Re: TALGO tilt trains

[matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au (Matthew Geier)]

In article <3676483a.0@news.highway1.com.au>,
David & Jan Winter <winterd@nospam-icenet.com.au> wrote:
>Two questions for the engineers in our midst:
>
>1. I understand Talgo trains go through gauge changing apparatus. How does
>this operate? Would it be valid in Australia? (If it's not the Talgos, then
>it's certainly the case with freight cars - sorry goods wagons).

 Ive got a couple of photo's I got off the net years ago showing the
guage changing track and a diagram of the process.
 I put them on my web site http://www.sleeper.apana.org.au/railway/images/
files - Talg_ins.jpg and Talgo_ej.jpg. Ive long forgotten who scanned these
images. Been lurking on my system for some time now.

 They have only just developed a freight version - with co-operation from
one of the countries that inherited the Soviet broadguage system. I dont
know if the frieght talgo bogie is in commercial use yet, but there are a
few operators keen on cross break-of-guage frieght with out the time and
labour consuming bogie change process.

>2. Is there any reason why a Talgo car concept can't be built with
>articulated 2-axle bogies or as standalone cars with 2 two-axle bogies -
>noting that some of the car length would become unavailable for passengers.

 They were probably built as low slung single axle articulated trains for
stablity. The guage changing bogie has two stub axles, so there is no built
in self centring ablity like a conventional wheel/axle system. The bogies
would tend to hunt.