Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

grahame

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Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

« on: June 03, 2023, 07:09:48 »

Just every so often, something crops up that I look at and think "where do I post that"? Not passenger travel, not in the South West of England, not even in England - but I found it of interest. Not a preservation or re-opening candidate, nor something to go and see on a day out.

From Roger Farnworth

Quote

Perhaps a more significant question might be what the longest thing ever to travel on a railway is ...


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Bmblbzzz

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Re: Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2023, 09:49:10 »

I've done work for Subsea 7 but had never heard of this. They're present in oil and gas fields as well as offshore wind farm* areas worldwide, so it's possible they have something similar elsewhere.

*My guess for the longest object to travel on a railway would have been a wind turbine blade. So wrong!


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paul7575

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Re: Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2023, 18:48:32 »

Quote from: Bmblbzzz on June 03, 2023, 09:49:10

216m lengths of long welded rail on a delivery train would trump wind turbine blades, and probably be much more frequent?

Paul


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stuving

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Re: Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2023, 21:48:04 »

Quote from: paul7575 on June 03, 2023, 18:48:32

Quote from: Bmblbzzz on June 03, 2023, 09:49:10

216m lengths of long welded rail on a delivery train would trump wind turbine blades, and probably be much more frequent?

Paul

That looks a good bet for the longest thing to travel on a railway in the accepted sense of "travel on a railway". Many large machines include wheels running on rails as part of their load-bearing structure, but would you describe such as a dockside or factory crane, boat lift, or radio telescope as "travelling on a railway"?


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Oxonhutch

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Re: Longest thing ever to travel on a railway

« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2023, 22:00:09 »

I reckon 7.5km of train (train of welded pipes) beats any multi-locomotive iron ore train in Western Australia, which are certainly the heaviest.


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