Large Scale Central

Narrow Gauge Rail Vehicles

Prototypes
#1

Mike’s posted a couple of really nice looking “goose-esque” vehicles lately, one MOW truck, and one that looks like it might have started life as a school bus. Both are the same type of vehicle that the Bachmann Railtruck, and the RGS “Geese” were, in that they were vehicles that, while made of automotive components to be sure, were bound to the rails from the day of their creation. Kinda reminds me of the “Back to the Future” Delorean or the little Toyota Celica that the Valley RR had converted to rail wheels (and removed the steering wheel, etc…) awhile back.

Since many of us model 3’ gauge prototypes, that brought a question to mind …

Most of your modern standard gauge lines have replaced “Motor Hand Cars” (Track speeders, et al) with Hi-Rail vehicles, which do double duty on the rail, and on the road. This works because many modern vehicles have wheels that fit on standard gauge tracks.

I’m wondering if any of the 3 foot gauge lines ever tried this type of vehicle. Since the D&RGW operated their narrow gauge up into the 60’s, the SP Carson and Colorado operated almost to that point, and the White Pass operated into the 1980’s, the lines were open after this type of vehicle was in use.

On a standard gauge arrangement, something really wide like a front end loader, or backhoe, etc, will often have an arrangement where the rubber tires sit on rollers that drive the (narrower) drive wheels in between … watching one roll by, the wheels are actually turning in the correct direction, while seemingly suspended in space … so there’s also a way to reduce gauge as would be necessary for what I’m suggesting for this kind of vehicle, in “already used” practice.

So, has anyone ever seen an example of a Hi-Rail vehicle for 36" gauge?

Matthew (OV)

#2

Matthew ,
There are examples in Meter Guage , we don’t have three foot much in Europe .
There is a practical problem to overcome , the track of a normal road vehicle is usually similar to that of a standard guage railway . So it is an easy matter to let the drive wheels do the pushing by resting on the track itself . Some variants of this can be seen whereby the roadwheels of the vehicle drive a roller ,this makes up for the lack of guage coincidence and translates the rotation into propulsion . This looks distinctly odd in practise because the road wheels are going backwards when the vehicle is going forwards . Fire vehicles are very common on rails in Europe , it being a convenient way of getting a fire engine to somewhere away from feeder roads . Cranes and diggers also commonly have rail wheels as ancillary equipment for the same purpose .
Mercedes Unimog have Road/Rail vehicles as standard kit in their catalogues , and as early as the thirties , LMS in the UK had genuine road/rail busses , these could literally drive off the road onto standard guage tracks .
Road/Rail vehicles are far more common than you would believe .
The Russians did a short production run of Packard Limos as rail vehicles , converting ex US supplied WW2
Army Staff Cars . I am about to do one for MEEEEE !!!
Mike M

#3

Now the packard would be a lot of fun!

Of course, you can’t really zoom along in reverse …

I’ll have to look into that fire vehicle thing.

Someday I should tell the story of my summer as a Signal Trainee for Conrail (1987) … and what OTHER things I learned a Hi-Rail truck are good for … (for one thing, when you accelerate to very high speed, and then turn the engine off and coast, on welded rail they’re almost silent, allowing you to sneak up on a variety of people.)

Matthew (OV)

#4

The Durango & Silverton still operates “speeders”, but I haven’t seen a narrow gauge vehicle (High Rail), but it seems there is a prototype for everything. Good question. I’ll do some research. Here’s a Rio Grande track inspection car.

#5

Matthew,

Don’t ask me where I saw the photo but one I saw in a book was of a Model T roadster with rail wheels off tracks and fueling at a gas station in a small Colorado town. I think the RR was the Rio Grande Southern but it could have been D&RG. It didn’t have rubber tires at all and must have been hard on the street although I don’t recall the street being paved.