page_title: Class U special wagon
section_title: Schnabel wagons
hierarchical_section_title: Class U special wagon / Well wagons / Schnabel wagons
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Transport eines Transformators, ca. 300 to.
context_page_description: The International Union of Railways groups all special classes of railway goods wagon into Class U in its goods wagon classification system.
  These are:
  Bulk goods wagons for transporting powders, etc.
  Dual coupling wagons for joining wagons with different coupling systems
  Well wagons including Schnabel wagons
  Self-discharging hoppers with loading hatches
  Trials vehicles for RoadRailer and Kombirail systems for intermodal transport.
  Between 1964 and 1979 bulk goods wagons for liquid and gaseous materials were included in Class U before being reclassified in 1980 as Class Z.
context_section_description: The largest low-loading wagons are designed as Schnabel wagons, made from two completely separate sections. Each section rests on multiple-axle bogies or groups of bogies. The two sections each support a beak-shaped carrying arm which, in turn, supports one side of a low-loading platform or is directly fixed to the outsize load to be transported. In the latter case the load becomes temporarily part of the vehicle itself. The wagons have hydraulic equipment with which the load can be raised or lowered in order to manoeuvre it past obstacles. There are about 30 examples of Schnabel wagon in Europe, North America and Asia.
  Typical loads for these vehicles are large boilers for power stations, turbine components or power station transformers. Due to their heavy weight and outsize dimensions these goods are not usually transported in normal goods trains, but are moved in special trains and need careful preparation. Whenever transportation restrictions arise with a wagon and its load due to its weight and size, it is designated as an abnormal load and must be labelled in accordance with the RIV as a U type. When the vehicle is unladen the two carrying arms are joined directly to one another; the wagon can then travel in goods trains at normal speeds.
caption: Onward transportation of the large transformer by road to the electricity substation
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP ScanJet 2400", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "190", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1100", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "700"}