Engineering:Railroad speeder

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Short description: Small railcar for inspectors and work crews
Speeder in use in Santa Cruz, California

A speeder (also known as a section car, railway motor car, putt-putt, track-maintenance car, crew car, jigger, trike, quad, trolley, inspection car, or draisine) is a small railcar formerly used around the world by track inspectors and work crews to move quickly to and from work sites.[1] Although slow compared to a train or car, it is called speeder because it is faster than a human-powered vehicle such as a handcar. Motorized inspection cars date back to at least 1896, when it was reported that the U.S. Daimler Motor Company created a gasoline-powered rail inspection car capable of 15 mph (24 km/h).[2]

In the 1990s, many speeders were replaced by pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles with additional flanged wheels that could be lowered for travelling on rails, called "road–rail vehicles" or hi-rails for "highway-railroad". Speeders are collected by hobbyists, who refurbish them for excursions organized by the North American Railcar Operators Association[3] in the U.S. and Canada and the Australian Society of Section Car Operators, Inc. in Australia.

Motorcar manufacturers and models

A privately owned Fairmont MT-14 speeder on display at a model railroad show in February 2004
A former Chessie System speeder at the Linden Railroad Museum, Linden, Indiana
United States Canada
  • Beavercar (BMC-2m BMC-4m BMC-B)
  • Buda Manufacturing
  • Casey Jones (531)
  • Fairbanks-Morse (40-B, 101, 757)
  • Fairmont Railway Motors Inc[lower-alpha 1]
    • S2, S2-A, S9, S9, S9-A, S9-B, S9-C S9-D
    • 1100 2100 3100 4100 5100 6100
    • A2-A8 Series
    • M2 M9 M14 MT14 M15 M17 M19 MT19
    • S2 ST2 C7 CD7 CK7 CR7
  • Gibson Manufacturing Corporation
  • Kalamazoo
    • 23 Series B, 23 Series T, 27, 560N
  • Portec
  • Sheffield
    • 40-B
  • Sylvester Steel Products
    • "21" section car with "120" engine (steel frame)
    • "21E" section car with "KP" engine (aluminum frame)
    • "K54" inspection car with "KP" engine (aluminum frame)
  • Tamper
    • TMC-2, TMC-6, TMC-8, TMC-12
  • D Wickham & Co Ltd
  • Woodings
    • CBI, CBL
  • Railway Workshops

Various railways and their workshops also manufactured speeders. Often these were a copy of commercially available cars, such as Wickham and Fairmont.

Dimensions

Approximate dimensions of a common speeder car are given below. Due to the variety of base models and customization these are not fixed numbers. These values are from a Fairmont A4-D.[5]

  • Rail gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge (56.5 inches)
  • Weight: 3,500 pounds (1,588 kg)
  • Width: 64 inches (1,626 mm)
  • Height: 60 inches (1,524 mm)
  • Length: 9 feet 2 inches (2,794 mm) (~110 inches)
  • Wheel diameter: 16 inches (406 mm)
  • Floor height: 80–120% of the wheel diameter; 11 inches (279 mm)-17 inches (432 mm)

Gallery

See also

  • Cater MetroTrolley
  • Draisine
  • Handcar
  • North American Railcar Operators Association
  • Railbus
  • Railcar
  • Road-rail vehicle
  • The Railrodder


Notes

  1. Fairmont used three letters to designate car types. "S" was a Standard Series" section car; "A" was an "Advanced Series" section car and "M" was the "Master Series" section car. They also used a "category" name for motorcars. "Light Inspection" or 1-2 men, were car models: M9 nicknamed "Safe Easy", MM9, MR9, 59, M17, and MM17. "Inspection" or 1-4 men, were models "Roadmaster", M12, M16, M19 nicknamed the Safety Quick", MT19, and the 150. "Light Section" or 1-6 men, the M1, and M14 also called the "Light Section Car". "Section" or 1-8 men, were models "Dreadnaught", M2, 75, and S2. "Heavy Duty Section" or 1-8 men, the A2. "Gang" or 1-12 men, MT2, ST2, A2, AT2 and A3. "Extra Gang" or "B & B" 1-12 men, MX3, MX30G, MT2, A4, AF4, and A6. Final group, "Large Extra Gang" or "Hump" 1-12 men, models A6, A7, A8.

References

  1. "FAQ's & Answers". NARCOA. http://www.narcoa.org/newsite/faq.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-25. 
  2. Notes of the Month, The Automotor and Horesless Carriage Journal, December 1896, p103
  3. NARCOA website
  4. [Gunner, K., Kennard, M. 2004 The Wickham Works List Dennis Duck Publishing page?]
  5. A-4

External links