Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday: hi-rail vintage (and them some!)

Wanna go for a ride?

1. & 2. CRI&P hi-rail vehicle #570 seen at Topeka, KS on October 13, 1946.
2 photos by the late Merle Graves, from the Art Gibson collection

Buckle that seat belt?
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/23 03:06 by santafe199.

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Neat shot, Lance!  Do they have the flange wheel attached to a rubber wheel?

Thanks.

RC Lundgren

All I know is what I see in the picture. So what you see is what you get...

It is interesting that the auto axel width is perfect for the rail.  I wonder if that was a coincidence.
 

Yes, the wheel is flanged.  Sometimes they would use a large disk behind the wheel as a flange to keep the tire on the rail head.

I have always wondered, to turn around could they pop the vehicle off the rail at a crossing and turn the car on a roadway without damaging that flange?


texchief1 Wrote:
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> Neat shot, Lance!  Do they have the flange wheel
> attached to a rubber wheel?
>
> Thanks.
>
> RC Lundgren

Looks like about a 1946 Mercury.  I can imagine seeing about 4 or 5 "hats" riding in it.   Wonder what the railroad speed limit was on that thing?

Michelin made some tire/flange units in the 1930s for use on rail buses.  They
looked a great deal like those shown on the Mercury.   These did not allow for
removal of the car at a crossing, nor turning the car like you could a speeder
using a "turntable" beneath the speeder.  I know of one such 1956 Buick 
Roadmaster (how appropriate) that was known to do 80+ with five or six "hats"
inside.   I was waiting for the Afternoon Zephyr which was a few minutes late
when the Buick came into the station, the driver bolted out of the car, ran to
the phonebox, and was heard to say, " If they are not clear of *********** yet,
I can be in **** ahead of them and in the clear, easy!"  He got back in the
Maroon Buick #9670 and headed west at speed.  All you saw was two 
Buick taillights and a lot of dust.  He was out of that station like a rocket.
Incidentally, that Buick had a large Burlington Route sticker on the door
and Gold Leaf stretch Roman numerals 9670 on the rear of he front
fender.  He had to run 80+ to make that 22 miles ahead of a train that
would be making 90+ chasing him.  I would have been watching behind
me for a Mars light.
SR2

Two "A+" images - What a vehicle!
Bob

Lance, real nice pics that Merle took. Car is a 1942 Ford from what I can find on the internet, I wonder what it rode like? KCRW287



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/20 10:04 by KCRW287.

jdw3460 Wrote:
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> Looks like about a 1946 Mercury.  I can imagine
> seeing about 4 or 5 "hats" riding in it. 
>  Wonder what the railroad speed limit was on that
> thing?

If one googles this model ('46 Merc), many images come up, and confirm that this is indeed a '46 Mercury.
My first guess was that this was a pre war model, and the google search proved me wrong.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Gosh Lance, you've just posted a sister vehicle to what I posted on the 24th.  Looks like I probably missed the year but this is what rolled the GSR as an "officials car" at that time.  The one I recall seeing at that time was painted black and had the wheels as shown here.  Notice the steel frame work beneath and at rear bumper.  This was part of the assembly that was associated to the wheels.  Makes one wonder if they had a built in turntable similar to some Fairmont track cars for turning 180˚.

Date: 09/24/20 21:53
Re: Why are "efficiency tests" called that?
Author: rrman6 As a kid in the late 40's I recall hearing of Rock Island officials in a 1947-48 Ford rail-motorcar supposedly having an official step from the bumper up to the coupler and handrail at the back of a caboose on a freight train to make a surprise interaction with the rear crew.  I've always thought that sounded rather doubtful and for sure, unsafe and showing nothing toward promoting safety.  Maybe it was just a "wet dream" of mine at the time.  Has anyone else heard of such an incident anywhere on other US rail lines?

Lance, I'm a bit slow catching up with another Rock Island vintage shot, only of Chevrolet design
.  
The day was Jan. 30, 1961 at 5:15PM at Haviland, KS.  It was a rather gloomy day until this vehicle, RI #589, with General Manager, J. F. Ormaloski and a couple other officials arrived to grab a set of trainorders from Agent, R. E. "Bob" Laird.  Although unseen, Bob was handing the orders to them from the passenger side of the vehicle.  Based on this winter day with darkness soon coming, I'd hope these men would soon find shelter before continuing westward toward Liberal in the dark hours.  This Chevrolet appears to have the same type tire/wheel as shown with the CRI&P #570 Lincoln.

These aren't the best shots from my "Brownie" Kodak, but at least they are images unknown otherwise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/20 17:41 by rrman6.

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Since there is a span between RI #570 and CRI&P #589, does anyone actually know how many such rail-mounted autos the Rock Island had?