Talk:Variable gauge

BRAVA

The CAF system was originally designed in 1968 by the Vevey Company (since absorbed by Bombardier Transportation ), a company located in the city of Vevey on the Leman Lake, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland and was originally called the "Vevey axle" . The design was subsequently obtained and improved by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.

About 1979 the late Dr. Ing. Ricardo Martin of CAF gave me a copy of Spanish language version of a drawing of the "Vevey axle". I still have it and I can assure you with 110% certainty that BRAVA is based on the "Vevey axle", but even the drawing in La Vie du Rail shows this. Peter Horn 00:21, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Variety of Gauges

1. Can VGA handle several gauges at once, or is it limited to just two?
2. Can VGA handle pairs of gauges that are widely spaced? Or close together?
3. Can VGA handle locomotives and their traction motors as well as wagons and carriages?
4. What gauge combinations are already in use?
   • 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) & 1,524 mm (5 ft)
   • 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) & 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
5. VGA seems capable of handing high speeds?
6. How much does VGA cost, per bogie, and what do ordinary bogies cost for comparison?
7. How much does the converter track cost?
8. What speed does the converter track accommodate the VGA bogies? 15 kilometres per hour (4.2 m/s)?
9. Is the convertor track bi-directional?
10. What is extra weight of VGA bogie? ----MountVic127 (talk) 06:14, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

Tabletop (talk) 06:49, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

• 1 While the CAF BRAVA system says that it can "adapt to any gauge" it does not explicitly or unambiguously say that that this can be done on the same axles. No though train from narrow gauge Spain to Russia over 1000/1668/1435/1520 has be confirmed. It is noted that the narrower gauges have less room for the gauge change gear, the disc brakes and perhaps some traction motors. Tabletop (talk) 03:38, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Time taken

There's an error in the section "time taken", concerning the speed. It states that 2 km/h = 5 m/s, which is not true. 2 km/h ~= 0.55 m/s. I'm not sure this is the right one, or if the correct speed is 5 m/s (= 18 km/h). A reference would clear this. - Nmnogueira (talk) 11:40, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

The DBAG/Rafil VGA freight bogie can go through the convertor at 10km/h (2.77m/s).

Axle loads?

The existing VGA systems have axleloads of about 20T, but heavy haul trains have axleloads of upto 40T. Can VGA handle such heavier axleloads? Tabletop (talk) 00:26, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Locomotives

Electric

• 1435 - 1676

Brands

• SUW 2000
• DBAG Rafil Type V
• CAF BRAVA
• Talgo
• Japan RTRI
• Korea KRRI
• Prose of Winterthur, Switzerland - 1435mm/1000mm

Tabletop (talk) 04:10, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Multiple names

VGA is hard to find because it is called by many other names:

• Automatic Track Gauge Changeover System (ATGCS)

• Gauge Adjustable Wheelsets (GAW)
• Gauge Changer
• Gauge Changing
• Gauge Converter
• Rail Gauge Adjustment System (RGAS)
• Replaceable Track Axles (RTA)
• Rolling Stock Re-Gauging System (RSRS)
• Shifting wheelset
• Track Gauge Changeover System (TGCS)
• Variable Gauge Axles (VGA)
• Telescopical axles.
• special automatic system altering wheel tracks of 2010

• AcronymFinder

Tabletop (talk) 04:42, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Mule

The "mule" is a non locomotive method of propelling a train at low speed in a controlled fashion.

It might consist of a powered capstan with a rope hooked to a "convenient place" on a wagon. It the case of an ATGCS mule, it only has to pull a 1800m train by three or four carriage lengths before the departure locomotive of the other gauge can couple.

Ah ha! If the capstan is located on the side of the other gauge, it can pull symetrically on the front coupling of the train being converted. The wire ought not be to heavy to manhandle, and even if it were a small capstan could pull the wire almost into place.

European couplers already have a hook for the wire. Other kinds of couplers such as the AAR and SA3 would need some kind of adapter.

There are other designs of mule.

Tabletop (talk) 06:49, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Pictures

• CAF BRAVA Changeover Track

Patents

• List of 70 Patents

Speed of change

There is nothing slow about the gauge changing process. See Talgo & BRAVA, even powered equipment (locos) change on the run and at a far clip at that, Locomotives and EMUs included [3] [4]. Peter Horn 03:48, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(deleted duplicated section) -- BRAVA is quoting 3s/coach, so assuming 20m coaches that would be 6.66 metres per second (24.0 km/h) or 6.66 metres per second (14.9 mph). Edgepedia (talk) 15:53, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Spanish translation

Why is a Spanish translation cambio de ancho given at the start of the article? I couldn't find any reason for it and it looks a little strange. The system is used in numerous countries and has many different names, so why was Spanish singled out? Tobyc75 (talk) 12:54, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Gauge devices

• http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10162944
• http://entry.rtri.or.jp/backnumbers/04/RTA-04-02.pdf

Tabletop (talk) 05:11, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Operation -- propulsion built into what?

The article says "built-in diesel propulsion system" but isn't clear as to what it is built into -- into the changing equipment or into the carriages? I suspect it's the former, except it seems likelier to me that that would be powered by grid electricity rather than diesel. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.202.169 (talk) 12:24, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

 Done[5]; the gauge changers themselves are generally passive mechanical devices. —Sladen (talk) 15:37, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Prosser

C. W. and C. R. Prosser are probably the same person Tabletop (talk) 04:53, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Switzerland

This articles section on Switzerland includes:

Variable gauge axles are going to be implemented on the Montreux–Gstaad–Zweisimmen–Spiez–Interlaken line. ... The problem of rack equipment has yet to be tackled.

There isn't any rack-equipped track between Montreux and Interlaken (at least by the route specified above), so it isn't obvious what problem with rack equipment there is to tackle. Removing sentence. If you can clarify what the problen is, feel free to replace. -- chris_j_wood (talk) 17:27, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

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Sources

• Álvarez, Alberto García (September 2010). "Automatic track gauge changeover for trains in Spain" (PDF). FFE. Retrieved 25 May 2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

—Sladen (talk) 13:07, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

Brakes

I think clarification is needed for the bottom sentence. It claims that "A gauge adjustable truck complete with wheelsets weighs a total of about one ton/tonne more than a conventional truck " and normally must use disc brakes, which cool more slowly. I thought this was odd, since it goes against everything I have read about disc brakes, which usually are said to cool much better than drums, for obvious reasons. And of course, reading the article the sentence links too, it indeed says that disc brakes cool better than drums. Partway through the article, I find a link labelled "railway brakes", which leads to the article on "Slippery rail", dealing with leaves on the track. Halfway down the page, I find a single paragraph mentioning how one benefit to using brake shoes over discs is that the brake shoes act directly on the wheel, and help clean it off. I was not aware of this. I had taken the original statement to mean trains used to use drum brakes. I assume the fact that the entire wheel acts as a big heat sink and radiating area makes brake-shoes on trains cool quicker, but it seems like I had to jump through a lot of hoops just to figure that simple fact out. I would gladly make a quick explanation myself, but undoubtedly someone would simply come through and delete it because it "isn't referenced"..45Colt 10:36, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

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Need to clarify why they move the wheel instead of just have twice as many wheels

The lead says "the wheels are unlocked, moved closer together, or further apart, and are then re-locked."

The article should explain why they don't just make the axle/wheelset with twice as many wheels (or make the truck/bogie with twice as many axles), so that half the wheels are at the closer spacing, and half at the larger spacing, so that the train can operate on either track gauge, without needing a gauge changer or a gauge change facility.

I thought about trying to patent this and get rich, but decided it was so obvious that I can't be the first person to think of it...

47.139.47.239 (talk) 21:09, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Four wheels on the same axle or four axles on the same bogie???? That would not work at switches and crossings! Give me a break! Peter Horn User talk 13:55, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

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Weird article

a) This article completely ignores the common method for variable gauge traffic, namely changing the bogies.

b) And then it talks mostly about future or very old variable-gauge installations.

It seems written by a railway freak who never saw or studied the real thing ... --User:Haraldmmueller 11:48, 8 February 2021 (UTC)