usually mounted on a frame under which the locomotive could be driven or pulled out.
And the Deutsche Reichsbahn classifications of these steam locomotives.
Heizlok (heating locomotive)
A fully operational locomotive that was used for limited traction.
Provisorische mobile Heizanlage (temporary mobile heating system)
A decommissioned steam locomotive, whose boiler was kept in working order. In the repair shop they were equipped with appropriate steam extraction connections for heating service. These locomotives were allowed to travel under their own power between the heating location and the depot with a special permit to resupply themselves or to change their heating location.
Locomotives were delivered to the depot almost complete, along with their removed parts. With relatively little effort, it would have been possible to restore them for operational service. As As result many traditional Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotives “survived” in this way.
Some locomotives of the DRG Class 44 lost their entire internal drive in the Meiningen repair shop without the remaining parts being adapted for two-cylinder operation. After that, due to the disturbed mass balance, they were only allowed to travel at 60 km/h, tow a trailer load of 60 tonnes and were also acoustically recognisable due to the missing third exhaust beat.
Dampfspender (Steam dispenser)
This was the name given to stationary, decommissioned locomotives with a boiler that was still usable. Everything that was not necessary for generating steam or that could be used as a spare part for other locomotives was removed from these locomotives.
The engine was dismantled (cylinders, connecting rods, brakes) and the chassis was often simplified by removing individual axles. The axles in the area of the firebox were removed in some cases to make it easier to access the ash pan from the side. With the wheel sets removed, such a locomotive cannot roll.
“Trafostations” in the age of electricity
As steam locomotive gave way to electric traction, so did the method of carriage heating – “Zugsammelschiene” (head-end power) was introduced, with electric heaters in each carriage powered by a transformer in the electric locomotive hauling the train. However the problem of preheating carriages without a locomotive was still a problem, so retired electric locomotives were converted into “Trafostations” (transformer stations).
As with the steam heating locomotives, parts that were not required for their new role as a carriage heating power supply were removed from decommissioned locomotives. The electrical supply to these transformer stations was often via fixed wires instead of the pantographs, and in some cases, the former locomotives were placed away from the station on sections of track specially laid for this purpose .
In addition to supplying power to parked passenger trains, transformer stations were used for other purposes, such as in winter for electric point heaters where such heaters were available. Often the heating of the points had previously been converted from propane gas to electricity . Another use was to provide electricity for testing purposes in repair shops; for example, the two former locomotives in Frankfurt am Main shown opposite served this purpose .
The electric heating locomotives used included several examples of the DRG Class E 04, DRG Class E 52, ÖBB Class 1020 and ÖBB Class 1670.
Many former heating locomotives and transformer stations were not scrapped after being taken out of service, but were preserved as museum exhibits. Most of them were at least refurbished externally.
Some newer examples trafostations remaining in use through the 2010s, like this ÖBB Class 1042.
As you might expect, keeping an old electric locomotive around just for the transformer inside it is a lot of work – so instead they installed special power outlets – “zugvorheizanlage” (train preheating systems) – at carriage yards.
The electrical energy is taken either from the railway power supply network or from the public medium-voltage network and fed to the transformer via a medium-voltage switchgear consisting of a isolator (e.g. an overhead line switch ) and a circuit breaker . The transformer supplies a busbar with the voltage required by the train.
The power per branch in common systems is up to 800 kVA . When fed from the public grid, the maximum power depends on this, since the single-phase train busbar common in the UIC places an asymmetrical load on the public three-phase grid.
Each outlet leads from the switchgear house to a heating element. This usually consists of three units: the control column, a predetermined breaking point and a dummy socket stand.
The predetermined breaking point prevents major damage to the system if the train is accidentally moved despite the cable being connected. It is designed so that the heating cable can be torn off by the moving train without causing damage to the stationary system that is difficult to repair. It usually works in such a way that the end of the flexible heating cable is pulled straight out of the connection point through guides.
The dummy socket stand is used to hold the electrical jumper cable when it is not connected to a train.
I wrote about the fire-fighting trains of the Swiss Federal Railways the other month, but they aren’t the only specialised vehicles used to fight fires on the railways of Switzerland – they also have road-rail fire trucks.
The Matterhorn Gotthard Railway runs trains through the 15.4 kilometre long Furka Base Tunnel, and so in 2020 they acquired two road-rail fire and rescue trains – for each of the tunnel portals in Realp and Oberwald.
The two road-rail vehicles are 12.5 metres long and can reach a maximum speed of 40 km/h on the rail; with a standard driver’s cabs at one end and a secondary cab at the other, so can be controlled from both the front and the rear. The centre ambulance vehicle is 13.7 metres long and also has a cab, allowing the train to be broken up into two portions.
The side doors on the side of each vehicle are sliding to suit the narrow tunnel profile, along with a hydraulically operated rear ramp for easy access. The fire and rescue vehicle has a 5,000 litre water tank and fire pumps, while the passenger vehicles can transport 60 passengers between them in a secured positive pressure air space.
While able to run on road, the choice of road-rail vehicles was made due to cost – self-propelled vehicles were desired, but acquisition of suitable locomotives would have been more expensive.
Rhaetian Railway
The Rhaetian Railway has a fleet of six road-rail fire trucks, which entered service in 2017, following legislative changes to the Railways Act (EBG) that made railway operators responsible for rescue operations on their tracks.
The vehicles were manufactured by Müller Technologie AG with firefighting equipment by Brändle AG. Each vehicle cost around 900,000 Swiss francs, with a total project cost of around 6 million Swiss francs including the construction of 57 road-rail pads where the vehicles can switch from rail to road and vice versa.
The new vehicles were deployed to fire brigades at Samedan-Pontresina, Bergün-Filisur/Albula, Ilanz, Arosa, Poschiavo and Thusis; while brigades at Klosters and Zernez already had road-rail vehicles for use in the Vereina Tunnel, the longest railway tunnel on the RhB network.
Hong Kong also has road-rail fire trucks, for use on the 26 kilometre long tunnel underground section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail line.
I’ve written about the fire-fighting trains of the Russia before, but they’re not the only railway to operate such trains – the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) also have a number of firefighting and rescue trains for use in their long underground tunnels.
The first fire-fighting and rescue train in Switzerland entered service in 1964 as class LRZ/TES 64, and was based at Göschenen for use on the railway through the Gotthard Tunnel. The train consisted of two carriages – a tank wagon with pump and foam system, and rescue carriage – hauled by a diesel locomotive.
This train was considered a success, and in 1970 the SBB-CFF-FFS developed the concept further, with ten trains of class LRZ/TES 76 entering service in 1976. Costing 2.5 million francs, they included a four-axle fire extinguishing wagon, an equipment wagon, and a rescue carriage.
Each train carried 44,000 litres of water, 1,000 litres of foam extract and 1,000 kg of extinguishing powder. A 200 hp diesel engine drove a motor pump and a compressor could supply 1,000 litres of air per minute. The class LRZ/TES 76 was withdrawn from operation in 2009.
In 2004 the first self-propelled firefighting, rescue and recovery trains were introduced to Switzerland, based on the CargoSprinter platform developed by Windhoff GmbH of Germany.
The Lösch- und Rettungszug Neue Technologie (LRZ) consists of three vehicles: an equipment vehicle (with power unit, air compressor, firefighting equipment), a tank wagon (with a 50 cubic metre water tank and 1,800 litres of foam extract), and a rescue vehicle (with space for up to 60 injured and uninjured passengers from tunnels, with separate supply of breathing air and equipment for 23 firefighters).
Both the equipment and rescue vehicles have their own diesel engines. Thus in the case of a tunnel fire the train can be separated, with one part remaining at the scene to deal with the incident, and another part shuttling back and forth between the accident site and the outdoors to evacuate the passengers.
The firefighting and rescue train is used not just for tunnels, but also as an intervention vehicle. The railway emergency services also accomplish tasks that can be reached from the tracks. These include clearing accidents, extinguishing fires and towing broken-down trains.
The first train was delivered to SBB-CFF-FFS in 2003, with the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway also purchasing their own train. Eight more units entered service in 2008, followed by two in 2014 for the Gotthard Base Tunnel; and six in 2018 for the CEVA line, Ceneri Base Tunnel, and the Lötschberg and Simplon Tunnels.
While perusing a geographically accurate map of the Paris Metro, I came across an isolated section of track labelled “Base d’essais de la Petite Ceinture” – which lead me down a rabbit hole to the introduction of automated trains on the Paris Metro.
You can find the geographically accurate map of the Paris Metro at cartometro.com, with the piece of track that caught my eye found in the south of Paris where the pink Line 7 and purple line 14 meet.
Labelled “Base d’essais de la Petite Ceinture”, the Petite Ceinture was a orbital railway that once connected the major railway stations of Paris, but has now fallen into disuse – the abandoned tunnels being a popular photography site.
Luckily French-speaking railfans have also extensively researched the history of the railway, including a Wikipedia article on the Base d’essais de la Petite Ceinture. Here is an extract via Google Translate.
The Base d’essais de la Petite Ceinturc (BEPC) is a former test line located on the right-of-way of the Petite Ceinture railway in Paris, in the 13th Arrondissement.
As part of the Météor project (which would become line 14), approved by the government in 1989, the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) decided that the new line would be operated with fully automated trains and awarded the design of the Système d’Automatisation de l’Exploitation des Trains (SAET) at MATRA Transport International (now Siemens Mobility). In order to validate the system before completion of the work, it was decided to carry out the tests on a temporary track.
On the Petite Ceinture line , the section located between Parc Montsouris and Avenue d’Italie stood out as the ideal site for installing a test line due to its excellent geographical location, in the heart of Paris. At the time, it was also planned to eventually extend line 14 to the Cité universitaire station by reusing the Petite Ceinture, the former La Glacière-Gentilly freight station being planned to accommodate a workshop for maintenance.
The single track, equipped for rubber tyred trains, extended over one kilometer to Avenue de Choisy, with a second 300 metre long siding. A 90 metre long platform partially equipped with platform screen doors, and a small overhaul workshop with a 30 metre long inspection pit were also provided.
The base opened in the fall of 1994 and the actual tests began in the spring of 1995, continuing until May 1997 when testing was carried out on line 14 itself. The test campaign made it possible to validate the SAET system, with the verification of the interaction of automatic trains with manually operated trains, as well as to test the operation of platform screen doors.
After the tests, the installations are completely dismantled and the site is restored to its original condition.
The tests were carried out with two pre-production MP 89 CA train sets, as seen in this 1995 film by the Institut national de l’audiovisuel.
Turns out the locomotive in question was a Class 57/3, with Wikipedia explaining the reason for the extra coupler at each end.
During April 2002, Virgin Trains West Coast signed a deal with Porterbrook for the rebuilding of Class 47s into Class 57/3s; these were to provide a fleet of locomotives for rescue duties as well as to drag electric trains along routes that lacked overhead wires to power them directly, with it decided to fit the fleet with Dellner retractable couplings. The first of these locomotives were delivered in June 2002.
The retractable couplers are found above the standard screw couplers.
They remained in this role until 2008 when the completion of West Coast Main Line upgrade saw Virgin Trains’ need for the locomotive reduce, with six units returned to Porterbrook and leased to Network Rail in September 2011.
Six new weapons have been unleashed in the war against delays on the former Southern Region, with Network Rail launching six Class 57/3s capable of rescuing electric multiple units and hauling them at 100mph (RAIL 725).
The locomotives are leased by NR from rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook, having been made redundant from similar jobs on the West Coast Main Line. NR leased the six (57301/303/305/306/310/312) in 2011, and their level of work has slowly increased.
Recent brake modifications allow drivers to operate both the brakes on the ‘57s’ and those of the failed train. The safety interlocks can also be operated on the EMUs from the ‘57’, which means that the trains can be hauled at normal line speed. In some areas, that is 100mph.
NR does not have its own drivers, and so drivers from other companies are hired to operate the locomotives. They are predominantly from GB Railfreight, although Colas Rail and Direct Rail Services also provide crews.
“All six Class 57s have had their couplers lowered by 115mm,” he explains. “It has to be lower to couple to the EMUs. Four are
fitted with Dellner couplers to work with the Electrostars and Desiros, while two can work with Tightlock couplers. These are the couplings fitted to the EMUs built by British Rail, and to the Class 357s used by c2c.”
It gets more complicated, Stewart explains, because five different kinds of electrical adapters are required (two for the Electrostars, for example). They are carried on the locomotives in the former boiler compartments, which remain from their days as Class 47s.
The electrical adapters are vital because they put various supplies from the ‘57’ into the EMU. “The Class 57s have air brakes, and that will translate into the unit,” explains Stewart.
Previously, if an EMU failed the option would be for another EMU to rescue it. This would block the line, and cause major delays. Rescues were easier with Tightlock-fitted EMUs, but not those with Dellner couplings – the trains would be unbraked and have to run at 5mph.
Now, the ‘57s’ can rescue an EMU and keep all its systems running, as well as clearing a blocked line.
“Before, failed units had to be rescued using whatever train was available, was powerful enough, and which could be coupled to the unit,” says Stewart.
“Route controls would have to source the rescue vehicle, and competent fitters, and get them to the depot to collect the emergency adaptor coupler before the recovery train could go out – all of which took valuable time.”
A rescue involving one of the modified ‘57s’ would involve its driver, the driver of the failed unit, plus competent staff, such as a maintenance operations manager or a train operating company fitter, on either side of the coupling. This can be achieved in 15 minutes – a huge time saving over previous procedures, says NR.
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