Is it really possible to drive a car on rails?

Question

As James Bond did in the film Octopussy? Would it work if you removed the tires? I believe in Russia where it was set they have a non-standard railway gauge - what would be an ideal gauge for a car to travel on?

Answer 1

If the wheel base of the car was correct or extended yes. Often you see adapted heavy plant machines travelling along the tracks when engineering works are in progress.

Answer 2

Merc have a wagon that can go on train tracks and can pull about 10 coaches and it,s powerful enough to stop them but I think  they would be to much drift on just the rims you have to fit small track wheels behind the rims so you can,t see them

Answer 3

no it is not passible inreal life.........

Answer 4

Well as long as you put rail-type wheels on it, there's no reason why it cannot be preformed.

Answer 5

yes it is if you let the tyres down and the wheel base is the same width as the rails. but dont hit the live rail.

Answer 6

Four feet eight and one half inches.

Answer 7

In North America there are vehicles called Road Railers, these are service vehicles for the rail industry that drive on both roads and rails with the help of hydraulic train wheels that drop when the truck moves onto the rails. The drive axle of the road vehicle is slightly narrowed to fit the width of the rails, and the tires serve as the drive and brakes for the vehicle on rails (the train wheels are just free spinning on axles at front and rear.) There are also transport trailers that have a set of train wheels that drop, and the trailers hook up like freight cars. The rail scene in the Bond movie was done with a car that had narrowed axles just for that scene.

Answer 8

We cal them Hy- Rail vehicles.  All railroads use them for track inspection and maintainance - as well as other duties.

Can you take a random  car and drive it on the rails?

Probably not.  I can't speak for Russian gauge - but some kind of modification would probably be necessary>

For a Hy Rail vehicle:

A heavy pickup truck will have flanged wheels that drop down and lock into place in front of and behind the front and rear tires.  There is a pin that locks the steering wheel into a center line positon.  But its fairly easy to drive one - in the dark territory where we operate we run the truck at the same yard limits speed ( 20 mph ), as our passenger and freight trains.   We had a crew cab behind the driver compartment and compartments for railroad track repair tools as well as a small diesel fuel tank on the bed.

The vehicle has to be in good condition - with a straight frame and good alignement on the front wheels.

If it pulls eitther way, You could wind up in a ditch on a curve or with out warning.

Alignment is critical on the front end of the truck, or it will derail - even a frog at a switch can derail you and put you on the ground.  That happened to me once.

Driving accross a long,  high trestle is a hoot. I like the low frequency squeaking noise the tires made on the rails.

Its definately a different experience.  - you have to watch for un gated crossings at highways.  Not all the cars will be aware of you.

Answer 9

http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/Lib022...

Answer 10

Any road vehicle can be adapted to run on rails by replacing the road wheels with flanged ones.

This has been done with cars and buses in both the US, Latin America and Europe and there have also been experiments with buses that can run on both road and rail. Britain tried this in the 1930's with the London Midland and Scottish Railway Karrier Ro-Rail bus and again in the 1970's when the workers at Lucas Aerospace developed a kit for converting a road bus to road-rail operation.

The German railway Deutsche Bundesbahn (now DBAG) also experimented with a road-rail bus in the 1950's.

In the UK and elsewhere some track maintenance vehicles have been made to run on road and rail. When running on the road the rail wheels are retracted and vice-versa.

Answer 11

http://www.answers.com/

then type  railcar   in the searchbox

Answer 12

So long as you put rail-type wheels on it, spaced accordingly, there's no reason why it couldn't be done. In fact I'm sure it has been done for real.