Kangourou wagon

The kangourou wagon ("kangaroo wagon") is a type of rail wagon designed for the transport of semi-trailers. It has a drawbridge forming a pocket in the low position (hence its name) allowing the carrier train (2 or 3 axles) of the semi-trailer to be placed and thus to respect the height of the loading gauge ( 4.2 m or 13 ft 9+3⁄8 in above top of rail for the loading gauge of the UIC).

These are special open wagons. The axle models are UIC K type, their bogie S type counterparts.

The "kangaroo wagon" is the continuation of the UFR wagon. The latter no longer meeting transport requirements, a new type of wagon was studied for the transport of semi-trailer s but this time taking as a basis a standard trailer and not an adapted trailer.

The first type of kangaroo wagon is a twin-axle model weighing 11 t (11 long tons; 12 short tons) of tare, having a length of 12.02 m (39 ft 5+1⁄4 in) and accepting a load of 20 t (20 long tons; 22 short tons). This wagon is within the limits of load, length and wheelbase, fixed by the International Union of Railways (UIC), with a wheelbase of 9 m (29 ft 6+3⁄8 in).

This type of wagon was designated KE, Kangourou à Axieux, and was built in 246 units divided into 4 orders from 1958 to 1963.

The wagon is distinguished by:

The kangaroo wagons run in block trains of several dozen wagons. They are necessarily all oriented in the same direction, otherwise the loading and unloading operations would be impossible.

However, and this from 1962, new regulations in the highway code, new tractors with short cabins and new measures taken by the French National Railway Company (SNCF) make this type of wagon outdated. In fact, as the technique evolves, we have: