page_title: Wagon with opening roof
section_title: Lidded wagons with level floors
hierarchical_section_title: Wagon with opening roof / Wagons with opening roofs and level floors / Lidded wagons with level floors
caption_attribution_description: Klappdeckelwagen der Preßnitztalbahn
context_page_description: The wagon with opening roof is a type of railway goods wagon that is, nowadays, defined and standardised by the International Union of Railways as Class "T". They are a large category of rail vehicle, predominantly used for the transport of hygroscopic bulk commodities such as cement, plaster, lime, potash and grain.
  To date, there are four different types of wagon with an opening roof:
  The lidded wagon with several "roof" hatches or lids that can be opened upwards is the oldest type and is rarely seen today. Its disadvantage was that the bars to which the lids were attached meant they could only be opened individually.
  In 1951 the sliding-roof wagon was built, whereby half the loading area could be opened up and loaded from above without obstruction at one time. This was achieved by sliding one half of the two-part roof over the other.
  In 1958 came the swing-roof wagon which enabled the entire loading area to be opened up by swinging the roof out on the longer side of the wagon. Its disadvantage is that, in some variants, the opened roof does not fit within the loading gauge and can thus block a neighbouring track.
context_section_description: The classic lidded wagon for the transport of hygroscopic bulk goods was only procured by railway authorities in relatively small batches in comparison with other types of goods wagon. They were used by on standard, as well as narrow gauge, railways (e.g. the Saxon narrow gauge railways). Their design was based closely on that of contemporary open wagons.
  They were loaded from above and unloaded, like covered wagons, through the side doors. Because unloading involved a lot of manual work, alternatives were already being sought by the 1920s. In the 1950s the self-discharging wagon with roof (see below) completely ousted the lidded wagon from its original field of operations. The last large batch of lidded wagons was procured by the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1958.
  Standard gauge, lidded wagons may be viewed at a number of railway museums and, on several Saxon narrow gauge railways, lidded wagons can occasionally still be seen working at special goods train events.
caption: 750mm narrow-gauge lidded wagon of the Saxon narrow gauge railways
exif: {}