Mechanism for reciprocal movement of stacks of sleepers, and railway vehicle comprising such a mechanism

A mechanism for moving stacks of sleepers intended to equip a railway track, the displacement mechanism being intended to equip a group of at least two successive work wagons of a railway vehicle, each work wagon comprising a frame supported by at least one wheelset, the displacement mechanism comprising guide means configured to guide, along a longitudinal direction of each of the work wagons, a plurality of adjacent carriages in pairs and each defining a first support plane, the displacement mechanism comprising drive means for moving the carriages together back and forth along a same path between a first and a second travel position, and a supporting structure defining a second support plane, the displacement mechanism comprising an elevator mechanism that is configured to vary the relative vertical position of the first and second support planes relative to one another between at least:

• a vertically lowered position, when the second support plane is at a lower height than the first support plane, and
• a vertically raised position, when the second support plane is at a height greater than that of the first support plane,
• in the first and second travel positions of the carriages, so that each of the stacks of sleepers can rest on the vertically highest support plane among the first and second support planes, the said displacement mechanism being configured so that
• in the vertically lowered position, the displacement mechanism is such that each carriage is able to carry one of the stacks of sleepers on the first support plane following a forward path from the first to the second travel position, such that for a given pair of adjacent carriages among the plurality of carriages comprising a front carriage and a rear carriage, the second travel position of the rear carriage corresponds to the first travel position of the front carriage and is configured so that:
• in the vertically raised position, the displacement mechanism is such that each carriage is able to travel a return path from the second to the first travel position while being unloaded without displacing the stacks of sleepers in their movement, along the return path, each of the stacks of sleepers being able to be supported on the second support plane when the carriages move along the return path.