Ford engines in rail vehicles

[DRG-ler]

Hi guys...

What many of you probably did not know up to now also surprised me a little today. Namely the fact that here in Germany Ford Model A / B engines were used in rail vehicles. In the "Wismar Schienenbus", built from 1932 onwards (T41), two of these motors were installed to move the car. One for each direction of travel.

http://www.museumseisenbahn.de/jfahrzeug/t41.htm

Later from year of construction 1940 (type T1) the Ford BB engines with 50 HP were installed.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waggonfabrik_Wismar_Typ_Hannover

Greetings from Germany / Berlin

Andy

 

[Ole Don]

Thank you for the information Andy. Not being a German reader, could you answer a question for us Yanks? Was the transmission used as if the vehicle was a truck? If so, the driver must have been good and double clutching and making a smooth shift to keep all the passengers comfortable.
Thanks again.

 

[Ruth]

Hi guys...

What many of you probably did not know up to now also surprised me a little today. Namely the fact that here in Germany Ford Model A / B engines were used in rail vehicles. In the "Wismar Schienenbus", built from 1932 onwards (T41), two of these motors were installed to move the car. One for each direction of travel.

http://www.museumseisenbahn.de/jfahrzeug/t41.htm

Later from year of construction 1940 (type T1) the Ford BB engines with 50 HP were installed.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waggonfabrik_Wismar_Typ_Hannover

Greetings from Germany / Berlin

Andy

That is totally cool. Thanks for sharing Andy.

 

[DRG-ler]

Briefly sent through the translator as my English has been rusty for 20 years.

In terms of propulsion, too, an unconventional path was taken for what used to be the case. On both sides of the railcar, a motor was heard in a front end, as it is known from trucks of the 1930s, which drove the right axle. Engines, transmissions and cardan drives came from the series production of trucks at the Ford works in Cologne. The installation of two more series-conscious drives was still cheaper than a complex reversing gear from a possible engine system.

MFG Andy

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Adding to this, below is a link to a thread that shows many Model-A/B powered R/R vehicles. Be sure and click on the video showing that poor Victoria!

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252641

 

[Jack Shaft]

I'm currently harvesting a 312 Y block ford industrial V8 from a Trackmobile 3TM...it ran on propane its entire life.

The problem with the "Wobbly" Victoria was a lack of ballast needed to develop tractive effort..without it the wheel chatter shook her to bits

 

[woodiewagon46]

If you Google "Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad" located in Fish Camp CA, you can see Model A powered railroad engines.

 

[Brad in Germany]

Here's an era photo of one of those German rail-bus' with a close up of the engine:

....and here is an excerpt from the 1932 German Ford Industrial Engine catalog:

The text under the photo states: "Rail-bus with two Ford A engines. Used on this vehicle, in addition to the Ford engines, is also the original Ford truck four speed transmission, rear axle differential, brakes, radiator, engine hood, and gas tank assembled by the wagon (train car) factory operated by the local railroad in Lüneburg-Soltau."

There are several of them that are still around, like this one in northern Germany:

....or this one with a 1932 Ford grill in a train museum in The Netherlands:

To see more details of this one in The Netherlands, you can watch this 2014 TV show that documents its restoration (but sorry, only in Dutch and some German, but the pictures tell a lot of the story):
https://www.npostart.nl/max-monumentaal/04-09-2014/POW_00856040

Towards the end of that TV show you can see and hear the rail-bus depart, with grinding of the gears (commercial Ford 4 speed transmission) as the conductor shifts gears.

....and if you are into model railroading, several toy train companies have made models of these rail busses in N, HO (Märkiln, Bemo) and G scale (LGB). Here is the one made by LGB for your G scale garden railway, for example:

...and if you are interested in what it is like to ride on one of these, there is a YouTube video, where you can even hear the Model A engine as it departs the station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtZwOF-jqo

Brad in Maryland

 

[Bruce of MN]

I guess they didn't have to face steep grades, so the motors could cope with the bus weight loads.

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

I guess they didn't have to face steep grades, so the motors could cope with the bus weight loads.

Bruce, my Fairmont A5 came with a 36hp engine and was rated to carry 260 men on 13 trailers. It was rated to pull 3000 pounds up a 2% grade. The limiting factor for mine is wheel traction. The Fairmont A6 had an 85hp flathead Ford V8, and it was rated to pull over 6,000 pounds. I am guessing that bus could pull 5,000 pounds up a 2% grade with ease, and like do a 4% with 4,000 pounds since it has 4 powered wheels and plenty weight for traction.

 

[Bruce of MN]

OK, but 260 men is at least 20 tons. I was comparing the grades of urban lines to mountain grades that a much lighter Model A can deal with.

 

[nkaminar]

Rails have so much less rolling resistance. That is why you see mile long trains traversing the middle of the USA.

 

[Bob Bidonde]

These are North American rail cars with Model "A" engines.

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

OK, but 260 men is at least 20 tons. I was comparing the grades of urban lines to mountain grades that a much lighter Model A can deal with.

Bruce, not sure how much each of those men weighed, but HERE is some advertising where Fairmont made that claim with their 36hp A5 car.

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[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Bruce, HERE is a pdf version of the Northwestern car that was a tad smaller than the A5 yet had a Model-B engine that produced 50 horsepower. If you note, their claim was that this car would haul 200 men on trailers or 6,000 pounds.

It is also worth noting these cars were capable of speeds around 30 mph. Can you imagine riding on one of these without hardly anything to hang on to at 30 mph!!
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[nkaminar]

In the Fairmont ad it shows a siding at right angles to the railroad with the service car parked on the siding. I have seen these sidings and wondered what they were for. I wonder how they got the service car on and off the siding. Must have been through muscle power or maybe some levers.

When we rode the Durango & Siverson narrow gauge train last month I saw these right angle sidings. We were followed by a small service car with two men aboard. Even though the coal powered engine was equipped with a spark quenching setup using water the engine could still have started a fire in the national forest. The service car was to put out any fires that were started. I thought initially that it was to pick up any parts that fell of the locomotive.

 

[Bruce of MN]

their claim was that this car would haul 200 men on trailers or 6,000 pounds.

I'm confused by them equating 200 men with 6000#, that is 30# per man!

 

[Pete]

"It is also worth noting these cars were capable of speeds around 30 mph. Can you imagine riding on one of these without hardly anything to hang on to at 30 mph!!"

They will go as fast as a stock model A on the road but you better not let anyone see you doing it. The ones with the rubber bands on the wheels are as quiet as a model A on the road also.