What is the current gauge of british rail tracks as i am designing a vehicle that is self powered?

Question

Also who do i write to for permision to use the said tracks

Answer 1

mmmm self powered?....pray tell?

Answer 2

As others have told you, Network Rail own the majority of the tracks and charge a small fortune in track access charges. If you are serious (and I do wonder when (a) you need to ask this question and, (b) don't realise that the majority of passenger trains on the UK railways are either electric or diesel multiple units and therefore 'self powered') then you wouold be better off approaching one of the many private or heritage railways in the country who are sometimes willing to allow their tracks to be used for testing at a fractionof the cost charged by NR

Later - you will have to disclose your schematics to someone at sometime, otherwise you will never get permission. If you are worried about your idea getting stolen and you reckon you have something unique, then you need to apply for a patent. I'm always very leery of 'inventors' who hug their 'discoveries' to their chests.

Answer 3

The gauge of the tracks is 4ft 8 1/2 inches. Network Rail own the largest percentage of railway track in the UK although there are several private railways that operate steam trains as tourist attractions.

You need to know more than just the gauge of the track if you wish do deisgn and build a vehicle to operate on these tracks. Network rail have standards that have to be complied with regarding the building and operation of any railbourne vehicle that is operated on it's tracks, these range from wheel profile to safety systems such as Train Protection and Warning systems and On Train Monitor/Recorders.

To design and buikd a prototype rail vehicle to operate on Network Rail's infrastructure would cost litterally thousands before they'll let you near the rails.

This project seems like it needs some big reaserch carrying out.

Answer 4

4 feet 8.5 inches.

Write to Network Rail, who own the tracks.

Answer 5

hmm this is an interesting proposition.

as others said, you probably would be best to find a short-line, a tourist museum line, or an unused siding, that a business would rent to you for usage.

however, i am intrigued - what would make your vehicle better or different than other vehicles that are already on the market?  Other rail companies, such as Siemens, Alsthom, Bombardier, and Colorado Rail Car all have self-propelled rail vehicles already developed and for sale - there just is not much interest from national railways for them at this time.

millions and millions of dollars are needed to design and build any railcar, let alone a self-propelled one.  Not to say tht you cant do it, but i am curious if you have such resources, when huge rail industry corporations have not been able to make a go of them yet.

also, if you are designing, you will have to meet MANY MANY government mandates and regulations. you would not believe how many there are.  everything ranging from materials, signals, buff strenght of the frame, crumple zones, etc, are ALL government mandated.  again, perhaps you are familiar with all these, but i doubt it, as even the corporations need multiple people to know all this stuff.

i would suggest that you might actually want to talk to the rail vehicle manufacturers rather than the individual railroads.  Perhaps, if your ideas are good or different, they would buy the patents from you, or maybe even better would be to hire you directly to work for them to develop your rail vehicle.  and that way too, the mfgrs have some test tracks themselves, and have communications with the rail companies to work out details for further testing if such is merited in future.

the other choice would be to contact/join a university civil engineering railroad program, as a student or as a professor.  Our civil eng rr students are working on projects, theses, capstones, etc in conjunction with the railroad companies, and the companies are always on campus for presentations and giving out job offers for graduates.

see http://sftp.cee.uiuc.edu/research/railro... .

now, all that being said, i do think it admirable for your attempt, and i would be interested in knowing more about it.  i will be in a position to recommend which types of transport systems, whether rail trains, rail self-propelled, trams, buses, highways, etc, are installed for various cities and regions.   i really want to push self-powered rail vehicles for more markets, and have been very impressed so far with Colorado Rail Car's new DMU prototype.

if you want, look at some historical factors too.  Budd Corp had moderate success with its RDC in the 1950's, but failed with its SPV in 1980's.  Bombardier bought them out years ago and now holds all the plans and rights to the RDC and SPV today (and Bombardier also bought out all of Pullman's assets in the 1990's, so now that have most all of north american rail vehicle designs and markets).

Answer 6

The nominal gauge of standard gauge railways in Great Britain is 1435mm which is the same as the standard gauge in most of Europe (some countries, including Russia, Spain and Ireland use wider gauges). 1435mm is effectively identical (to within 0.1mm) to the old definition of 4 ft 8 1/2 inches which I think is still the standard gauge in the USA but track and wheel specifications throughout Europe and most of the rest of the world are nowadays expressed in metres and millimetres.

However, the nominal gauge is only a small part of what you need to know to design the wheelsets for a railway vehicle as it has to be able to go through pointwork and around curves and be compatible with the shape of the rail head. The wheel profile which includes the width and shape of the tread, the shape thickness and depth of the flange and the curve between them as well as the back to back measurement are all crucial and nowadays the whole system of vehicle suspension, wheels and track are generally seen as a single engineering system. For example, although using the same standard 1435mm gauge a street tram system might well use very different wheel and track standards to a main line railway.

To illustrate this, one of the scrapyard engineering type  TV programmes had a  challenge to build a railway vehicle. One of the teams built their own wheels from car parts. They got the gauge right so it was fine on plain track but it derailed as soon as it passed over points. The other team simply used the wheelsets from an old track maintenance trolley and it ran fine.

It's very unlikely that you would ever get permission from Network Rail to use any of their track to experiment with as they tend to be full of passenger and freight trains. Preserved railways might also be tricky as they are all subject to detailed regulations but there are preservation sites that are effectively depots and often have sidings that aren't used by public trains. You might also try one of the industrial museums that have preserved rail vehicles as they often have some track to run them on. They all have websites  

You may be able to get track and wheel specifications from Network Rail or the UIC

Answer 7

As others said, forget trying to test on National Rail unless you work for them or a contractor.  You could try one of the preserved lines, or for initial tests on short lines, you could try contacting a business with a disused private siding. There are a number of short lengths of disused track around the country, belonging to businesses which no longer send/receive goods by rail or have closed down altogether. A sympathetic owner or manager might help you out with cheap access to their back yard with a siding in it.

E.g. I noticed 3 such lines recently while on a train from Paddock Wood to Stroud in Kent

Another possibility is building a smaller gauge test vehicle first - there are several small narrow gauge tourist lines around the country which only operate in summer and might allow cheap access to their line in winter.

Answer 8

4 feet 8 1/2 inches is the standard guage.

Answer 9

If you want to find tracks you can use, check out heritage railways and get involved in one.  If you were in the States, I'd say check out NARCOA http://www.narcoa.org/

However check them out anyway, because they literally wrote the book on how to build on-track vehicles which work, and are safe.

Answer 10

since you are designing your own vehicle, why not design one that is "extensible" from 4'' to 6''? Then you are pretty much covered for all gauges.