The recently restored Pontiac is nearly identical to one the railroad purchased from Fairmont Railway Motors, a Minnesota company that specialized in building maintenance-of-way speeders and motor cars, back in 1956. While many hi-rail vehicles were built from trucks, Nevada Northern Hy-Rail No. 18 was built from a four-door station wagon.
Nevada Northern President Mark Bassett says he found the 1956 Pontiac on eBay for a reasonable price and thought that it would make a neat project for the railroad. With the help of some grants from the State of Nevada and the Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership, the railroad worked with an auto shop to restore the vehicle and have the hi-rail equipment installed, enabling it to run on rails.
The vehicle was completed earlier this year and made its debut at a Nevada Day parade in Carson City on Oct. 26 (Nevada Day celebrates the day in 1864 that the state was admitted to the union). Bassett says the vehicle is already turning heads and garnering lots of attention from curious onlookers.
Bassett says the vehicle will be particularly useful at the museum on days when excursions trains are not running but visitors want to go for a ride. Bassett says the railroad expects to start giving rides in Hy-Rail No. 18 starting next spring.
The vehicle is also expected to make an appearance during the railroad’s upcoming winter photo charters, including Trains‘ “Farewell 40!” photo charter event March 7-8, 2020. The two-day charter will offer one of the final opportunities to see, ride and photograph 4-6-0 No. 40 before its federally-mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection. Along with No. 40, the charter will also feature 2-8-0 No. 93 and a chance to meet the railroad’s most famous resident, Dirt the Cat.
I once saw two Chevy suburbans being put on the track on the east side of the Hudson river near Poughkeepsie, New York. I drove further north to the next crossing as they were blocking the one I wanted to use. When I got there, they were flying up the rails, had to be doing at least 100 mph!
This is a great addition to a great American museum railroad! I would absolutely recommend any rail enthusiast to take a trip to East Ely, one of the most genuine and complete old-time railroad environments in the country. Readers might also like to know that the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway also has something similar, a 1951 Chevrolet track inspector’s car.
Over on the New Haven in 1954-55 didn’t prez Pat McGinnis have a black Caddy with hi-rail wheels?
Growing up on a cotton and cattle farm in East Texas,the Cotton Belt Railroad ran right through the middle of four of our cotton fields,with two fields on each side of the tracks. I remember seeing hi-rail station wagons much like the one pictured above cruising along on the raised roadbed,but it seems like to me that they were ’55 or ’56 Chevy station wagons.
I used to ride in my aunt’s 56 Pontiac wagon but it sure didn’t look like this! A full article about it in Trains would be excellent, especially if it covered other cars made into rail vehicles like the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo’s early 50s Chrysler ( I think that’s what it was)
Great to see the final product. It is probably worthwhile to note that while present day hyrails are nearly exclusively trucks, in the era that this vehicle was built up the use of station wagons was common. Today the hyrail is the vehicle of choice for all MOW forces, but back in the 50’s the section and B&B used speeders and hyrails were primarily the realm of the big-wigs and signal maintainers so a car was preferred vehicle.
One really fine looking vehicle!!!!