Switcher - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A switcher or shunter (Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

: shunter; Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

: shunter or yard pilot; USA: switcher or switch engine, except Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

: shifter) is a small railroad

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

intended not for moving train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been brought in, and generally moving railroad car

Railroad car

A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

s around – a process usually known as switching

Shunt (railway operations)

Shunting, in railway operations, involves the process of sorting items of rolling stock into complete train sets or consists. The United States terminology is "switching"....

(UK: shunting). They do this in classification yard

Classification yard

A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...

s (Great Britain

Great Britain

: marshalling yards). Switchers may also make short transfer runs and even be the only motive power on branch line

Branch line

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...

s and switching and terminal railroad

Switching and terminal railroad

A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard...

s. The term can also be used to describe the workers operating these engines.

The typical switcher is optimised for its job, being relatively low-powered but with a high starting tractive effort

Tractive effort

As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force is the pulling or pushing force exerted by a vehicle on another vehicle or object. The term tractive effort is synonymous with tractive force, and is often used in railway engineering to describe the pulling or pushing capability of a...

for getting heavy cars rolling quickly. Switchers are geared to produce high torque

Torque

Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....

but are restricted to low top speeds and have small diameter driving wheel

Driving wheel

On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...

s. Switchers are rail analogs to tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

s.

Switching is hard work, and heavily used switch engines wear out quickly from the abuse of constant hard contacts with cars and frequent starting and stopping.

Diesel

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

switchers tend to have a high cab and often lower and/or narrower hood

Hood (vehicle)

The hood or bonnet is the hinged cover over the engine of motor vehicles that allows access to the engine compartment for maintenance and repair. In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car...

s (bonnets) containing the diesel engines, for all round visibility. Slugs

Slug (railroad)

A railroad slug is an accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive. It has trucks with traction motors but is unable to move about under its own power, as it does not contain a prime mover to produce electricity...

are often used because they allow even greater tractive effort to be applied. Nearly all slugs used for switching are of the low hood, cabless variety. Good visibility in both directions is critical, because a switcher may be running in either direction; turning the locomotive is time-consuming. Some earlier diesel switchers used cow-calf

Cow-calf

In North American railroading, a cow-calf locomotive is a set of switcher-type diesel locomotives. The set usually is a pair; some 3-unit sets were built, but this was rare. A cow is equipped with a driving cab; a calf is not...

configurations of two powered units in order to provide greater power.

Electric

The vast majority of modern switchers are diesels, but countries with near-total electrification

Electrification

Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...

, like Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, use electric

Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

switchers. Small industrial shunters are sometimes of the battery-electric type. An early battery-electric shunting locomotive is shown here. Flywheel energy storage

Flywheel energy storage

Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy...

was also used experimentally by Sentinel.

Three power

The "GE three-power boxcab

GE three-power boxcab

The GE three-power boxcabs were early electro-diesel hybrid switcher locomotives. General Electric built the chassis and running gear, generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand provided the diesel engine...

locomotive" was a type of switcher developed in the USA in the 1920s. It was a diesel-electric locomotive which could alternatively run on batteries (for use inside warehouses) or from a third rail or overhead supply. It was a type of electro-diesel locomotive

Electro-diesel locomotive

An Electro-diesel locomotive is powered either from an electricity supply or by using the onboard diesel engine...

Steam

Steam shunter/switchers are now mainly of historical interest. Steam

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

switchers were either tank locomotive

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

s or had special (smaller) tenders, with narrow coal bunkers and/or sloped tender decks to increase rearward visibility. Headlights, where carried, were mounted on both ends.

Small industrial shunters have sometimes been fireless locomotive

Fireless locomotive

A fireless locomotive is a type of locomotive designed for use under conditions restricted by either the presence of flammable material or the need for cleanliness...

s and a few of these are still at work in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

Non-US shunters

British and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an locomotives of this type tend to be much smaller than the common size in the United States. Current British shunters are 0-6-0 diesel-electrics, Class 08

British Rail Class 08

The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive. From 1953 to 1962, 996 locomotives were produced, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes....

and Class 09

British Rail Class 09

The British Rail Class 09 is a class of 0-6-0 diesel locomotive designed primarily for shunting and also short distance freight trips along branch lines....

, of 350-400 horsepower. These were developed from similar locomotives supplied by the English Electric

English Electric

English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...

Company to the Big Four British railway companies

Big Four British railway companies

The Big Four was a name used to describe the four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923-1947. The name was coined by the Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".The Big Four were:...

in the 1930s and 1940s, e.g. those pioneered by the LMS

LMS diesel shunters

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway pioneered the use of diesel shunting locomotives in Great Britain. The variety of experimental and production diesel shunters produced by the LMS is summarised below...

. Similar locomotives were exported to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

(e.g. NS Class 600

NS Class 600

The Nederlandse Spoorwegen Class 600 diesel locomotives were built for shunting duties. Sixty-five of the locomotives were built, numbered 601-665. They were built by English Electric between 1950-1957 at either Dick, Kerr & Co. Works in Preston, or Vulcan Foundry Works in Newton-le-Willows....

) and Australia

Australia

(e.g. Victorian Railways F class (diesel)).

In continental Europe 0-6-0 (or "C") diesel-hydraulics, similar to the short-lived British Rail Class 14

British Rail Class 14

The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was yard shunting, trip work and short distance...

, are widely used. A very common type is the DB Class V 60

DB Class V 60

The DB Class V 60 is a German diesel locomotive operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn and later, the Deutsche Bahn AG , which is used particularly for shunting duties, but also for hauling light goods trains. Seventeen locomotives were bought used by the Norwegian State Railways and designated NSB...

and its variants. Two examples on the Turkish State Railways

Turkish State Railways

The State Railways of the Turkish Republic or TCDD is the government owned, national railway carrier in the Republic of Turkey, headquartered in Ankara...

are TCDD DH33100

TCDD DH33100

TCDD DH33100 were diesel-hydraulic locomotive built for shunting operations on the Turkish State Railways. 38 units from Maschinenbau Kiel were built starting in 1953. In 1980–81 the shunters were rebuilt with Cummins Diesel KT1150L engines....

and TCDD DH7000

TCDD DH7000

TCDD DH 7700 are a type of diesel-hydraulic locomotive built for operations on Turkish State Railways by Tülomsaş. The DH7000 was primarily used as a shunter. A total of 20 units were delivered from 1994.-External links:* *...

Station pilot

A station pilot is a shunting engine based at a major passenger station, used for moving trains or carriages between platforms, assembling trains, and other passenger train shunting tasks. Having assembled a train, it could also be used to assist the train engine in starting a train by pushing from behind. It is a predominantly British term.

Station pilots have recently been phased out in the UK as the majority of passenger trains are formed with multiple units or have a Driving Van Trailer

Driving Van Trailer

A Driving Van Trailer is a purpose-built railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate a locomotive at the opposite end of a train. Trains operating with a DVT therefore do not require the locomotive to be moved around to the other end of the train at terminal stations...

at the opposite end to the locomotive; the few locomotive-hauled passenger trains are shunted by the train engine rather than a dedicated station pilot.