Changing wheels - on a train!!

Somewhere along the line, when trains were built and tracks were laid, a perfect example of the best laid plans came into being... The Trans- Siberian line, runs across Asia from Russia all the way to Bejing. OK…here’s the rub. The Russian and Mongolian railway line is a different gauge from the China railway line!! That means that when you get to the border, at 11:00 at night, you sit there for 2.5 hours to change the wheels. Yep, you got it, they actually take the train to a garage, separate each car, jack it up, slide out the narrow wheels, put in the wider ones, and set the car back down on the new wheels. We stayed on the train (you’re not allowed off) and you really didn’t notice the car was being raised. It was really fascinating.
The orange poles on the side are huge jacks that they put under the car in the front and rear to jack up the train. The other picture shows a different car jacked up with the new wheels underneath.