Model Railroading > Now for something really Bizarre!

Found this pic online. Looks like a log skidder turned car mover. Never have seen anything like this before.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Hello Mr. Curphey,

Did you find this image at the Mitchell Railgear homepage?

Yes. that is a used(for sale) Caterpillar brand model 525 railcar mover modified from a log skidder with a direct contact(friction) rubber tire wheel drive to axle shaft drive high rail drive system.The end of each axle shaft has a drive lug system which is in full contact with each rubber wheel when the machine is raised and the axles are pulled lowered and pulled inward against the rubber tires to create the adhesion/tractive effort needed to move railcars and It even has air horns on the operators cabin roof. it does not have roof mounted air conditioner from what I have seen of the images I have of it. In a Volvo front end loader the air conditioner is mounted on the right side of the operators cabin.

This unit is set up to allow access from either side of the machine with a single stair step tread attached to the wire rope used to hold it in place which is used on thier log skidders to climb up into the operators cab.

It has a FOPS  safety cage covering the engine compartment and operators cabin. The muffler rises up and to the right of the front windshield to allow a wide forward looking view while operating it. The air cleaner  has a very short cyclone precleaner rising out of the engines hood. 

I am unsure if I could legally upload the images I have of it without violating copyright laws as I have 12 images of it.The unit has 4 sanding boxes, one at each corner mounted on a steel platform above and in front of each wheel. In the front and rear images you can see the four platform/weldments that the four sand boxes are attached to have sagged over time. I believe the drive axles are equipped with limited slip differentials attached to a full reversing automatic transmission which is commonly used in automatic transmission log skidders.

The splined steel casting attached to the axle shaft stub which is used to grip each rubber tire looks exactly like a cog belt drive sprocket
for lobe type rotary blowers and air compressors and other applications.

The twin air tanks and compressor are nested on top of and behind what would be the head end coupler in a traditional sense for a locomotive.
It has a belt driven twin cylinder wet sump air compressor with twin air tanks and uses hydraulic cylinders on front and rear to shift the
rail car coupler to align it prior to coupling to prevent derailments. It also has front and rear air lines for coupling the air brake hoses of a rail car to its air sytem.
It is equipped with a light bar on the front above the windsheild and 4 more corner headlights front and rear for night operations.
In looking at the front and rear images of the unit you can see how both axle shafts have been bent slightly upward a few degress from use.
This is due to the down pressure created by the machines weight resting on the rubber wheels which rest on the drive cogs attached to the axle ends.

If it had larger steel wheels and axle shafts that would not occur of course but this would require more hydraulic power to raise and lower each axle
while under pressure to create tractive effort/adhesion.

Sorry for all the edits, but I kept noting my mistakes in grammar and information about the machine and I have fixed them.



 



Edited 12 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/16 05:49 by leonz.

Here are the 3 images I downloaded of the Caterpillar model 525 railcar mover

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three more

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Three more.

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last ones.

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I don't know if the unit has been sold but it was in Florida.

Not as common as a Trackmobile, but I have seen a few over the years.  

Leonz, that first pic turned up on a google search while looking for photos of something else. It came off the Pinterest website.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR