European Railroad Discussion > Close-Up of Italian MOW

From my trip to Germany and Italy in October of 2015.  MOW equipment at Ponti nelli Alpi, Beluno province, Veneto region, Italy;

1.  Close up of a small flatcar parked on a side track of the station platform.

2. A mobile crane car.  I would guess that this is held in stand-by here to remove fallen trees and small landslides that may block the tracks in this mountainous region..

3.  Across from the station, a larger self-propelled crane, with a larger accompanying flatcar.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/16 15:29 by zars.

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I find it strange that so many Euopean countries do not use automatiic couplers.
Chris

engine3420 Wrote:
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> I find it strange that so many Euopean countries
> do not use automatiic couplers.
> Chris

Agree.  Also, the couplers they use appear less robust than automatic couplers.  On the other hand, they run lighter trains.
ALLEN

The flat in the first picture appears to have mount points for a 20FT container too.

engine3420 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find it strange that so many Euopean countries
> do not use automatiic couplers.
> Chris

For passenger trains all modern stock uses fully automatic couplers which complete both the mechanical and the electrical and air coupling/uncoupling without any need for ground personnel. But for freight it is much more mixed, there are some knuckle couplers in use (I presume that's what you mean by automatic) in some countries, but not universally. And they tend to be on specific, heavier flows.

Reasons:
1: Cultural - freight trains in Europe generally are lighter than in North America and the screw coupling is perfectly adequate, so why spend limited investment resources on a conversion that offers little or no financial benefit.

2: Operational - there is less wagonload freight in Europe,freight  trains tend to operate as a unit into which a wagon is semi-permanently coupled and do not, generally, exchange wagons en-route.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/16 03:23 by 86235.

86235 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> engine3420 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I find it strange that so many Euopean
> countries
> > do not use automatiic couplers.
> > Chris
>
> For passenger trains all modern stock uses fully
> automatic couplers which complete both the
> mechanical and the electrical and air
> coupling/uncoupling without any need for ground
> personnel. But for freight it is much more mixed,
> there are some knuckle couplers in use (I presume
> that's what you mean by automatic) in some
> countries, but not universally. And they tend to
> be on specific, heavier flows.
>
> Reasons:
> 1: Cultural - freight trains in Europe generally
> are lighter than in North America and the screw
> coupling is perfectly adequate, so why spend
> limited investment resources on a conversion that
> offers little or no financial benefit.
>
> 2: Operational - there is less wagonload freight
> in Europe,freight  trains tend to operate as a
> unit into which a wagon is semi-permanently
> coupled and do not, generally, exchange wagons
> en-route.

Exactly, although one can also add under 2: above, the universal use of the screw coupling which is (almost) always available. Thus with a vehicle for occasional or erratic use such as the MOW trucks shown in the post, screw couplings are ideal. They can be coupled to anything, even a steam loco!