PART ONE
They are small, self-propelled, and at first glance could be mistaken for a brightly-colured amusement ride on the midway of a country fair. They are motor cars, once the frugal little workhorses of the railways and long since retired after hi-rail conversion trucks took over the task of hauling crews, railway ties and equipment about 40 years ago.
About 30 years ago, motor car aficionados -- who didn’t want to see this historical aspect of railway maintenance disappear -- began organizing safe, legal sight-seeing tours on seldom-used branch lines across the US. Today, the North American Railcar Operators Association (NARCOA) has almost 2000 members in Chapters spanning the US and Canada. There are similar organizations in Australia and Germany.
So just who are these gypsies of the rails? Many jiggers (as they call themselves) have a history with the railroad, but others just want to see the countryside from the ‘railroad less traveled’. There are also a growing number of young families who have discovered the magic of recreational rail travel by motor car.
The Great Sandhills Railway recently hosted a NARCOA motor car excursion, attracting enthusiasts from all corners of the North American continent. In fact, the excursion sold out two days after it was advertised to members.
“It’s a lot of work, helping to coordinate hotel accommodations and meals, but we’d do it again for sure. It’s a great opportunity to promote Great Sandhills Railway," explained Peter Skretting, General Manager of Great Sandhills Railway Ltd.
Intrigued with this event, I arranged for a ride-along.
Fast forward to the July 1st Canada Day parade in Swift Current, where TRIWAYS owner Bart Campbell and ‘Dumpster the Dog’ met Earl Gehl, one of the founding members of the Swift Current Karb Kings back in the 60s. Bart and Earl discovered they had something in common: Bart had just purchased a motor car in need of refurbishing, and Earl used to tinker with them when he was a young lad.
Bart’s motorcar arrived soon afterwards and Earl put about 60 hours into it, adding two additional seats for the Campbells’ young daughters, rebuilding the engine and fabricating some storage compartments for tools and personal effects.
Then Earl called the Booster, wanting to let us know about the upcoming NARCOA excursion. When I told him I would be riding along, he invited me to see the car he had just completed. On July 16th I went to have a chat with him and got a sneak peek at some authentic railway history.
“There used to be thousands of these,” Earl said as we inspected the yellow car that still smelled of fresh paint. “Then somebody came up with the idea of using them on all the abandoned rails, so now they rent [the rails], and there’s some beautiful runs in BC and the US.”
Powered by an Onan two-cylinder gas engine, the little yellow “Fairmont MT 19” has wheels set at the standard rail width and a chain drive transmission with forward, reverse and high-low range. It features side and rear curtains, and was in her day a construction car, meaning she would have hauled one or two trailers filled with heavy railway ties and related maintenance equipment.
“The engine at full rpm runs about 2800, which would give a top speed of 22 to 30 miles an hour,” said Earl. “I would say Onans of that size would be in the area of 20 to 30 horsepower, very quiet and powerful for their size.”
The car weighs about 340 kilograms (750 pounds), with an aluminum frame, steel springs and steel wheels. Every car has a central turntable that can be lowered to lift the car so it can be turned and aligned with the railway tracks. All cars also have slide-out handles to facilitate their positioning.
“I think we’re going to see more excursions,” said Earl, “because there’s only one train a week on that Leader line. They have quite a following in the States. They go up and down the lines and stop at all the towns and meet with people. They usually leave something behind to remember them, token wise or donation wise.”
Then Earl shared a childhood secret. “When I was a kid, we used to steal one like this once in a while,” he said, grinning. “They called them jiggers or speeders, because they were faster than the hand-pump cars.”
The morning of July 19th saw the little hamlet of Cantuar on Secondary Hwy #332 transformed into a busy staging area. Trucks, semis, RVs and motorhomes, towing an assortment of flat deck and cargo trailers, pulled off Highway #32 and waited to off-load their cars. They started just before 7 a.m., assisted by a safety crew headed up by NARCOA Excursion Coordinator Mike Ford.
After local traffic was diverted to one lane, the other lane was used for unloading the motor cars. One by one they were winched off their trailers and down assorted ramps onto the tracks. Then they were lifted by their turntables, rotated 45 degrees, and lowered onto the rails. Some are still fairly rudimentary, while others have been ‘re-created’ into well-appointed enclosed recreational rail vehicles with as many as eight spring-filled seats, compact storage areas and extra fuel tanks for longer runs.
The Cantuar-Leader-Burstall excursion was divided into two groups: those who would stay in Leader for the night, and those who would travel on to Burstall, since neither town could accommodate all of the participants. The Burstall group was in front, and the Leader group brought up the rear.
In our print edition of July 29th, you can travel with us as we join the ‘gypsies of the rails’ on the Great Sandhills Railway and meet some local motor car participants.
