Loading Gauges

[DaveGala]

I have never understood how loading gauges were used by railways. Almost every picture I have ever seen of them shows a simple curved bar hanging from chains. This can only be of use if a van is too high or something.....it looks as though this apparatus has no use on normal multi-planked wagons et al.

 

Very rarely, there are pictures with similar curved bars bu this time with chains hanging dow from each end. Clearly there is a width element to this which could apply to any wagon or van.

 

Some have quite odd shapes....almost conical!

 

So, the question is: How were loading gauges used in practice?

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Kris]

Gauges were of more use for open wagons than for vans. They made sure that items placed in the wagons did not foul the upper part of the gauge. 

[Nearholmer]

You need to give due cognisance to the ingenuity of the wagon-loaders of earlier days - they could happily stack bales of cotton that high in an open wagon, or build a haystack equally high, then throw a tarpaulin over it.

 

So, yes, the gauges functioned on a basic ‘if it doesn’t hit this, it will pass under bridges and through tunnels OK’ basis.

[Miss Prism]

Dave - you're quite right - traditional goods yard loading gauges (example) were used to check height infringements, but did not traditionally check the width limits, which arguably they should have done. Custom and practice!

 

 

[ikcdab]

So why did some of them have the "drop down" ears at each side?

Edited April 5, 2021 by ikcdab

[Nearholmer]

Here’s a snip from a photo that I think might show a sheeted load being gauged, and by the way illustrates the point about the load overhanging the sides.

 

 

[Compound2632]

"Loading is really an art which requires years of training to cultivate, and no book or theorist can teach it. Look at this veteran building up his load! See him guiding that heavy case in a canting position on the end of the wagon! He will single out all the heaviest packages of that kind for the ends, and so make a nest for the smaller articles in the centre. By loading the goods in this way, the tendency of the load, if roughly shunted, will be to move to the middle of the wagon instead of over the end of the truck on to the line, as it might do if loaded level above the ends.

"Notice with what ease this man places weighty articles in position. That sack of meal he is lifting across the truck weighs over two hundredweight, and he neither pants nor puffs with the exertion. See him raise that barrel of beer on its end! To him it is nothing but so much 'bonus' in an easy lump. 

"Let us go on to the next wagon. The load is just completed. We see from the checker's invoices it contains nearly seven tons of miscellaneous articles, from an empty box to a wringing machine. We glance at that semi-circular loading gauge frame suspended at the end of the shed, and see that the load is just about up to the maximum height for travelling. Those two men on the top are unfolding the tarpaulin sheets to cover the goods, and these will be tied down when the wagon gets outside, by a gang of men who are there for the purpose. This sternvisaged individual, who is eyeing the load and testing the security of the packages, by trying to move them, is the loading inspector, whose dual duties are to certify the loads as fit to travel, and to see that every wagon is loaded to its proper capacity."

 

F.W. West, Goods Agent, Crewe, The Crewe Tranship Shed, What it means to the L.&N.W. Railway and the Trading Public, The Railway Magazine (1907), reproduced in E. Talbot, The LNWR Recalled (OPC, 1987).

 

 

Derby, 14 February 1903. [NRM DY 2493, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence by the National Railway Museum.]

 

@Nearholmer, where is your photo of?

Edited February 15, 2023 by Compound2632
image re-inserted

[Nearholmer]

Photo is Hadleigh, Suffolk, from Disused Stations.

 

I had a deeper look yesterday evening, and there is a closer view of the same scene on the site, which makes it crystal clear that the wagon is in process of being gauged. I wonder if the sheet is actually loose, and it’s been put under the gauge while they rope it, so they can check that they’ve compacted the load, which I suspect is loose straw/hay, enough as they go.

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

35 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Photo is Hadleigh, Essex, from Disused Stations.

 

I had a deeper look yesterday evening, and there is a closer view of the same scene on the site, which makes it crystal clear that the wagon is in process of being gauged. I wonder if the sheet is actually loose, and it’s been put under the gauge while they rope it, so they can check that they’ve compacted the load, which I suspect is loose straw/hay, enough as they go.

 

Interesting set of photos - 1911 - giving a snapshot of the traffic of such a country station - mostly coal in: wagons from the big Suffolk factors, Thomas Moy and W.H. Booth, as well as Great Northern and the inevitable Midland coal wagons. Several sheeted wagons though, plus cattle wagons. Which Suffolk coal merchant is 5-7 letters ending CK?

Edited April 6, 2021 by Compound2632

[Chris Turnbull]

Loading of wagons was specified in some detail by the various companies.  For example, here are a few pages from the LNER Appendix to the Working Timetables for 1927.

 

Wagon loads.pdf 

 

Chris Turnbull

[Compound2632]

See also here and here, thanks to the Barrowmore Model Railway Group. Although these are BR instructions, they are generally the same as one finds in grouping and pre-grouping instructions, so represent a century of accumulated experience and best practice.

[Nick Holliday]

16 hours ago, ikcdab said:

So why did some of them have the "drop down" ears at each side?

A number of lines also had gauges that were adjustable in height, and some had multiple gauges of different profiles that could be lowered individually to the correct position.  This was because there wasn't one standard loading gauge that applied to all British railways.  Each company would have its own critical dimensions, but there were also many local variants, usually due to the line involved being built earlier, perhaps by an independent enterprise. After all, it took a number of years for the standard gauge to be agreed, apart from Brunel's efforts.

For example, the LBSCR, whose loading gauge was more generous than some had a General Rule

"To ensure loaded trucks passing safely upon the line or lines over which they have to travel, care must be taken that the height or width of the load does not exceed the dimensions given in the 'Table of Dimensions of Loads' printed in the Special Instructions.

"It should be specially noted that truck loads for the Great Western, London & North Western and Great Central Railways, via Kensington, must clear the West London gauge; truck loads for the Great Northern and Midland Railways, via Battersea Wharf, must clear the Metropolitan gauge. The Great Eastern gauge is the same height and width as the East London gauge.

"All furniture vans, loaded or empty, must be passed under the gauge, more particularly when being returned empty, because the height is then greater inconsequence of the lighter weight on the springs."

That last comment is interesting - a pantechnicon on a flat wagon could get very close to the limits. Note also that there were at least four different gauges required for a Brighton line yard.

[The Stationmaster]

53 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

See also here and here, thanks to the Barrowmore Model Railway Group. Although these are BR instructions, they are generally the same as one finds in grouping and pre-grouping instructions, so represent a century of accumulated experience and best practice.

Ah, 'the green books' - so called because they had green covers - which took over all that sort of stuff from the General Appendix which had included it prior to the 1960 reissue.  Subsequently what was left of all this kind of thing, plus later changes and additions, went into the Working Manua For Rail Staff (WMRS) where it became the Green Pages of that publication.

 

Loading gauges went out with the end of what might be termed 'general freight traffic' and subsequently loads were - where necessary - checked by measurement specifically for their intended route/any likely diversionary route.  My Loads Inspector (who was the last WR HQ Loads Inspector) normally used his measuring stick for gauging purposes although sometimes he measured using a tape.

[SED Freightman]

The last traditional loading gauge on the South Eastern Division was installed at Queenborough around 1980ish for checking the height of cars loaded on the top deck of Autic and Cartic wagons.  As mentioned by The Stationmaster, any unusual loads sizewise would attract the attention of the Divisional or Regional Loads Inspectors, people of immense knowledge who were skilled at both securing and positioning loads to gain an extra inch or two of clearance where necessary.  In more recent times all traffic is supposed to have a loading plan, which if followed correctly by the loading staff, should ensure that there are no gauge infringements and therefore no physical loading gauge is needed.  On the very rare occasions that a one off oversized load requires movement these days it would still be carefully examined and measured by someone competent in loading and gauging matters, however such people must now be very few in number.

 

One thing to consider with positioning of a loading gauge on a model is that they were (generally) installed on a section of straight and level track, with the straight section extending a wagon length either side of the gauge.

[Compound2632]

32 minutes ago, SED Freightman said:

One thing to consider with positioning of a loading gauge on a model is that they were (generally) installed on a section of straight and level track, with the straight section extending a wagon length either side of the gauge.

 

Which prompts the observation that one did not have to worry too much about the dynamic envelope of a traditional 4-wheeled wagon - very little in the way of end or centre throw (bearing in mind that the outside width of an open was around 7'6", rising to 8'0" from the 1910s or thereabouts).

[Nearholmer]

49 minutes ago, SED Freightman said:

One thing to consider with positioning of a loading gauge on a model is that they were (generally) installed on a section of straight and level track, with the straight section extending a wagon length either side of the gauge.

 

"Generally" is the best way to put it, because they were sometimes not (that one at Hadleigh looks as if it was gently falling over, and I wonder if the series of photos was something to do with a survey preliminary to dealing with widespread subsidence in that embankment). 

 

Of course, you'd never, ever find one posted over the main running line, would you?

 https://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrlr956.htm

 

[Michael Hodgson]

To put it over a siding, you'd need to have a siding

[HGR]

A loading gauge at the end of a branch line rural station with only the single platform could be a possibility if the traffic didn't warrant the provision of a dock siding. No signal box or ground frame to release. Guess a pick-up goods would trundle through once or twice a week, run as required.

 

 

 

The gauge in the photo is the rather generous GWR profile gauge with the characteristic flat top. It has the short curved extensions that could be swung down (usually had a rope / lanyard to their ends that was tied off on the upright pole. These extensions were used for gauging loads that were destined off WR teritory.

 

To demonstrate the ingenuity of wagon loaders, I once saw a pair of characters ('old hands') presented with an enormous pile of sawn planks start by nailing a 'wall' of said planks to the sides and ends all around inside a wooden bodied open, and then proceed to fill the resulting interior space of the now almost double height with loose planks stacked neatly horizontally. Presumably to be unloaded equally manually at the receiving location. Didn't dare ask. There is a book titled something like 'Freight wagons and their loads working on the GWR or Western Region of BR' that has a photograph of a far older GWR open loaded with rough sawn timber planks in much the same way. Don't know if that method of loading was more common than might be thought.

 

  

Edited April 6, 2021 by HGR
Michael Hodgson types faster than me !

[Compound2632]

7 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

To put it over a siding, you'd need to have a siding

 

But there was one!

[The Johnster]

Would it be correct to say that the use of loading gauges ceased at the same time as mileage traffic, which could be loaded on to open wagons or flats by non-railway personnel, did?

[Nearholmer]

14 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

To put it over a siding, you'd need to have a siding

 

Yes, they had two at Longdon Road. Presumably more convenient to have it over the "main", given the crampedness of the goods yard.

 

I can't conceive of a LG being necessary where there wasn't a siding of some sort, because the idea of loading a wagon on the main in "the old days" is a bit unlikely (it has been done in modern times in rural Scotland). 

[Chris Turnbull]

I thought a detailed photo of a loading gauge might be in order.  Here's the one at Yaxham on 28th Sept 1985.

 

 

Chris Turnbull

[Nearholmer]

That one looks as if it had height adjustment by wire, and this SR one, being used to check my bike for fitness to travel, has the remnants of a crank system (the gauging bar is clearly missing bits or simply a ‘stand in’ for the real thing).

 

 

[Compound2632]

Midland Railway loading gauge of 1901, Midland Railway Study Centre Item 77-12456. This shows a pulley system for lifting the gauge - presumably the chains were slack in the raised position. The framework of battens was presumably used for setting the gauge when it was erected - perhaps there was a periodic check too. The subterranean arrangement of crossed timbers with diagonal braces to provide an anchor was standard practice, also seen on the drawings for various types of gates, including level crossing gates.

[Trog]

6 hours ago, SED Freightman said:

................ As mentioned by The Stationmaster, any unusual loads sizewise would attract the attention of the Divisional or Regional Loads Inspectors, people of immense knowledge who were skilled at both securing and positioning loads to gain an extra inch or two of clearance where necessary.  ................

 

That makes me wonder as I can remember as a humble Area Civil Engineers STO (Senior Technical Officer, basically one of the local Area Civil Engineers minions) climbing all over a rather large 360' excavator we wanted to use on relaying sites , that was sat on a bogie flatrol with a tape measure to determine if it was within gauge. More immense care than knowledge as I was signing the wagon labels, sometimes referred to as, 'Get into goal free cards' myself.