Anyone seen a speeder lately? I can remember some from my youth, but the only one I have ever seen up close was in the Belmont Shore Club museum. There is a good story on that one. In a search, I found no speeder topics on TrainBoard, so I started a thread here. Besides pictures, does anyone have a good story? I presume those pickup trucks have taken the place of the speeders and no speeders are in use on the railroads. I would be good to post pictures, too. I have heard of speeder clubs.
Great topic! I have a few pictures, but no stories. This one is in use by the C&TS; I was told it follows the steam excursions putting out cinder fires in the dry season. Note the little tanker it tows:
I have a story. Well, we were out on a club run on the Texas City Terminal RR when they were not running trains one weekend. We had a line of six speeders when some fool in an old car tried to out run the first speeder in the line. We were able to stop the other five cars but the guys in the first one were pretty beat up. I was able to get a shot with my digital camera.
Belmont Shore Speeder The Belmont Shore Club had a speeder in their small museum. It was an old Espee and had not run in 30-40 years. It was a good conversation piece and we thought it was worthless. One of the club officers got a call from someone who wanted to see it and fix it up. This was something he did as a hobby. We would pay for the parts, he would fix it for free, and we would get the money when it was sold. What the heck, sounds good. I was at the club one day when this guy came by to see the speeder. He was blind! I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't! That guy was amazing. He said he could fix it, so we moved it to his house. About six weeks later, it was running great. Pretty soon we sold it for 1600 US$; it cost about 400 US$ to fix it. The money was a windfall to us, so we just gave it to the great mechanic who got it running again. I hope it is having a good life somewhere.
What, no comments on Russell's shot of the accident??? :tb-biggrin: I swore I had a good still photo of a parade of speeders that took place on the McCloud about five years ago. Guess I just got video. Don't have the capability to transfer it. :tb-sad:
I have a story to relate that isn't mine. I had occasion to go visit Merv Johnson, who authored the most definitive book on steam donkeys in Oregon, and he told me about growing up in one of these Coast Range lumber mill towns. His dad worked for Consolidated Lumber, and he often got to go into the woods. The men got to where they thought it was great fun to show Merv how to drive the speeder, which was just some company shop creation that "ran despite all appearances." Anyway, one day he was fooling around on the thing running it up and down a piece of track. He gets around a bend and who should appear trackside but the boss. He flagged young Merv down. After asking if he drove the thing often and if he knew how to drive it well, he asked for a ride into the town. Merv obliged, and drove the boss into town. The whole time he was worried about getting in trouble, or getting his dad canned for his foolishness. They reached their destination and the boss climbed off and thanked him for the ride. Merv headed straight back to where his dad and the others were working and stopped and hopped off quickly. The boss never brought it up.
Just looking at Russell's picture...are there any cushions or springs on a speeder? Is it all a ride on cold, hard steel? Thanks.
As I remember from my few rides on a B&M speeder around 1950, the axles were bolted directly to the frame without any hint of suspension. It looked just like the Forest Service speeder in the photo that Steve posted, except it was a badly faded B&M maroon. Made for a jerky ride on jointed rail. Russ' photo is of a trailer frame, not a speeder frame.
There were a lot of operational speeders gathered in Flatonia today at Tommy Schultz's Pavilion Party. I took a bunch of photos but am at a hotel in San Antonio tonight and can't post them. Will have to wait till next weekend when I get home from vacation in West Texas.
Not operational, but here's one that has been partially stripped to show the workings. It's located at the museum in Aguascalientes. Regards Ed .
Do you want more padding on the seat, gain weight! Do you need more braking...pull harder on the lever! :tb-biggrin:
