Road-Rail Container Handling Simplified
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A DEVELOPMENT of their container .1-3. loading system has recently been introduced by A. C. Penman, Ltd., Dumfries. The latest application facilitates the transfer of a container from a road vehicle to a railway wagon without the use of lifting tackle.
The system employs a ramp consisting of parallel bars with downswept ends,
and is erected on each side of the railway track. The containers, which may be of any type, are provided
with two stout retractable tubes at each end of the body sides. When the road vehicle is reversed between the walls of the ramp, the tubes engage with the upper bars, lifting the container clear of the vehicle.
A " conflat " railway wagon then takes the place of the lorry and a simple device engages the container, drawing it on to the wagon. In a British Railways test, a 4-ton load was transferred from an Austin 5-tonner to a train and returned to the lorry again in less than four minutes. This load was inside a standard railway container converted to the system.
British Railways have shown a keen interest in the development and plan to demonstrate its advantages at a freight carriage exhibition which is to be staged at Battersea from October 30 to November 5. A prototype of the Penman system will be in operation.