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 a draisine) is a small railcar formerly 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. Motorised 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). In the 1990s, many speeders were replaced by

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

s or sport utility vehicles with additional flanged

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

s 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 The North American Railcar Operators Association (NARCOA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and safe, legal operation of railroad equipment historically used for maintenance of way purposes. The organization ...

NARCOA website
/ref> in the U.S. and Canada and the

Australian Society of Section Car Operators, Inc. The Australian Society of Section Car Operators (ASSCO), is an accredited railway operator that seeks access to railways for its members. It was originally registered as a non-profit organisation, under the ''Associations Incorporation Act'' in S ...

in Australia.

Motorcar manufacturers and models

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; -

Gallery

File:Yeppoon.jpg, Former Queensland Rail (Australia) speeders File:Wickham trolley at Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre.jpg, A former UK

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

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 The Magyar Vasúttörténeti Park ("Hungarian Railway History Park") is a railway museum located in Budapest, Hungary at a railway station and workshop of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), the former Budapest North Depot. The museum covers mor ...

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

Notes

References

External links