An Engineering Marvel: The Schnabel Car

Posted by Neville C. Wilson on 24th Jun 2017

A very specialized piece of rolling stock, the Schnabel Car is a heavy railway transport vehicle that is designed to carry over-sized loads such as electric generators, oil refinery cracking towers, nuclear reactor vessels, and transformers over conventional rails.

Initially patented on June 24, 1974, under United States Patent Number 3788237, the basic Schnabel Car design calls for a pair of multi-truck, multi-axle railway cars, with arms that extend over one side of each unit and jack mechanisms for raising and lowering a load that is positioned between them.

Once it has been attached to the set of individual end cars, the cargo then becomes an integral part of a single piece of rolling-stock.

Should a load not have integrated lift rings, a longitudinal support platform can be mounted between the car ends and the cargo is then secured to this skid.

As is the case with large, depressed center flatcars and the military railway artillery guns that were used in both World Wars, with or without the use of additional pairs of trucks/boogies, weight distribution across the rails is accomplished through the use of numerous axles.

In order to compensate for railway irregularities and/or to reposition a load to clear track-side obstructions such as highway crossing signals, railroad signals, and switch stands, while the arms are in a transit position, hydraulically operated jacks can be used to moderately shift the position of an attached load.

Once the cargo has been delivered, the now separated vehicles can be connected together and returned to their point of origin.

Run in dedicated train consists that are often comprised of idler cars, passenger or crew cars, and tool cars, Schnabel cars do not traverse the railways alone.

Manufactured by Krupp, for Combustion Engineering Inc., in 1982, with an empty car length of 231.667 feet, the world's second largest Schnabel Car (which is North American based) is Westinghouse's WECX 800 (formerly CEBX 800), which has a maximum loaded length of 345.00 feet, an empty weight of 370.45 tons, and an 889.63 ton weight load limit that is distributed across thirty-six axles that are fitted with 33 inch wheels.

Ironically, Krupp is the same firm that created the world's best known railway artillery gun, the K5 [E], which was used by the German Wehrmacht (Defense Force) in World War II.

Prompted by the Westinghouse Electric Company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2017 and the firm's acquisition by Brookfield Business Partners in 2018, Kasgro Rail Corporation acquired WECX 800 in late 2018.

Retaining its white trucks and still painted in the Kasgro's Red n' Ready livery, this Schnabel car bore the reporting number KRL 3600.

Final Revenue Trip of KRL 3600 in June 2020 – John W. Coke Shared Image

Final Revenue Trip of KRL 3600 in June 2020 – John W. Coke Shared Image

Final Revenue Trip of KRL 3600 in June 2020 – Karl Andraschko Image

Final Revenue Trip of KRL 3600 in June 2020 – Karl Andraschko Image

KRL 3600 at SA Recycling in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 7, 2020 - Karl Andraschko Image

KRL 3600 at SA Recycling in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 7, 2020 - Karl Andraschko Image

With its 28th revenue trip completed (i.e., fulfilling an Emmert International contract for the transportation of the 770-ton reactor pressure vessel from unit number one of Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station aka "SONGS" to Apex, Nevada for road transport on a 24 axle, 384 tire Goldhofer hydraulic platform trailer with two prime mover tractors leading and four heavy duty tractors pushing the load to the Energy Solutions disposal site in Clive Utah), destined for scrapping, KRL 3600 was photographed on a siding at Las Vegas Nevada’s SA Recycling on June 7, 2020.

Built by New Castle, Pennsylvania based Kasgro in 2012, the world's largest railcar (i.e., Schnabel or otherwise) was Westinghouse's WECX 801, which was derived from replicated drawings of its sister car, WECX 800 (ex CEBX 800).

With an empty weight of 399.60 tons and a weight load limit of 1017.90 tons that is distributed across thirty-six axles that are fitted with 38 inch wheels, to date, WECX 801 was the biggest car that has ever been constructed in North America.

Never used in revenue service, WECX 801 suffered a structural break down in 2014.

Completely rebuilt, by the summer of 2019, Kasgro had purchased the blue colored ex Westinghouse WECX 801.

Retaining its black trucks and repainted in Kasgro's Red n' Ready livery, this former Westinghouse Schnabel car emerged as KRL 3601.

Given the June 2020 scrapping of KRL 3600, last seen on the Kasgro headquarters lot and currently stricken from the company's fleet roster, KRL 3601 has presumably been scrapped.

Typically fabricated out of injection molded plastic (or handcrafted in brass, as was the case with the Overland Models HO and N Scale replicas), various manufacturers have marketed ready-to-run Schnabel car models that were based upon prototypes found in Germany, Japan, and the United States.