Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the bogies or trucks (the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car), and installing a new bogie with differently spaced wheels. It is generally limited to wagons and carriages, though the bogies on diesel locomotives can be exchanged if enough time is available.
The term can also refer to the rebuilding of rolling-stock for permanent use on another gauge, e.g. the Little Joe electric locomotives intended for the Soviet Union (Russian gauge) which were rebuilt for use in the United States, or the New Zealand British Rail Mark 2 carriage rebuilt for use on the NZR Cape gauge.
Engines
Steam Steam locomotives can be designed for more than one gauge, by having, for example, reversible wheel hubs that suit two alternative gauges. This was done in the 1930s and beyond in Victoria for possible gauge conversion, though no engines were ever converted in this manner other than one heritage engine (R766). Some Garratt locomotives of East Africa were designed for easy conversion to gauge, though again none ever was.
In 1944, the LMS re-gauged a pair of "Jinty" 0-6-0 tank locomotives – originally built to UK – for use on its gauge Northern Counties Committee (NCC) lines in Northern Ireland; re-designated as Class Y, they largely undertook shunting work on dockyard lines in Belfast. The re-gauging was performed by simply reversing the wheel centres so that the spokes dished outwards.
In the southern United States, some steam locomotives built by Baldwin were designed for easy conversion from to .
Diesel Diesel locomotives have bogies like wagons and carriages, only with more cables for the traction motors and take a little longer to convert. In Australia, some classes of diesel locomotives are regularly gauge-converted to suit traffic requirements on the , , and networks.
Since the networks in Australia are not all connected to each other, being separated by deserts or lines of other gauges, they are bogie-exchanged or piggybacked on road or rail vehicles when transferred between these networks.
Electric The Little Joe electric locomotives intended for the Soviet Union were rebuilt for use in the United States.
Raising or lowering
Raise The simplest way to carry out bogie exchange (to change their gauge) is to lift the wagons off one of their sets of bogies and replace them back on another, new set of bogies. This may require the wagons in a train to be uncoupled, and continuous brakes disconnected. If the wagons are swung out of the way by an overhead hoist, they may sway, which wastes time settling them down.
The pin that centres the bogies and the hoses and fittings for the brakes must be compatible. A generous supply of bogies of each gauge is needed to accommodate the ebb and flow of traffic. The bogies and wagons also need to have standardized hooks, etc., where they may be efficiently lifted. The two wheel sets on four-wheel wagons can be changed as well if the wagon has been designed accordingly.
The Nutter hoist, patented in 1871, used screw jacks to lift cars off of their bogies.Grafton T. Nutter, Improvement in Apparatus for Lifting Locomotives, Trucks, and Railroad Cars, , issued May 2, 1871. The Imboden railway-car lifter, from 1875, used a steam cylinder to wedge the car into the air.John D. Imboden, Improvement in Railway-Car Lifters, , issued Sept. 25, 1875.
Lower Another way of carrying out bogie exchange is to lower the bogies onto a trolley in a pit, after which the trolleys are rolled out of the way and others return. This may allow the train couplings and continuous brakes to remain connected. In addition, the bogies never need leave a solid surface, so they can be wheeled in and out more quickly. This method was used at Dry Creek railway station, Adelaide.Catch Point - November 2007 - p35 - picture of lowering method
Charles Tisdale patented a system of ramps and moving supports for lowering the trucks out from under a railroad car in 1873.Charles D. Tisdale, Improvement in Connecting and Disconnecting Car-Bodies and Trucks, , issued June 10, 1873. George Atkinson patented a hoist and transfer table arrangement in 1882; this dropped the bogies from under a car and shift them to the side.George W. Atkinson, Apparatus for Changing Car-Trucks, , issued Oct. 3, 1882. Ramsay's apparatus patented in 1884 used hydraulic jacks to support the car while lowering the track with the bogies out from under it.Robert H. Ramsey, Car and Freight Transfer Apparatus, , issued Sept. 2, 1884.
Countries
Australia Between 1961 and 1995, Australia had five bogie exchange centres, which opened and closed as gauge conversion work proceeded. The gauges served were and , though the Queensland did acquire 100 bogie-exchange compatible QLX wagons just in case. All the wagons involved had wagon codes ending in "X", such as VLX.
The centres were: Dynon, Melbourne, Victoria Wodonga near Albury on state border. Port Pirie, South Australia Peterborough, South Australia Dry Creek, Adelaide, South Australia – the youngest and most modern
The busiest facility was that at Dynon, in a typical year (1981–82), 24,110 wagons were bogie exchanged, an average of 66 per day. This was done by one shift of 18 men, compared with the 100 men required if the same amount of freight were transferred wagon to wagon.
Belarus
Brest, Belarus – between gauge and at the border to Poland
Bolivia Bogie exchange was used between and gauge on the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia Railway.
Canada Between and the of the former Newfoundland Railway (Terra Transport) at Port aux Basques
China A bogie exchange station exists at the Chinese border to Mongolia. Both the Moscow-Beijing passenger train (Trans-Siberian) and freight trains get their bogies exchanged. Mongolia has , China has . Also, a bogie exchange station was placed farther east at the Russian–Chinese border crossing at Zabaykalsk/Manzhouli. Also, China and ex-soviet countries use the different type coupler (Janney and SA-3). An adapter may be used.
Finland A bogie exchange station exists in the Port of Turku with a short stretch of gauge railway. Freight cars get their bogies exchanged. SeaRail train ferries go from Germany and Sweden. They carry no passenger trains, and passengers must walk to Turku Harbour railway station opposite the ferry terminals. Finland has broad gauge.
A similar station was built in Tornio in 2022 to facilitate train transport between Sweden and Finland along the dual-gauge Tornio–Haparanda railway and into Sweden's gauge network. The link had become more important as Finland closed its border with Russia.
Germany In 1898, Emil Breidsprecher, a director of the Marienburg–Mława railway and a future professor at the Königliche Technische Hochschule zu Danzig, invented a system that allowed to change wheelsets in wagons that travelled across a break of gauge, without the need to unload them first. In September 1901, a facility was installed at the then German-Russian border at Iłowo. The system was used until 1914 on some railway border crossings between Russia and states using standard gauge. Known locations, in addition to Iłowo, are Łódź (then an industrial centre served by both standard and broad gauge railway lines) and Novoselytsia (then Austrian-Russian border). There were also some small installations to meet local demand. As of 1938, the sole facility operated at Zdolbuniv at the then Polish-Soviet border.
A bogie exchange station in the port of Mukran serves train ferries that go to and from Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which have broad gauge.
Iran Jolfa – , between and (Russian gauge) Sarakhs – , between and (Russian gauge) Zahedan – 2009, between and (Indian gauge) Baku – 2012, To be developed in Amirabad port, Caspian Sea, between and (Russian gauge)
Kazakhstan Druzhba, KZ – Alashankou, CN between and .
Moldova Ungheni between and . Ungheni-Iași Cantemir-Falciu Giurgiulești-Galați
North Korea Tumangan, North Korea – between and (Russian gauge) at the border to Russia. The bogies of the direct sleeping car Moscow – Pyongyang, which runs twice monthly, are exchanged there.
Peru Between and between the Ferrocarril Central Andino and the Ferrocarril Huancayo - Huancavelica, including locomotives The latter is now . This change was completed by October 2010.Trains (magazine), March 2009, p68
Romania Vadul Siret between and at the border with Ukraine. Halmeu between and at the border with Ukraine. Ungheni between and at the border with Moldova.
Russia Zabaikalsk (450 km from Chita) with China Grodekovo (116 km from Ussuriisk and 224 km from Vladivostok) with China Khasan - North Korea (315 km from Vladivostok). Kholmsk, Sakhalin Island. The bogie exchange is necessary to enable Russian mainland cars to run on the Sakhalin railways, which use the gauge.Сахалинская узкоколейная железная дорога (The narrow-gauge railways of Sakhalin) Kaliningrad
Spain
At Irun, between and At Portbou, between and
Tunisia Between and , including locomotives
Ukraine Chop (respectively Mukachevo since 2018) between (Russian gauge) and at the border to Hungary and Slovakia. Jagodin between (Russian gauge) and at the border to Poland. Mostyska between (Russian gauge) and at the border to Poland.
United States
The Burlington and Northwestern Railway used an unknown hoist in the 1890s to run standard gauge cars on narrow gauge trucks.Minner v. Sedalia, W. & S. W. Ry. Co., The South Western Reporter Vol. 66, West, 1902; pages 1072-1079. For B&NW and D&RGW practice, see page 1075. The Cairo and Fulton Railroad (5-foot gauge) used a Nutter hoist at Texarkana in the 1870s to exchange with standard gauge lines.Frank S. Bond, A Southern Pacific Railroad, in Southwestern Pacific Railroad, , C. E. Ware & Co., 1875; pages 17-20, see page 18 for truck exchange. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad also used an unknown hoist in the 1890s to run standard gauge cars on narrow gauge trucks. The East Broad Top used their timber-transfer hoist in the 1930s to shift standard gauge cars onto narrow gauge trucks.Kenneth C. Springirth, East Broad Top Railroad, Arcadia, Charleston SC, 2008; page 28. In the early 2020's, the heritage operation restoring the railroad announced their intent to acquire several period appropriate standard gauge cars to regauge to represent the practice in photo charters. The Erie Railway used a Nutter hoist at Urbana, Ohio to interchange between and standard gauge from 1871 until no later than 1878.The Urbana Hoist, American Railroad Journal, Vol. XXXIII, No. 1 (Jan. 6, 1877); page 30. The Illinois Central Railroad used a Nutter hoist at Cairo, Illinois to interchange between its standard gauge equipment with the of the Mississippi Central from 1874 until the standardization of the latter.Edward Vernon, The Decline in Railroad Construction, Editorial, American Railroad Manual New York, 1874; page li. The standard-gauge International–Great Northern Railroad and the narrow-gauge National Railroad of Mexico used an unknown hoist at Laredo, Texas in the 1890s to exchange trucks to permit through traffic.Paul Selev, Our Next-Door Neighbor, The Inland Printer, Vol. VII, No. 7 (April, 1890); page 651. The Sedalia, Warsaw and South Western Railway used an unknown hoist in the 1890s to run standard gauge cars on narrow gauge trucks as well. The accepted practice was to couple standard gauge cars immediately behind the engine, ahead of any narrow gauge cars in the train.