Railroad speeder

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Speeder in use in Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz speeder.jpg
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, personnel carrier, trolley, inspection car, or draisine) is a small railcar 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 1895, when the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company started building gasoline-engined inspection cars. [2]

Contents

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 Speeder at MadCity Rail Show 2004.jpg
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 Chessie System speeder, Linden, Indiana.jpg
A former Chessie System speeder at the Linden Railroad Museum, Linden, Indiana
United StatesCanada
  • Fairmont Railway Motors Inc [a]
    • 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
  • 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]

Sandy from Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go is an anthropomorphic rail speeder.

See also

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. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  2. ↑ "Miscellaneous items". The Neenah Daily Times. 28 June 1895. p. 2.
  3. ↑ NARCOA website
  4. ↑ [Gunner, K., Kennard, M. 2004 The Wickham Works List Dennis Duck Publishing page?]
  5. ↑ A-4
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