Riding the Rails - Speeder Style

My dad has always been a train fan.  To help pay his way through UCLA, he worked at Union Station in Los Angeles.  He and my grandpa watched the transition from steam to diesel and lived through the fading glory days of rail travel.  

When I came along, I joined the tradition.  We occasionally chased steam trains of yesteryear and I spent hours with my HO and Lionel models.  About fifteen years ago, my dad's dream of not just watching trains but riding the rails on his own came true.  He's now an active member of a small but growing group of hobbiest who ride railroad motorcars (aka speeders) safely and legally on rails all over North America (see: www.narcoa.org).  These tiny cars that putt along the rails at up to 30 mph were used by the railroads to inspect track and transport crews out to job sites.  Motorcars have been mostly replaced by hi-rails, pickup trucks equipped with special gear which allow them to drive on the tracks.  

With the advent of hi-rails, motorcars were discarded and then picked up by rail enthusiasts.  My dad bought his first motorcar about fifteen years ago and has since ridden thousands of miles of rail from Alaska to Colorado to the Mexican boarder.  We just got back from riding the San Luis Valley and Rio Grande railroad through some beautiful scenery in Southern Colorado.

The history of the US is so closely linked to the railroads.  Being a part of this history through riding the rails on a speeder has been a great chance to spend time with my dad and pass the tradition on to my own son.  Stay tuned for a future blog post on the workings of a specific rail speeder, the Fairmont M-14.  The entire car can be maintained with a small set of six tools.  That's classic  American ingenuity!

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Comment by James Floyd Kelly on June 29, 2012 at 9:19am

I have a 5 year old who is 100% fascinated with all things train-related... he would love this.  I'm going to have to do some searching around the Atlanta area and see if we might be able to hitch a ride.  Thanks, Rick.

Comment by Rick Schertle on June 29, 2012 at 9:17am

Hi Jim, 

Yes.  The speeders will "rent" the rails for a day or weekend.  They don't ride on busy main line rail but usually just "short" lines that can still be well over 100 miles or more in length.  Railroad employees usually lead the group and are in radio contact with the tail car.  If riding on active rail, the speeders get a track order from the superintendent for a certain period of time.  

The cars can go up to 45 mph, which metal wheels on metal rails is quite fast!  They are quite loud so operators usually use airplane style headsets to communicate and cut out noise.  Some models of speeders came with seats while on others, the workers just sat on the engine box and put their tools down on the tray on the floor.  But for hobbyists  like my dad, most have added seats.  My dad has an enclosed car with four seats (with seat belts) and an open car (without a top) where riders just sit on the engine box.  The cars were designed to pull small trailers with equipment but not passenger cars.  They can also tow another speeder if there is a breakdown.  

My dads been involved for about 15 years and it's been a blast.  Thanks for your great questions.

- Rick

Comment by James Floyd Kelly on June 28, 2012 at 3:33pm

Rick, are there any special limits or times applied to the speeders?  I know very little about the operation of rail lines, but I imagine this kind of thing has to be scheduled like flying a single engine plane and sharing the skies with bigger planes, right?  How comfortable are the speeders?  Can they pull smaller passenger cars?  How many riders per speeder?

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