One of my unfulfilled desires is to have a truck with these drop-down rail guide wheels, so that I could scoot down some abandoned or rarely-used railroad tracks. This Willys would be just fine for that. I
It’s a bit curious to see that they had to put wheels on it with greater offset than stock in order to widen its track to fit the tracks. Nowadays, it’s the opposite; they have to put on wheels with negative offset, in order to make the track narrow enough, which makes them look rather odd when seen directly from behind or from the front.
Like this Ford Super Duty, also equipped with Hi-Rail equipment (they apparently changed the spelling of the first word sometime along the way).
One time somewhere out in the boonies, I encountered an old rail line with our Jeep Cherokee, and I positioned it on the rails to see if it would fit on them: perfect! The rails were almost in the middle of the tire treads. So I drove down the tracks a bit, without the benefit of any guide rails. That’s a bit of a challenge! I don’t remember how far I got, but I do remember making Stephanie nervous. So I got off the track, but I would have loved to just roll on down them, hands off the steering wheel.
I wondered if anyone used the Cherokee on tracks; the only picture I could find is this one at the EMD plant, although it’s not quite on the tracks.
Here’s a Jeep Wagoneer that was used by the Denver, Rio Grande and Western RR back in the day. Very much stock wheels and tires.
And the Oregon Pacific RR is still using a Jeep Hy-Rail, this 2009 Wrangler.
One of these would have been great for me up until a few years ago. There was a rail line right near me that got used only once a year for a hobby train during the State Fair. Then the organization that ran the train got crosswise with some local agencies and shut down. Then the tracks got ripped out for a trail that has yet to appear.
I am pretty sure though that regular use of those tracks would have resulted in some legal issues in this heavily populated area. Too bad, it would have made for a great commuting tool.
I see work trucks rigged like this frequently on NJ Transit’s Gladstone branch.
Considering the relatively light weight of the vehicle compared to a rail car and the small rubber on metal traction patches (even with 4WD), I wonder how good traction and braking is, especially when wet, and if there are issues going over switches.
Most of the time it’s fine in my experience. Thou the block signals won’t always pick them up. The museum I was at has a switch with a spring in it, where it would always send you down one path entering but either track could go thru on the other side. Basically the wheel flange would push the track points against a spring if you entered from the wrong side. That switch occasionally would cause a problem with lighter equipment but most of the time the hi rail and speeder would go thru. Traction and braking were better then most on rail equipment but not the same as on the road.
These are a common sight here in the US, at least in the West. Well, as Ford SuperDuty (not sure I’ve ever noticed Ram or GM in this application) not Willys. Are such rail-trucks used in other countries?
I’m not 100% convinced that the modern Super Duty has special wheels. The front axle looks about normal for a dually, and the back axle looks straight out of a dually, but with the outer wheels/tires eliminated.
Now that I finished my coffee, I did some research on this, and I can’t make it make sense.
US standard train track width, per Wikipedia, is 56.5 inches.
Front track width on an F350 DRW is 68.3 inches
Hmmm.
Which explains why these modern pickups have special wheels. If you can’t see how obviously different they look, with their ridiculously skinny tracks front and rear, I can’t help you.
If you ever find yourself in traffic behind one, it will be very obvious.
Okay, you’re right. I’ve looked at about 5 websites for brands that offer HiRail/HyRail equipment.
I don’t see anything about using special wheels or tires. Nothing. Here’s a photo from http://www.harscorail.com. The track width, including tires, looks completely stock. This picture shows a driven front axle, but I’m not seeing how those tires could possibly contact the tracks. Maybe it’s a “before” picture without modified front wheels?
I Googled “Hy Rail truck” and here’s the first site I came to, with this excerpt:
Replace Stock Pickup Wheels
Because standard railroad tracks in North America put the rails 56.5 inches apart—and because the wheel track of the average ¾ or 1-ton pickup is around 69 inches—special wheels with significant positive offset are installed to move the tire surfaces closer together and close that gap. Ideally, a hi-rail’s tires are centered on the rail once the truck is moving.
https://blog.consumerguide.com/hi-rail-pickup-trucks-work/
Brakes on the track wheels on this one. I think the rear set up would probably involve the inner truck wheels as drivers.
Shouldn’t it be illegal to do this, and then drive the resulting truck on public roads?
Taking an already tall and tippy full-size BOF truck and narrowing the track seems like a much worse option than starting with a more compact car or truck as used in the past and accepting those limits as hard lines for road/rail vehicles. (which might involve making the Hy-Rail equipment out of aluminum or other lightweight materials so as not to take up the entire payload).
Back in the day Hi rail was basically used for inspection purposes and quick repairs that didn’t require alot of equipment and mostly on lines where it was faster to get from home base by road or to bypass something. Most heavy repairs had work trains and they were located at yards all around the country. Now the Hi rails perform more work then before. less yards and less on rail work trains means these guys do heavier repairs then they used to which requires bigger trucks.
I always liked the Pettibone way of handling track difference. Inset rail wheels with contact drums or the tires to drive them. Although this does mean direction is reversed.
I have often thought just the same thing as I frequently see Hi-Rail equipment maintaining the various tracks near me. Lots of pickups and often larger Freightliner vehicles (sort of like what the power companies use).
Thing is of course is that it would be highly illegal for me to do that. Operation of any Hi-Rail equipment requires the permission of the railroad that owns the rails. And then of course there are the obvious safety issues (i.e….trains). You might get away with it on an abandoned line, but odds are that those rails would be in poor enough condition that you might not get far. Oh well. Sure would be cool though.
Agreed. Not really of a lot of use for civilians, but still fun to think about on some abandoned tracks. Don’t think it would be too safe for an active rail line.
Still, it’s yet another source of fascinating information for a specialized mode of transportation one could only find on CC.
Japanese brand light trucks seem to be weapon of choice for our narrow gauge rail ways as the dual rears provide the drive and the steer wheels are lifted clear, they fit so it works.
These would be a useful feature on a bug out vehicle
Brother was a Station Agent and Bridge Operator on Conrail and later on Metro North. Retired now. Even officially sanctioned vehicles such as these would sometimes not trigger the block signals to operate. Required special orders. Speeds and sight distances can make for very dangerous situations. I’m no expert. Wouldn’t think of trying this.
I got to ride in a truck with HiRail in Mexico, on the long causeway across the bay south of Manzanillo. It was pretty cool.
I remember riding the rails with my friend Bob Rabb and his dad. He worked for the railroad back then. We would get on the tracks just outside Wiklemen az. and ride them to Florence az. His dad had an older truck ( late 50’s). Would let a little air out of tires and drive right onto tracks. He knew when it was safe to do it ( train schedules). I have some real good memories and stories I could tell you. I am 73 now. We were in high school then. Amphitheater High School.
The Hy-Rail or Hi-Rail replaced the Speeder as a way to move work crews. I still see BNSF maintenance trucks in Central Oregon although they favor a much bigger rig based on Freightliner M2 crew cabs that usually include a some type of crane or bucket lift.
The coolest setup I’ve seen is the Unimog Tri-Met operates in Portland OR which has couplers to allow it to move a MAX train when the overhead power is off.
For people seriously interested in riding rails, there are speeder clubs across the US. Speeders are small, metal 2 or 4 seat railcars used by crews for inspection/line work. They can be transported on trailers that facilitate setting them on the rails.
Here in Honesdale/Hawley PA there are also pedal rail bikes with 2 and 4 seats that travel on approved rail segments. Speeder clubs or rail bikes are the only safe ways to ride active and abandoned rails.
I have mentioned it on here before but the first road vehicle I drove was a hi rail. I volunteered at a Train and Trolley museum from 13 to around 18 years old. We had a Dodge a100 pickup converted to a hi rail by Fairmont (the company that made the little belt drive speeders) It was a slant 6 with an auto when you got on the rail you pulled some pins and a little lever and the wheels fell on the track, you then had a 6′ pry par that you inserted to leverage each wheel to unload the tires. it still left some weight on the tires and the suspension still had some load traction wasn’t much of an issue at least compared to the steel on steel of other small equipment. It had a little fork that flipped up to lock the steering wheel spoke. I drove it both around the museum property and down the track a few times. One of the first times we took it down the track was when a trolley jumped switch points during a freak late March early April snow storm.
The museum sold it off years ago and I never had a picture of it. But someone recently posted one on the web showing it with Penn Central livery which was likely where the museum had acquired it from. The picture said Penn central had 10 of them at one point.
One more Hi rail thought. A boat yard in Maine is located along an abandoned track that led through a small industrial area a little bit down the road. They ran out of indoor storage at the waterfront yard, and leased warehouse space in the industrial area. The original plan was to haul the boats with a conventional hydraulic trailer and truck (very common in New England) but that does mean width and height restrictions along with requiring a CDL driver and wide load permits. So the yard leased the rail line from the state (which had taken it over after being abandoned by the rail line) and after some work on legal issues modified their hydraulic trailer to have a set of removable rail wheels. They now haul the boat put them on the trailer tow it to the rail line (on their property) and attach the wheels. Then drive it a ways (I think its a little under a mile) to the warehouse and move it off the track into the building.
Here is a quick blurb on it with a picture
https://wjbq.com/have-you-seen-boats-moving-on-railroad-tracks-in-portland/