On 29/06/2010 10:31 PM, Invisible wrote:
>
> For example, just the other day I was on the London Underground, and I
> wondered: How the **** do they get the trains onto the track? Something
> like the Circle line is completely subterranian, and I'm pretty sure the
> factory where they make the carrages isn't. And it's not like you can
> just take a train carrage down the escalator with you...
>

(Referring to the London Underground)

Most lines interconnect and join to the surface network so carriages can 
get into and out of the system pretty easily.

The exception is the Waterloo and City line.  It has no track connection 
to the rest of the system.  Carriages (including those with motors) are 
lifted in and out through a hatch by a large crane.  They are carried on 
trucks through the City.

The 'Monster Moves' program has an episode where I think it was 8 
carriages had been refurbished and needed to be returned to the line.  A 
350 ton capacity truck crane was used.  Roads were closed and had to be 
protected by steel plates on which the crane jacked up.

 From memory the carriages were only about 30 ton each but the crane 
needed a lot of counterweights because of the long reach required due to 
the crane position.

There is more info and a picture of a carriage being lifted on Wikipedia 
under 'Waterloo & City line'.

I think I found the access point here: 
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=51.502025,+-0.110985&num=1&t=k&sll=51.503146,-0.113259&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.502248,-0.110518&spn=0.002528,0.004388&z=18&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=51.501955,-0.110964&panoid=GtvSCx6-7JnSbK-1SeGxCQ&cbp=12,349.49,,0,5.08

(Spur Rd near Waterloo Station)

The fixed crane visible there would only be for relatively small 
equipment not the carriages.

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