Railways on trains

[Shimbleshanks]

I passed the model shop in Dorking last night. In the window there's a huge model of a German rail-mounted gun. This beast runs on two parallel standard-gauge railway tracks and, even more remarkably (at least to me) it carries its own narrow gauge railway to bring the shells up to the position where they are loaded into the firing mechanism.

Are there any other examples of rail vehicles that carried their own railway tracks? I'm aware of things like the Padarn Railway where 4ft gauge wagons carried twin pairs of 2ft-gauge lines to transport narrow-gauge wagons. Any others?

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I think when the Hokkaido Shinkansen starts it will be hauled on another train (a bit like Euroshuttle hauling Eurostar!) through the Seikan tunnel.
That's the only example I know of unless boat trains carrying trains are counted.

For the train driving on two seperate tracks I've seen one on a Warhammer 40,000 game (like a ship on rails) and wondered if any really existed.

 

[jp4712]

The Leek and Manifold railway was narrow gauge but had wagons with standard-gauge rails on them to piggyback main line wagons. It was a fascinating procedure and fortunately was captured on film in 1930 - see http://youtu.be/dWZbZGGnE6E.

 

[ac6000cw]

See Transporter Wagons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_wagon

I once watched the loading of a set of them with standard-gauge wagons at Jenbach on the Zillertalbahn in Austria - quite an interesting operation.

 

[Quakkerillo]

Track construction trains that carry the track to lay that they're to drive over shortly afterwards are out of the equation, I presume?

 

[IanXC]

Network Rail's High Output Track Renewal System effectively has a railway operating on top of it, with manned cars running up and down bringing new materials to the work area of the train, and taking used materials away.

 

[Caravanman]

I seem to remember a Wallace and Gromit episode...

 

[DownSouth]

For the final years of the original Central Australia Railway's operations in the 1970s before the current Tarcoola to Alice Springs route replaced it, narrow gauge trains to Alice Springs were carried to Marree on board standard gauge trains.

The loading/unloading process was significantly faster and cheaper than either bogie exchange or the slow route through the Pichi Richi Pass.

Not quite railways on railways but rather railways on road vehicles, the new Bombardier A-City EMUs are delivered from the Dandenong factory to the depot in Adelaide on top of roll-on-roll-off road trailers which do not require a crane, just a ramp.

 

[30907]

This last wasn't unusual in Germany at least, I think they were known as Cullmeyer transporters.

 

[TheNewNo2]

The Divergent sequel film, Insurgent, had I think a four rail system in one place (think ABCD), all the same distance apart, the locomotive running on the central two rails (BC) and hauling two rakes of wagons (AB and CD).