Railroad speeder explained

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

!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 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 Wickham trolley^[4] 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: (56.5 inches)
• Weight: 3500lb
• Width: 64inches
• Height: 60inches
• Length: 9feet (~110 inches)
• Wheel diameter: 16inches
• Floor height: 80–120% of the wheel diameter; 11inches-17inches

See also

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

External links

• Motorcars, Speeders & Handcars
• NARCOA
• CVRTC - New England Speeder Group
• Wickham of Ware Discussion Group

Notes and References

1. Web site: FAQ's & Answers. NARCOA. 2008-01-25.
2. Notes of the Month, The Automotor and Horesless Carriage Journal, December 1896, p103
3. http://www.narcoa.org NARCOA website
4. Gunner, K., Kennard, M. 2004 The Wickham Works List Dennis Duck Publishing page?
5. https://www.wplives.org/mow_pages/pdf/Fairmont_Car_Guide.pdf A-4