What I saw was more than 65 years ago. I was lucky to have a broken Kodak Brownie, let alone an 8mm moving picture camera.
On the Southern Pacific, they would wheel the speeder out of the shed onto the track (where there were timbers in between the rails for support) - the trainmen would then turn the speeder onto the rails. Most speeders had lifting bars that front to back. Not sure if those bars were permanent or were installed when needed. Wolf
A few years back I got the chance to go for a ride in a speeder. The one I was on had some sort of jack that lifted it off the rails. When we got to the point where we had to turn it around we all got off and the operator was able to raise the jack, turn it around by himself, then lower it. Not all of the speeders in the group were equipped this way.
Hank, Thanks for the video. For operational purposes on the club layout I elected to not put the timbers inside the rails. carl
There is a youtube for everything ! The poles are the trick ! Thanks guys ! Free tickets to my theater for all. New pictures of progress on my bowling alley will be posted today
Great stuff everyone! Had an op session here, took these images. I cant seem to get my phone to take good images. Gotta learn how to adjust it to better focus. A eastbound Frisco train on main track 2. same train now on the hill. A westbound TOFC on main track 1 in dynamic braking coming down the hill. Thanks for stopping by.
Some of these hand handles which would slide out. (Parallel to the rails.) The operator could then lick it up, sort of like a wheelbarrow and manually turn it- a one man operation.
A friend of mine here is a retired track inspector. He used to run a one man speeder on his section of track in both NP and BN days. Yes, it was his job to use those handles and get it on or off the track all by himself. They weren't super heavy, so it wasn't a huge chore. However, if some hotshot engineer was running ahead of schedule, it could be a mad scramble to get that speeder off the track! He lost several due to that particular situation! That might be an interesting scenic detail, pieces of broken speedr laying along the right of way.
Hard to see on a model, but the prototype actually had slots in the front below the windscreen for two 2x4 lookin' long handles that they used to leverage them onto the tracks, turn them around, etc. They weren't too heavy, depending on the size of the motorcar.
In this photo, a pair of NP geeps wait in a passing siding as a mike struggles up to the summit of the pass while a DM&IR Yellowstone heads downgrade.
They do have a small narrow gauge operation on the layout, but for now it is not operational. Everything is DCC on the layout and as for now, there is no power to the tracks.
That MinitrainS critter might not run at all. They were and still are notorious for lousy motors, plus their axle gears splitting.