Looks like an early version of an ATV to me, stripped of its tires.
Excellent. I foresee type-acceptance with such a thoroughly thoughtful design.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanI don't see a beer holder.
I think the beer is in the small keg just behind the head light, kept cool in the breeze.
s the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
mlehman The handlebars have been retained in case it wanders off track... Possibly something for the intrepid rider to hang on to when it got close to warp speed.......
I don't see a beer holder. Gotta be a better reason than holding onto the handlebars to set your suds down, so there would have to be someplace cozy for your drink if that's what was intended.
mlehman The handlebars have been retained in case it wanders off track...
Possibly something for the intrepid rider to hang on to when it got close to warp speed.......
Cheers, the Bear.
Bear,
Apparently it was still in testing in this photo. The handlebars have been retained in case it wanders off track...
This reminds me of something that a friend of mine did in the mid 1980s. We wanted to ride his mountain bike on the old MEC Rockland branch. He built an outrigger from wood with some kind of flanged wheel on teh end. I do not remember what he did to keep the bike wheels on the rail. When he tried it, it worked good, except that the line had been abandoned for 15 or 20 years and he encountered trees growing out of the roadbed. His plans for a long rail ride were cut short...
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Modelling HO Scale with a focus on the West and Midwest USA
If you can find it, the movie "The Chartroose Caboose" features a velocipede in action.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053705/
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
I bet when it was in operating condition, the brake lever was an easier reach. Also, they may not have any sort of ratche gear on the drive, like a coaster bike. More like a fixed gear bike, the handle keeps going the whole time it is moving. So you can slow down that way as well. Remember, except for certain exceptions, most railroad grades aren't all that steep. I don;t think I'd want to try riding one of those down Madison, or Saluda. Let alone attempt to climb them.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Geared Steam Texas Transportation Museum Interesting design, as I was able to get an up close inspection of the mechanism. Bet it was interesting running downgrade! If I'm not wrong the handbrake lever is a long reach down and it looks like whenyou pull it up it pushes a flat brake plate against the rear wheel. Looks like a lot of fun. Joe
Texas Transportation Museum
Interesting design, as I was able to get an up close inspection of the mechanism. Bet it was interesting running downgrade!
If I'm not wrong the handbrake lever is a long reach down and it looks like whenyou pull it up it pushes a flat brake plate against the rear wheel. Looks like a lot of fun.
Joe
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Mike,
Did you ever see or have an old pedal car? Not chain drive but two rods with pedals that you pushed with your feet. The back axle was designed like a Steam Loco side wheela, one rod up, one down. IF your legs were strong enough, you could hold both pedals, to stop from rotating, resulting in locking up the back wheels, There's the brake.
Take Care!
JaBear, Is that where the one liner used here in the states years ago came from? ''Jiggers'',The cops, are coming.
Frank
George,
I was wondering whether the legs got involved. The kit called them footrests, but the castings looked too complex to only be for that.
Yeah, doing the Flintstone on that thing is probably not a good idea. Makes me wonder what they did for braking other than hold onto the main lever and try to slow it down.?
There is an HO scale velocipede, we have a model in the display case at Boothbay Railway Village. No idea who made it.
Edit: I did a quick search on Walthers. Sequoia makes one in HO and HOn3, but Walther no longer stocks it. Railway Express Miniatures makes one in N scale.http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=&manu=&item=&keywords=Velocipede&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=300&Submit=Search
I have seen old film of these in use. The velocipeder (??) pulls and pushes the top handle with his hands and the lower one with his feet. They can move at a good speed, once they get going. I do not think the user would do a "Fred Flinstone" with his feet except to get it moving. Imagine catching your toe on a tie moving at 5 or 10 MPH.
Wow guys, great pics! And I learned some stuff I didn't know.
Your pic is particularly intriguing, because it looks identical to the kit version I have, except it has a handy front "freight" platform in addition to the rear one. I'm not sure who made these originally or might have held the patent, maybe Fairmount? I'm sure you're correct they weren't missed much when the motor car came along.
Mike L ..... I have one on my layout. It is a left over from my 1900 era layout. It does not fit in with my 1962 theme, but what to heck.
There is a velocipede in this photo. The shed is intended to look beaten up with doors falling off hinges.
Edit: I'm changing photos to a better one.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Gidday Mike & Frank, here they were known as "Jiggers" and were used predominately by the "Section Roadmen" also known as "Gangers" or "Surfacemen" who maintained the track and permanent way. We had one at the Railway Society I once belonged too, and once you get the knack and rhythm a respectable speed can be achieved especially with two. It would have sure beat walking, though I suspect that not too many tears would have been shed when they were replaced by motorised versions, excepting that they are far lighter to move off and on the track. Some of the hand jiggers were still used up to the 60s.
A New Zealand Railways Jigger and Ganger, circa 1906.
That model sure is a little cutie.
Velocipede..Latin word for ''fast foot'' Most common Velocipede today, is the bicycle:
Railroads in North America often made use of a three-wheeled handcar designed to be operated by a single person. This came to be known as a "velocipede"[citation needed].
Interesting! Nice Model.
OK, so what the heck is a velocipede? Well, it's something like a bike. There are off-rail velocipedes, which I suppose differe in minor respects from bicycles, but I'm clueless about that. I did have a kit I'd been holding onto for years, until I felt inspired... and that was Friday...and some of Saturday morning.
It's a Sequoia Scale Models #13 HOn3 velocipede kit. You apparently cranked that double lever sticking up in the middle to go. Maybe the legs were involved, too, maybe not. Probably more useful for the section foreman to inspect track than anything else, you could run into town for sandwiches I suppose.
The instruction were a little unclear to me, so misassembled it the first time around. Got it apart, cleaned up and done right, mostly. It's shown here pulled over onto the platform at the station in front of the Sunnyside Mill in Eureka.
Obviously unpowered, it is also uninsulated, so you have to turn off power to the section of ntrack it's on if you want to pose it on the rail.
I'm pretty sure there was a HO standard gauge version. Were there any kits in other scales? Have you built one and have pics you'd like to share?