A car that can run on the road or the rails

This customized 1957 Pontiac was used by the Erie Mining Company to transport supervisors up and down the company's 74-mile-long Mainline railroad, which shipped taconite from mines in northern Minnesota to coastal ports and processing facilities on Lake Superior.

Every day, seven 96-car trains full of taconite travel down this rail line. The Pontiac was tricked out to allow it to drive on both roads or on the Mainline rails, themselves, with rail wheels that could be raised or lowered. You can see the rail wheels in the photo below.

Both photos come from my visit to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth last month.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Amorette-Allison/1163340223 Amorette Allison

Here in MT, the railroads have long had pick up trucks that can either run on the rail or the road. See them all the time.
- Feargus Stewart
  
  Texas too.
  
  With that said, that Pontiac is WAY better looking than those maintenance trucks.
  
  That’d be riding in style.
  - ChicagoD
    
    Yes. The pick ups are standard equipment. We see them on UP, CN, Norfolk Southern, etc. etc. all the time. This one is only unique in that it is a badassed mobile.
- technogeekagain
  
  And New York…
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Here in Delaware, my neighbor drives one to work every day. It’s a white pickup with a Conrail logo on it, I think.
ciacontra

Tell me that ‘taconite’ is a real mineral
- Eric Garner
  
  yep:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconite
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YLORAMVK2U4A72J2BHPCMZMADY No

And before there were full road vehicle “Hy Rail” kits, there were custom built inspection cars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiT6gpq-H3Y

They used a “hit and miss” gasoline engine (nicknamed “putt putt cars” from the distinct sound), and are a BLAST to run flat out on rail.
http://twitter.com/DanHibiki1 Dan Hibiki

Well, any car can be converted as shown by Top Gear… it’s just not that good of an idea.
Nonesuchplace

Does anyone have a picture from behind? I have a friend that does some awesome paintings of the backs of classic cars, and this is exactly the kind of thing that she’d love to paint.

EDIT: I am Ron Burgundy?
Elliottw

Jeeps were commonly fitted for rail travel during WWII and after: http://www.willysjeep.com/forum/gallery/image/175-on-the-rails/
A Nonny Moose

This is the first modern (post-WWII) rail inspection car I’ve ever seen that isn’t a pickup or suburban (small s). I heartily approve!
drublin

Any vehicle set up for rail travel is called a hi-rail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road-rail_vehicle
http://echofox3.blogspot.com efergus3

Still waiting for the video of one being chased by a 96-car train to the sounds of yakedy sax.
http://home.earthlink.net/~ironybread Taylor Jessen

Where does taconite come from? Well, who better to ask than Sven Foosball.

“It, eh, comes from the ground, dere.”
dculberson

Hy-rail? More like Hyrule, amirite?
Rob Butler

Here’s one with a motorcycle http://youtu.be/oI6oJaxIJgU

Youtube’s also full of people modifying bicycles to run on the rails, just search for “rail-bike”.
http://twitter.com/isorciverdi Vince Pugliese

Here is an interesting video of the Rio Grande Southern fleet of Galloping Goose(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2_3TcpYopM

.vp
baronkarza

Taconite is the secret ingredient in Taco Bell and Jack In The Box tacos. You thought that hard shell was made from corn flour, but it’s mostly taconite.
suburbanhick

When I was a kid, one of our neighbours who ran a maintenance crew for Canadian National Rail had a pickup truck like this. As a 12 year-old, I thought it was just about the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Not just a half-ton – a half-ton you can RIDE ON THE FREAKIN’ TRAIN TRACKS!