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ROLLING STOCK & DEPOTS
MALCOM DOBELL
Zero Carbon? NOT HERE!
D
uring the IMechE’s Railway Challenge in 2019, the judges were hugely impressed with the composite bogie and springs demonstrated on the Poznan University of Technology’s 10¼-inch locomotive. They were so impressed that they awarded a special certificate for this innovation (Issue 177). Roll on eight months and your writer was attending the 16th annual Vehicle/ Track System Interface Committee seminar where Professor Gerard Fernando from the University of Birmingham presented his team’s work on a carbon-fibre bogie. Prof Fernando is Professor of Polymer Engineering and head of the sensors and composites group in the University’s School of Metallurgy and Materials. His collaborators included Dr Tom Sun and Mr Tao Ma. This was no miniature bogie, but a full size one based on the design of the Alstom bogie used on the class 180
Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020
CARBON-FIBRE BOGIE FRAME Centre Pivot / Traction Centre Air-sprint Mount
Secondary Lateral Bump Stop Transom
Side Frame Radial Arm / Swing Arm Bush Bracket
Primary vertical damper bracket (including lift-stop and hard-stop)
diesel-mechanical multiple unit. The aim of the project is to demonstrate a prototype that can withstand the rigours of 125mph operation with a life similar to a steel bogie and with much less mass. It is an RSSB-funded collaborative project involving ELG Carbon Fibre, Magma Structures, Alstom and the
AntiRoll Bar Bracket
Primary Vertical Damper
University of Birmingham. The ‘HAROLD’ full size test rig at the University of Huddersfield (issue 145) will be employed for testing. The bogie frame - a typical H section - was designed and manufactured by Magma Structures in collaboration with the RSSB and other members of the
