It looks like there is, to my eyes. Maybe a slightly deeper than normal flange with rubber tire added over the steel wheel?
In 1933 the Budd company and Michelin teamed up to build a rail car with pneumatic tires that also had flanges. However the flanges were normally not in contact with the side of the rail head.
That Diesel Shay must have a huge amount of torque - my guess is that they figured they could get the same amount of pulling power out of that bugger as with a steam Shay. If that Madagascar unit (Galloping Goose meets Paris Metro?) is built anything like the Paris Metro - or the Montreal Metro which is based on the Paris one - they will have flanged wheels as a backup to the tires in case they go flat or shred.
I am curious as to how it rode. Surely smoother than steel on steel. Probably rather quiet. Could sneak up on a person, unless the exhaust was noisy?
The Montreal subway is noticeably quieter than those with steel wheels. Once in a while, especially over switches, you can hear the steel backup wheels contact the rails momentarily. That's definitely a steel-on-steel sound! I don't think the Madagascar "goose" can sneak up on anyone. It likely has an unmistakeable putt-putt that alerts everyone to its arrival.
Thank you for the comments guys. Indeed this railcar is named "Micheline", from its inventor and manufacturer Michelin, otherwise known as one of the big tire manufacturers in the world. The Micheline were studied and manufactured just before as well as just after World War II (some were created for normal gauge track but none is currently preserved in operating status). To give you some replies: yes, the vehicle's wheels consist of true air inflated tires, that sometimes deflate due to a puncture (the vehicle caries spare wheels under its body, like those you have in your own automobile's bunk). Alongside the tired wheel is a steel disk, slightly taller than the wheel itself, that serves as a flange to the wheel. I rode this railcar. It's surely the most awesome train trip I had to this day. The trip took place between Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, to a remote location 100 miles eastwards. The sightseeing was one of the most breathtaking I've ever seen. Leaving central country's plateau, the railroad line then proceeds high in the mountains, far above a lower valley, then slowly descends and runs over itself on a loop looking like famous UP's Tehachapi Loop between Mojave and Bakersfield, and then continues into rugged terrain until the shore and its harbour terminus of Tamatave. Riding this car is very smooth as tires absorb most of track's irregularities.. And the car itself is very comfortable, with broad movable seats that can be arranged to the desired position and orientation... It's made for only 15 passengers or so, so we are far from beeing crammed... The only drawback of this Michelin technology is that as rail threads are narrow and as wheels are the same width than those of a medium motorbike, axle load is limited to a mere 1500 kgs (3300 lbs) per axle, so it only fits with light vehicles. A simple 80-ton RDC would need..... Uh, let me count..... Many, many axles! I guess the whole vehicle's length wouldn't be sufficient... As of Paris or Montréal Underground, the system is completely different: tires are broad, like a truck's, and ride on a special track that is completely different of a normal railroad. Furthermore guidance is completed with small wheels that are horizontally positionned, and that run in contact of raised lateral track just above the running track itself. On the opposite, Michelin's railcars run on standard railroads they share with standard steel wheeled trains... Dom
Dom, thank you for this interesting write-up. I remember the few times that I rode the Michelin tired Paris Metro as extremely comfortable and virtually noise free, with the exception of motor noise. The major difference I remember of that line versus a standard steel rail line was that the tires rode on a wooden platform approximately 1/2 meter wide with a steel guide rail at the outside of the wooden platform, as you described. The guide tires are visible in this photo just ahead of the support tires.
Hytech, are you sure that the platform the subway's wheels ride on is made of wood? Sounds puzzling. (Anyway, I'm not fond enough of public municipal transportation to search information for that ) Dom
The elevated trains between terminals at the airport in Houston uses rubber tired vehicles on special guideways. The underground train there has rails.
My memory is from 1970-71, so may have fogged over 45 years. However, the platform appeared to be constructed of laminated wooden strips, or a material that closely resembled wood with a longitudinal grain pattern and color shades that varied with each strip. Interestingly, the platform in the photo I posted does not resemble what I remember. The photo platform appears to be a more uniform material as if manufactured or extruded in a continuous process.
So at least one does still survive? Interesting looking tire tread. If only modern rail cars were so fascinating!
I guess there's at least one sitting silent in Mulhouse's national railroad museum (Mulhouse is located east of France very close to Swiss boundary). Never been there yet... Dom
The Montreal Metro (see Hytec's photo - that's the one!) rides on concrete runways with steel guide rails on each side. There is a standard gauge track between the runways that serves as the backup in case of tire failure. Another interesting bit of trivia - the excavated material from the tunnels was used to build up the islands in the St Lawrence for the 1967 Universal Exposition (which I vaguely remember visiting with my folks back then, and plenty of slides to help my memory along!).
Saw this interesting derail at Murphy Jct., NC where the Canton, NC branch joins the Asheville, NC <=> Knoxville, TN mainline. The branch approaches the mainline on a significant downgrade, so no simple derail is this. Instead, it's a turnout with no frog and it'll definitely put a stop to an errant movement. It's motorized, and interlocked with the signals no doubt.
I wonder what sort of grade approaches that derail? If significant, there'd surely be cars scattering. Might even get over to impact the main track.
You're right -- it'd tip the car or locomotive and create quite a mess. I guess the outcome would likely be worse if equipment entered the main. It'd transit the long bridge over the French Broad River and into Asheville Yard where an even larger derailment could occur. I recall reading about a terrible wreck on the CNJ in the late '50s where a commuter train hit derails at the open Newark Bay drawbridge, but its momentum carried the train forward and into the void. Locomotives and cars fell into the river with great loss of life. I think investigators determined the Engineman suffered a heart attack and the Fireman was not able to react in time to stop the train.
Waynesboro, VA It's July 2008 and an NS coal train is making its way under the former C&O at Waynesboro, VA:
Random, it certainly is. Prototype, I'm not too sure. This was out in the parking lot at Ottawa Train Expo today: I know for sure that this is no comfort cab!
