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 A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

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 truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

s or sport utility vehicles with additional

flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of a steel beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer o ...

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn 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 machin ...

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 in the U.S. and Canada and the Australian Society of Section Car Operators, Inc. 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.A-4
/ref> *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.

Gallery

File:Yeppoon.jpg, Former

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...

(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 South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

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 The Volkswagen Transporter, initially the Type 2, is a range of light commercial vehicles, built as vans, pickups, and cab-and-chassis variants, introduced in 1950 by the German automotive industry, automaker Volkswagen as their second mass ...

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

{{wiktionary
Motorcars, Speeders & Handcars

NARCOA

CVRTC - New England Speeder Group

Wickham of Ware Discussion Group
Maintenance of way equipment