I ride by these old trains in a former Industrial area in Southeast Pa. all the time. One of them contains what appears to be an old Flat Head engine. The others are Diesel or Steam powered. They recently opened a new Store and a Bulldozer towed the trains into their current position. I'm always kind of surprised that it hasn't been rescued or some of the parts haven't been harvested over the years....
When I was much younger, I went with my dad to a railroad museum where they had a tiny industrial switcher engine with a stick shift. I honestly don't recall if it was gas or diesel, but it was actually used for shunting train cars around. It had four forward and four reverse speeds. I *think* it was in Detroit. Maybe one of the locals has a picture?
You see all sorts of things when it comes to industrial use. The engines to run field pumps for irrigation has always made me stop and take a look at what they are. Also some of the old power generators on wheels had different engines. Found an old vette 427 in an old wooden boat one time. I guess it was a boat sleeper...
Went a a Small City park that has an old 30's and 40's Amusement park that has been restored near me. Took the grand kids on a little train that runs a good 150 yds across an area and heard a familiar sound.... Here there was a rebuilt 60 horse flatty running that thing. How cool was that? I could have heard that thing run all day.
Looks like a home-made rail speeder of some sort. Post the pictures on Railroad.net and you can probably find out more about it. Usually speeders had a 4-cylinder industrial engine.
The ones like the flathead powered one are called "speeders" and used for maintanance work and transporting workers to and from work sites. They came in many sizes from 2 man to 16 man with many different types of engines. The majority of that type of work is done with Hi-rail trucks these days. (Road trucks equipped with small retractable RR wheels.)
Boy, those radiator hoses look cramped. i'm guessing this flatty replaced a pre 49 block at one time.
Looks like it was running a Bendix style electric fuel pump. I'd like to borrow some pieces from that engine.
I think the Strasburg Railroad is still using a flathead powered speeder like the one pictured above.
Its made for jockeying rail cars around at factories, and small yards. I've driven a much newer one before.
Seeing the two words "Strasburg Railroad" on the HAMB made my day. I am a dyed in the wool Red Caboose Motel guy.
Some branch lines in remote areas ran passenger service with old school buses converted to run on the rails. I remember seeing a '42-'47 Ford "Jailbar" bus set up that way, I think it was at Virginia Museum of Transportation, not certain about that but I know I saw it somewhere.
Here's a picture of a 1923 Foreman's truck, pretty neat stuff! This one is supposedly a Model A fireman truck. Doesn't look like there is much "A" left in it Found both here on MCRR's site. Looks like a really neat tourist line for those closer to Iowa.
Where's that small town in Southeast Pa you're talking about? I'm originally from the quakertown area, about 20 miles south of Allentown. The background of those pics look really familiar, not sure if I know that area or not?
There are clubs around the country that restore those speeders and trailer them around to abandoned RR trackage . Then they cruise around on them. Highly illegal probably. They also have organised national meets ect. Some where some guy has probably stuck a Hemi in one.
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The Jalopy Journal
