Railway - Breaking wind

That's lazish-lazish, but suddenly something and will find interesnenkoe. This way I about "Rail Pictures' American website photos of the railway. Their world has rail unlike ours, so there you can find interesnenkoe. For example here. Incomprehensible contraption, though brilliant. But it is in the FAS.
11 photos from here





And if in the profile, it looks like this.



This thing called a motor car Mc Kean (McKeen Motor car) and it was already done in 1910. In the early 20th century in the United States thought about saving resources. To drive a steam locomotive with a wagon came out expensive, but people need to carry. Moreover, the fashion is the aerodynamic shape, and the railroad became the first to use internal combustion engines.

Once the head of the railway "Union Pacific" Ned Harriman sat and had dinner with one of his subordinates William Mc Kean. And that's just posted on the road behind the locomotives, and all that was associated with them. And for this very dinner, it was decided to build something "sort of." Metal, streamlined, high speed. And with a petrol engine. So at dinner, and the idea of ​​what would become the motor car McKean. Railroads in the United States is constantly competing with each other and each is trying to attract passengers to their trains, leaving competitors behind. So besides saving idea McKean had another purpose - to attract customers.

Soon McKeen founded in Omaha his company to assemble an unprecedented year for those vehicles. "A train in the same car," - tells us reklama.A because of the characteristic wedge shape railcar McKean became known as "dissecting the wind."



The first samples of motor car was still young and half-timbered. But soon McKeen and developed a large machine of the type that you see on the photo. This is a real ship on wheels. Sharp as a hatchet nose round portholes. The nose of the car by the way just reminds nose «Titanic».

He is as sharp and straight. Even the engine for the motor car was borrowed from shipbuilding. It drives the front wheels of the leading large truck through the chain of transmission.



Perhaps it was usual for those years that marine technology becomes on the rails. Gakkel The locomotive built in Russia about ten years later also had the engine of marine origin.

The first customer of motor cars McKean was Harriman. Naturally, compared with conventional locomotives and carriages they looked miraculously. Surprise your future passengers Harriman failed.

Some windows are worth. Incidentally open these windows, leaning back up. And so they do not hit passengers on the head on the ceiling were their special mounting-hooks. In the photo, these attachment visible.



Beauty, though simple in appearance but elegantly decorated. Brass and mahogany, warm, ocher tone ceiling with a modern linear ornaments. Rear compartment has a rounded conclusion with rounded same seats. Incidentally cabin had two - a smaller one for smokers and one for non-smokers, has more. There were just a luxury interior design options. Another novelty was the double-wing "breaketh" the door is the same as in today's buses.



From the first days of operation of this miracle on wheels and revealed its shortcomings. Engine low power and turned the car could not be used on roads with the rise, one of the leading axis of the four also was not enough. Chain drive was too noisy. Besides marine engine was not designed for shaking the railroad.

And he claimed to his gentle, caring relationship. Sailors proved much more caring railwaymen. Therefore, marine engines in the hands of the railroad worked worse.



The problem was the air and puskach by which the motor starts. Sometimes it happens that all of the compressed air in the tank was over, it was impossible to start the engine and the miracle machine had to haul horses. The engineer took the reins and saying something to his American language, drive bays to the nearest station.

Heavily had Mc Keen. Besides his benefactor Harriman died, and the other customers did not show a frenzied interest in his motor car.



Gradually McKeen outliving design flaws of their machines. Put them on powerful motors, pneumatic puskach replaced on gasoline. Were he model and an electric motor. A total motor carriages McKean was released one hundred fifty-two. They deliver to Mexico, Canada and Australia.



But in spite of modernization and improvement, the majority of motor cars did not last long. When they cut to the metal, I do not know, probably in the thirties. And only one car for more than thirty years of work in good faith on the railway «Virginia & Truckee». At forty-fifth year, and blamed her. Streamlined body of the car was used as a roadhouse.



Latest: Only in 1996, the year the body gave Rail Museum of Nevada in Carson City. His duty was reduced. Fourteen years. Much had to be done again.

In particular, instead of the old gasoline engine and put the chain diesel-hydraulic drive. And in 2010, the year in the year of the century, renovated motor car McKean left the museum depot. And now, Independence Day and the Day of the State of Nevada on it rolled all comers on the ring road of the museum.

It is a pity that almost nothing is written about this wonderful machine in Russian. In English there is a lot of material on the Internet. McKean car in America love about her writing articles. In the "Facebook" is a community dedicated to the company McKean and his motor car.

Hence



And a small cinema: