Railroad speeder

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. 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.

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 AssociationNARCOA website in the U.S. and Canada and the Australian Society of Section Car Operators, Inc. in Australia.

Motorcar manufacturers and models

+United StatesCanada Beavercar (BMC-2m BMC-4m BMC-B) Buda 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-BSylvester 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[Gunner, K., Kennard, M. 2004 The Wickham Works List Dennis Duck Publishing page?] 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.A-4 Rail gauge: (56.5 inches) Weight: Width: Height: Length: (~110 inches) Wheel diameter: Floor height: 80–120% of the wheel diameter; -

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

The 1965 Canadian comedy short film The Railrodder involves a cross-country journey by speeder.

Gallery

Railroad speeder

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