01 July 2009

Train Speeders

A week ago, we were in Elkins, WV, and happened upon a very unusual sight. Turns out this was a meeting of NARCOA, a club for collectors of old speeders. Speeders are what was used on rails for maintenance runs after the hand cart and before being replaced with modified road vehicles. As I came upon this group, they had just finished a 120-mile group trip over a mountain pass, and were in the process of removing their vehicles from the tracks. They have little tiny gasoline engines, but because of the low friction and low grade, can go long distances on little fuel:
 


A single car:
 


Weathertight:
 


Santa Fe, off the tracks:
 

4 comments:

VisuaLingual said...

Wow, toy cars for grownups...

CityKin said...

It is a strange hobby for sure.

dave said...

Did they mention the top speed?

Cincinnati NAMjA said...

Ahhh...I want one!