When I was a kid around 1948, I saw a strange looking locomotive in Hoboken, NJ (I think). If my memory serves me right, It looked like a Mack or GE industrial switcher. It had couplers on both ends, but the wheels were solid rubber tires. It was used to move railroad cars around in industrial plants where the ground was paved and the rails were flush with the paving, like streetcar tracks. Does anyone have any recollection of these strange vehicles and information?
It sounds like a Trackmobile or Shuttlewagon. Although you can rule Shuttlewagon out, they have only been around since 1972. You might try the Trackmobile link and see if you can find anything in their history section.
Is this what you saw? PRR used these quite a bit for a while.
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/prr444.jpg
Oh, Boy! I too, remember a similar vehicle pictured in a book, or magazine from a long time ago. I think it was a book about big city railroading; from approximately the same time frame. 1930’s/1940’s. Pictured in it was a truck tractor [ similar, but not exactly like the one pictured above. It was pulling a trailer-like vehicle, which was cradling a complete railroad boxcar as it traveled over a paved street.] That vehicle combination was the resolution to the problem of moving railcars within a large plant area, to buildings without rail service; or to a plant facility off the railroad. It was a very long time ago, and I have only memoiries of seeing it pictured only once. Can anyone else shed some light on what I had seen?? Was it this vehicle pictured used in concert with a specialized trailer transporter??
Hi Jonathan, I can’t be 100% certain, but it does look something like what I saw. It was close to 60 years ago. I seem to recall it had B&O on it. I was standing next to it and it looked enormous (I was little). I remember the Railway Express Agency trucks had the same solid rubber tires on them and were chain driven. They were built by Mack and had that sloping engine cover. I will try doing a search of Mack to see if they have any archive photos.
For more 411 on this and more modern beasts of this ilk, check Bert Pennypacker and Alvin Staufer’s Pennsy power II or III. There was a relatively modern vehicle like this pictured in Vol II. PRR used these vehicles in Baltimore, Jersey City, Newark, Philadelphia and possibly elsewhere where space was at a premium.
B&O also had similar type locomotives for service in Baltimore on street trackage that predates the use of steam locomotives. Curves on this trackage were incredibly tight and precluded the use of conventional locomotives.