Rookie Railfan Questions 2.0

[Overmod]

mudchicken

Hi-rail as a pursuit vehicle?

Hold my beer.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DsrgcgPuUIo

Doubles as a strike weapon laser-guided from surveillance drones, too!

[zugmann]

steve-in-kville

Do railroad police have vehicles that are hi-railed?

I know a RR police truck that is an unmarked white Ram 1500 (it may even have just the RR logo on the doors - I can't remember). Looks like the 56,000,000 other MOW trucks - well until he turns on the visor lights.  Sneaky, sneaky. 

[BaltACD]

Overmod

 

mudchicken

Hi-rail as a pursuit vehicle? 

Hold my beer. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DsrgcgPuUIo

Doubles as a strike weapon laser-guided from surveillance drones, too!

I'll see your early 20th Century rockets and raise to 21st Century rockets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZziLcP7wzy8

[mudchicken]

(when they (hi-rails) are off the rail and used as a street vehicle, they tend to be pushing the GVW limits, can't turn, ride worse then a lumber wagon, hardly stop on a dime and wallow wherever they go.)

Does the german car have any on-rail whoa capability?

[Overmod]

mudchicken

(when they (hi-rails) are off the rail and used as a street vehicle, they tend to be pushing the GVW limits, can't turn, ride worse then a lumber wagon, hardly stop on a dime and wallow wherever they go.)

We didn't learn from Christie, we didn't learn from Evans, we didn't even learn from Brandt.  Now we have junk sold at premium prices and no one seems to get it.

Note that the British know in principle how to get drive and steering and guiding all stable up to 100mph.  There is no real reason that can't be done with something the dimensions of an F350 longbed-- if we acknowledge the front wheels will not be rickety standard gauge apart, and there will be spacers and 'stability duals' (with road tread only) spaced far enough outboard to clear any self-guiding wings or other weird projections.  Only the onboard rear duals go on the rail -- and they have dynamic pressure modulation so shock doesn't bounce them.  (If Schneider OTR can do it, why not conversion makers)

Nobody seems to want to put any kind of sensible low-mass guiding axle a la Auto-Railer on the front.  Instead we get this primitive Fairmont stuff with heavy cast parts that take the polar moment of inertia for both ride and steering through the roof, but ride like a speeder.  Even if you had track wheels that folded like aircraft landing gear you could do better.  And there are ways to augment railhead following and clearing/conditioning.  
I'm as firmly convinced as the Germans were half a century ago that any light rail vehicle requires magnetic track brakes.  One pair of rubber tires doing traction and braking is NOT going to get it... even at 45mph.

I suspect that as soon as PSR gets to considering what 'superconductors' or rapid-response maintenance crews actually need, including for drone support, there will be a market for better truck running quality even if the things cost more. All you have to do is show how they'll make money where it counts, and not lose it where it hurts.

Now what you actually build is not a pickup, but a low-floor 'mobile office' (originally designed for stand-up office and workroom service in a form that can be driven in and out of parking garages).  Climate-controlled sleeper berths and RV features for little more than pickup price, and lower operating cost.  

[/quote]Does the german car have any on-rail whoa capability?[/quote]Have you never heard of retro-rockets?  Anyway, it stops nearly on a dime after it derails, or as you see in the last frame of the video.  Most perps would learn to start running when they hear it, as fragmentation range may be well north of a quarter mile...