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Schnabel car or Schnabel wagon is a specialized type of railroad freight car.
It is designed to carry heavy and oversized loads in such a way that the load
makes up part of the car.
The
largest Schnabel car in public railroads operation, reporting number WECX
801, was completed in 2012 by Kasgro Railcar of New Castle, PA, for
Westinghouse Nuclear and is used in North America primarily to transport
reactor containment vessels. It has 36 axles (18 for each half). Its tare
(unloaded) weight is 362.5 tons and has a load limit of 923.4 tons. When
empty, WECX 802 measures 231 feet long.
For
comparison, a conventional boxcar currently operating on North American railroads
has a single two-axle truck at each end of the care, measures 50 to 89 feet
long and has a capacity of 64 to 95 tons.
The
word Schnabel is from German Tragschnabelwagen, meaning “carrying-beak-wagon”,
because of the usually tapered shape of the lifting arms, resembling a bird’s
beak.
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PHOTO OF WECX 801 TAKEN ON AUGUST 16,2012 IN THE KASGRO
YARD IN
NEW CASTLE, PA
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