A sail bogey or sail trolley is a wind-driven vehicle that runs along railway tracks.

Examples

Spurn railway

The Spurn railway, built along

Spurn Head Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit (landform), spit with a s ...

on the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

coast of England was built in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and ran until the early 1950s and included sail bogies as part of its rolling stock.

Teesmouth lifeboat

In the early days of the Teesmouth lifeboat, its crew were sometimes able, subject to wind conditions, to travel out to the lifeboat station at

South Gare South Gare is an area of reclaimed land and breakwater on the southern side of the mouth of the River Tees in Redcar and Cleveland, England. It is accessed by taking the South Gare Road (private road) from Fisherman's Crossing at the western e ...

on a sail bogey.

Madaras Rotor Power Plant Project

In the 1930s, the US government investigated using rotating vertically-mounted cylinders (90-ft tall by 22.2-ft Dia) mounted on a rake of flatcars in a closed loop on a circular track to generate electricity. The project, known as the "Madaras Rotor Power Plant", used the

Magnus Effect The Magnus effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a spin (geometry), spinning Object (physics), object is moving through a fluid. A lift (force), lift force acts on the spinning object and its path may be deflected in a manner not present when ...

to transfer the wind energy into thrust to accelerate the "Train" whilst alternators fitted to the axles of the flatcars generated electricity which was fed back to the system through a trolley system.

Others

Other locations to have used sail bogies include: * Cliffe, Kent *

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

Herne Bay Pier Herne Bay Pier was the third pier to be built at Herne Bay, Kent for passenger paddle steamer, steamers. It was notable for its exceptional length of and made famous after appearing in the opening sequence of Ken Russell's first feature film F ...

, KentInformation from display at Herne Bay Museum (see :File:Herne Bay Museum 0007.jpg) * Camber Railway near

Port Stanley Stanley (also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a population o ...

, The Falkland Islands * the Dagebüll–Oland–Langeneß island railway, connecting the town of

Dagebüll Dagebüll (; ; ) is a municipality located at the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein in the Nordfriesland district, Germany. Today's Dagebüll was created in 1978 as a merger of the municipalities of Fahretoft, Juliane-Marien-Koog and Waygaard. Da ...

with the

Halligen The ''Halligen'' (German, singular ''Hallig'', ) or the ''halliger'' (Danish, singular ''hallig'') are small islands without protective levee, dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen i ...

Oland and

Langeneß Langeneß (; ; ) is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It consists of the halligen (islands) Langeneß and Oland. Before the flood of 1634 the two islands were directly attached. Langeneß itself h ...

, Germany

Replica

More recently, in 2005, a replica of a 19th-century sail bogey was built and demonstrated on the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

.The Boat.
Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group, accessed 2023-10-28

Examples

Spurn railway

Teesmouth lifeboat

Madaras Rotor Power Plant Project

Others

Replica

See also

References

Further reading