Car Driving on Train Tracks

[Rubycon]

Has anyone done this or know about it?

Do you have to steer?
Is fuel economy different?
The wheels look like idlers only, i.e. the vehicle tires still are used for propulsion.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Top Gear did about half an episode on it.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Pretty common actually. At least according to my brother in law, who is a conductor for amtrak.

 

[Imp]

I've driven by some train crews working on tracks at crossings. Looked like the pick-ups they used had two sets of wheels: tires and steel for track. Pretty cool.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've seen trucks around that have train wheels like that too, never actually seen one in operation though. we don't really have any rail coming to town anymore. There is some going to one of the mines but not sure if it's still in operation.

There was quite a few of them that would come to town to stay in hotels when we had the huge oil train derailment a few years back.

 

[Carson Dyle]

41:00 mark. GREAT movie, BTW.

 

[quikah]

Yeah, the rail wheels are free, the tires provide the propulsion. I think the front tires are lifted off the track.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road–rail_vehicle

My dad brought his truck home a few times when he worked for the railroad as a signal maintainer. That was decades ago...

 

[RockinZ28]

Used to do it almost daily back when I was a signal maintainer in Los Angeles. Had a Hy-Rail truck I took home from work. Was quite fun.

The steering wheel will have some kind of lock so you can't turn the wheel while on the rail (Pro tip: don't forget to unlock it when you try to exit the track . )
The rail wheels are just guides, your road wheels will still propel the vehicle.
Would assume fuel economy would be a little better, but I only did ~15 miles at most at a time and never paid attention. I do know it's a hell of a lot faster to get from Los Angeles to Long Beach during rush hour using the rail tho .

Don't have one anymore, but I did receive this today while I was trying to perform commissioning tests for Detroit's new streetcar.

 

[Imp]

The steering wheel will have some kind of lock so you can't turn the wheel while on the rail (Pro tip: don't forget to unlock it when you try to exit the track . )
The rail wheels are just guides, your road wheels will still propel the vehicle.

Ahhhh... I was wondering if there was something that shifted the engine from driving the tires to the train wheels. In the video, the tires were turning so that kind of answered my question.