Ok folks if you know what this is, you get the special know-it-all prize! Spotted it a few days ago shunting cars around thew yard.
From the front/side/whatever you can see that the road wheels lower on hydraulic arms. Apparently the driver’s seat rotates and the controls are separate. That’s all I know about it.
Wow! Wildest little thing I’ve ever seen on rails. Is this a private siding or a carrier’s yard? With no branding I’m guessing it’s hombrewed.
It’s a private company that runs a short line, scrap-age, and rail maintenance business.
It’s a late 70s Trackmobile 5TM…
Thanks for making “Trackmobile” a link, their history page is cool.
I got Trackmobile, but Marc, I can’t imagine how you got a year and model from that image! A tip of the engineer’s hat to you.
Dang! Bryce is right, it is impossible to post something unidentifiable on here!
Here’s a short video of the Trackmobile in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-bPlBqw-MM
I’m an armchair railfan and occasional model railroader, and I never saw this before. Thanks Michael!
Wow thats different but its nearly impossible to post something here that wont be identified
Surely Road & Track must have done an April Fool’s road test on one of these? After all, it’s the only car that’s purpose-built to run on roads and on tracks.
“Handles like it’s on rails…”
“Pulls like a Locomotive”
That’s not the only dual traction vehicle you can imagine.
There’s plenty other solutions around like this one from Poland:
http://img.truck.pl/artpics/AMT/682/WF3051Apd.jpg
Cheers,
Max
what’s very clever about the Trackmobile is that it can leverage itself against the rail car in such a way to increase the effective weight on its own wheels, to gain much more traction. Otherwise this small thing would have a hard time generating enough tractive force.