Who's got the biggest?
 

Now I have a question regarding rolling stock dimensions. Japanese narrow guage seems to have similar stock size to UK at least in width and length terms. I am not sure about height. My query is that if JR can have double deck cars on 3'6" gauge with the lower deck in the well between the trucks why can't it be done in the UK? :confused:

Because the loading gauge is more restrictive.
In other words the hole in space that the train has to fit through.
In general a result of building to what was needed then and not allowing enough room for expansion.

Yes I realise that. But the Japanese loading giage seems to be almost the same as the UK as I have searched the net to find out. So if that is the case why can't we have DD tarins also?

We have had in the past !

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47988

The Southern railway used them in service I believe, they were designed by Bullied.

http://www.yellins.com/transporthist...l/ddtrain.html

It may be possible in the future as some of the freight routes are having their loading gauge increased due to the new taller Containers

Yes I rode on those a few times when I lived down there. Seem to remember they caused bad tempers when folk were trying to get in before everyone was out!

Can't see why it's not possible now really and the loading gauges on JR and UK stock are virtually identical according to my research.:confused:

Double deck coaches were used by the SR but they were withdrawn because of poor loading/unloading times causing station delays.

No one commented on the size of the carriage in this clip.

Was it a mock up ?

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47988

That was the one used on the "Southern" as mentioned in other posts.

If you look closely it appears to be very short, like it was built on a wagon chassis.;)

Yes that one in the clip is a mock up of a short section of a carriage, the real thing seated 508 passengers in a four car set. The coaches were 62 feet long. (OH the joys of an old Ian Allan ABC BR Combined edition)

Regards, 62440.

I have searched the web for two day but there is no page I can find where I can see the rolling stock dimensions in total for each country. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

But that will only give an extra foot clearance and in any case doesn't cover lines into the London termini where the double-decker trains would really come in handy. It's only being done because the shipping industry is moving en masse from 8'6" high containers to high cube 9'6" types and the UK's railways are belatedly trying to catch up. Should have been done years ago.

It's rather ironic that most of the places that have the clearance to easily run double-deck passenger trains have relatively little need of them - think the US, Russia, South Africa...

am i sort of right in saying though, that you can't have double decker multiple units because the traction equipment takes up too much space and with MUs being much more popular amoung operators i doubt any double deck coaches would be ordered, even if they were within british loading gauge. notice all new 100mph or over german and french rolling stock is single decker.

I know you'll all shun me for saying this but multiple units are faster, more efficient and better for the track than locomotives and trailer coaches. -and that's another thing; double deck coaches must really rip up the track.