Historic Builders SECOND HALF

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Historic Builders
SECOND HALF
OF VELOCIPEDES AND OTHER HAND POWERED VEHICLES
My husband and I attend many Railway Auctions and Book Fairs each year and collect old Railway Books we
also have many friends who collect Railway Paperwork. The following Advertisements, drawings and photos
are from many of these old books and catalogues plus a few from the internet.
The Railway Companies building for their own use and Private Companies and individuals found selling Hand Powered Railway Equipment
so far discovered are listed below. Some of these are “Badge Engineers” and just put their names on “bought in” products of others are marked *
where known.
Billmeyer & Small Company USA
Bucyrus USA
BUDA USA
Fairbanks Morse USA
Great Eastern UK
Great Western Railway UK
E.T. Harris USA
Hartley and Teeter USA
Hendrie & Boltoff* USA
T.B. Jeffrey USA
Kalamazoo USA
J.O. Kaempfer’s “I” Cycle an elephant trap from history
London Chatham and Dover Railway UK
Donald Menzies South Africa
New Zealand Railways
Orenstein & Koppel Germany
Pashley Carrier Cycles UK
Pennsylvania Railroad USA
Roberts, Throp & Co. USA
Sears Roebuck & Co. USA
Sheffield Car Co. USA
South African Railways
Wickham UK
Wohanka Czechoslovakia
24 so far, have a scroll through history.There are vast numbers of
Patents for machines that never went into production.
J.O. Kaempfer’s “I” Cycle an elephant trap from history
The Story from 1878
Mr. Kaempher, a teacher at McClure School a 5 mile walk from his home along the Sunbury & Lewistown Railway,
so he built his own on track machine with allegedly a” 20”
driving wheel, an outrigger and guide wheels either side of
the track, weighing 28 pounds. Powered by a crank and
connecting rod moving vertically between the drivers legs”.
Photo by Trevor Catterson
I built a copy of the machine and the woodcut and the
drawing above are a lie, the machine could never work
like this
The drivers right foot is on a stirrup (not shown on the
woodcut), now imagine the crank moving round from 7
o’clock to 12 o’clock, the drivers bottom would be 12
inches off his seat.
This is the copy in its rubber tyre phase (trying Arms
alone).
I tried all sorts of fixes before I saw the light.
I had fallen into an elephant trap from history.
The railway had a problem and publicised it, which would
normally produce a rash of copycats, just as it would
today.
So the machine they illustrated was altered to be
unworkable but plausible, to waste the time of “hands
on” mechanics like me and I fell for it.
It kept the home made first attempts off the rails in a
cloud of disillusioned effort.
From the Sunbury and Lewiston, and all the other
Railways point of view, it was a great success and the
cunning ploy is still working over a hundred years later.
If anyone wants to prove me wrong, you are very
welcome to borrow the machine and have a go.
London Chatham and Dover Railway c1868
Photo by Trevor Catterson
Donald Menzies
Bloemhof Street, Cape Town, South Africa.
1899
Prototypes of 2 man and 8 man Track Bikes under test for the British Army in Cape Colony during the
Boer War.
New Zealand Railways
Velocipede 1920s
ORIGINAL IS VERY PIXELATED SORRY
Orenstein & Koppel
Templehofer Ufer 24, Berlin SW, Germany
Catalogue 849
c1890s
Pashley Carrier Cycles
Birmingham. UK
1963
“Rail Quad Cycle”
Bowden Cable operated brake block.
I believe they were hoping to sell these machines to members of the public so they could
propel themselves along the closed branch lines to get to work.
It appeared in a Cinema Pathe Newsreel in 1963.
Pashley is a Bike Manufacturer, they build road bikes for the Post Office..
The machine was for use on the branch lines being closed at that time.
This links to the film on the Pathe website
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/railway-cafe/
Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania, USA
1870 Pump Car
Roberts, Throp & Co.
Three Rivers Michigan, USA Same location as Sheffield Car Co.
1892
1892 This is a very sophisticated Pump Car
A freewheel mechanism is most unusual (did
appear on some Velocipedes).
A removable Gallows is unique.
The Diagonal truss rods are a very good idea
since these machines can have a hard life and
are not immune to derailments.
Sheffield Car Co.
(became part of Fairbanks Morse)
Three Rivers, Michigan, USA
Velocipede 1880
No. 16 1883
It is not for broad gauge, just badly assembled, the
telescopic outrigger is jammed and at the wrong angle.
Sears Roebuck & Co.
Chicago, Illinois. USA
1908
South African Railways, 3’ 6” gauge
1940s
D. Wickham of Ware
Viaduct Road, Ware, Hertfordshire. UK
Standard Gauge Pump Car 1950s
3 foot Gauge Pump Car 1940s
Wohanka
Prague, Czechoslovakia.
1930s