thumb|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. 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 Association in the U.S. and Canada and the Australian Society of Section Car Operators, Inc. in Australia.

Motorcar manufacturers and models

thumb|A privately owned Fairmont MT-14 speeder on display at a model railroad show in February 2004

thumb|A former [[Chessie System speeder at the Linden Railroad Museum, Linden, Indiana]]

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!United States

!Canada

|-

|

  • 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-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
  • 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.

  • Rail gauge: (56.5 inches)
  • Weight:
  • Width:
  • Height:
  • Length: (~110 inches)
  • Wheel diameter:
  • Floor height: 80–120% of the wheel diameter; -

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

<gallery class="center" heights="200" widths="200">

File:Yeppoon.jpg|Former Queensland Rail (Australia) speeders

File:Wickham trolley at Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre.jpg|A former UK MOD railway engineering personnel carrier (Wickham trolley)

File:South Australian Railways -- Dort motor inspection car at Islington workshops, ca 1924.jpg|Dort tourer modified by the South Australian Railways in the 1920s to be a motor inspection car

File:GAZ-13 Chaika draisine.jpg|Russian GAZ-13 Chaika car converted to a speeder, preserved at the Hungarian Railway Museum

File:VW T1-BD 20-5031.JPG|Deutsche Bundesbahn speeder based on the Volkswagen Type 2 light commercial vehicle

File:Metrotrolley.jpg|A battery-powered ultrasonic rail flaw detector trolley made at the Centre For Advanced Transport Engineering and Research, Western Australia

</gallery>

See also

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

Notes

References

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