Driving on the Railroad

(Charles Platt is a guest blogger)

The North American Rail Car Operators Association (NARCOA) is an affinity group for people who own railroad motorcars (such as the one above) and like to drive them on a railroad once in a while. These antique vehicles were once used by railroad companies for track inspection but are now obsolete, having been superseded by Hyrail vehicles, which are everyday trucks with additional railroad wheels that can be lowered on demand.

The deluxe customized model above was advertised for $35,000 at the club web site, but generally you can buy a working model for $10,000. Most are sold with trailers so that you can haul them behind your pickup truck when you journey around the country to NARCOA meets.

Here’s an excerpt from the club’s FAQ:

“With permission of the railroads, members operate their motorcars on excursions ranging from one day to over a week in almost all parts of the U.S. and Canada. Many of these excursions are in remote and very scenic areas that are impossible to see from the highway and thus provide an experience not available by other means of transportation. . . . We rent the tracks for our outings from the many small railroad companies which have taken over former branch lines of the major carriers (as well as some large railroads in the U.S. and Canada). Often smaller railroads operate trains only on weekdays, so a group of motorcars on a Saturday or Sunday does not cause the coordination problems the larger lines would have.”

However, if you want to try before you buy, there’s a problem. NARCOA doesn’t allow paying passengers. You’ll need to ingratiate yourself with an existing member in the hope of hitching a ride.

I found out about NARCOA when I dropped in at a free Christmas turkey lunch at the Holiday Inn in Williams, Arizona and sat at a table with a bearded gentleman named Bob, who was wearing a cap with railroad badges all over it, and a T-shirt with a picture of a locomotive on the front.

Railroad motorcars can reach speeds of up to 35 mph, but during group excursions, an average of 20 is more typical. Retirees make up a significant percentage of NARCOA members.

• [FoetusNail]

  Another thing I would love to do, but probably won’t. List getting long. Thanks bb.

• [Anonymous]

  There was a really interesting “California’s Gold” recently where Huell Howser went with a bunch of former railroad employees on one of these railroad motorcars to to tour the inaccessible and now defunct rail line that once led from near LA to San Diego (I might not have the exact destinations right!), but you could only see this desolate stretch of rail line that snakes over the mountains via one of these rail cars and it seemed really cool….

• [Guysmiley]

  Velocipede, baby!

  http://www.parrysound.com/e/i/photo/|e|issues|601|pix|Velocipede2.jpg–250–3164–2482.jpg

  It’s fun until you have to go uphill. Then it turns into a workout.

• [Gary61]

  Is that how they roll?

• [iris]

  My uncle does this. When asked, my grandmother always says that the day he took her on his motorcar was one of the most memorable experiences of her life, and at 87 years of age she has had quite a few experiences one might describe as memorable.

• [airship]

  When I worked on the section gang as a young man, I rode with the crew on a one-cylinder track car. It had extensible handles so we could lift it onto a siding when a train came by.

  The Hyrail trucks and cars aren’t as cool as the old dedicated vehicles, but riding in one is still a hoot. Your movement is governed by a dispatcher just as though you were a train. Because you’re on the rails, you can just set the cruise control, lean back, and not pay much attention.

• [gnosis]

  Here’s how they used to do it in North Ireland!

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnosis/2900220386/in/set-72157607203205007/

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnosis/2900220152/in/set-72157607203205007/

• [alxndr]

  Rail bikes look like much more fun: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/10/gallery_bike_hacks?slide=3&slideView=2