RAIL CARS

Hokitika Guardian, 8 July 1937, Page 2

RAIL CARS

CANADIAN EXPERIMENTS. VANCOUVER, July 4. The first'linking up of highway and railway in Canada by means of auto-, motive vehicles, adapted for use on either rail or road will be undertaken shortly 'by the Canadian National Railways.' Three passenger “autorailers'” have been ordered for branch line service on the Atlantic, Central and Western regions. The experiment is intended to per-

mit of tests being made of the adaptability of , this type ol equipment for use in Canada. Auto-rail passenger ears and freight carriers have been employed successfully on a number ol the United States railways, where they have cut down operating costs on light traffic branch lines and have improved service on branch lines. The passenger cars are of streamline design and metal construction. They have a seating capacity of '2O persons, with ample accommodation lor luggage. They can pick up passengers fro a communities near the railway, but not actually situated on the line, and car y them to the railway and on to their

destination. In cases where the business or residential centres of communities are not adjacent to the railway station, the cars can be used to pick up or,disembark passengers at the most convenient points in the town. The auto-railer freight trucks have a carrying capacity of two and a-liall tons on the highway. Where used entirely in rail service, the load will be five and a-lialf tons. The doors are specially arranged for speedy loading and unloading from either rear or sides of the trucks. The passenger cars have two pairs of inflated wheels in front for road work. They can be transferred from

road to rail in less than a minute by means of two pairs of Hanged guide wheels, which are let down to connect with the rails. \\ hilc on the fails, the car rides both on the. inflated wheels and the flanged guide wheels, so that the possibility of a blow-out is no buzzard. Were a blow-out to occur, tlie car would be held in its ordinary driving position by means of the guide wheels. • i

The transfer of- the cars from road to rail service, or vice versa, by letting down or drawing up the flanged guide wheels, is made by means off a simple mechanism controlled from the driver’s scat.