Railroad Forums 

  • Volkswagen/VW Micro Buses: Railroad Buses or 'Gandy Wagons'

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1558949  by VWBusUser
 
I am writing this new topic hoping that some forum users can help me on my search for information and knowledge.

I know there are a few posts on here and I've combed through them all for details. As I have pictures and storytelling. But I was hoping to further button up my research. I created this account to post here specifically, I enjoy trains and VW's, this is the best of both worlds for me. But I somewhat young in my early 30's so I am trying to pull a thread and trace it back to the 1950's and 1960's.

It's my understanding that these buses were commissioned by the US Postal Service and were used to run crews down the track as conversion vehicles. There are German equivalents in museums today, they'd be called a 'Draisine'. They weren't a conversion vehicle though, as they weren't built for the rails and would've had a lever system to drive it on the rails.

Here is what I have gathered so far: there were 4 of them commissioned for the LIRR. They were imported into Baltimore and brought up to Oyster Bay. They would've been early VW buses from the 1950's era and had three sets of seats. A group of gentlemen that used to ride the LIRR for work each day would always admire them on their train ride as they sat in the rail yard. In the late 1960's, the 4 of them disappeared one day and went up to the junkyard to be destroyed. The group of guys asked the rail yard manager on a Saturday what happened to the buses and he informed them of the demolition. They went to the junkyard in question and at the time only 2 of them were there. Whether the first two were destroyed already OR they went to a different scrapyard is beyond me at this point. They were given the option of purchasing both of them, but only elected to purchase the first one.

They used to joyride on the rails and enjoy it as a hobby. One part where the details get fuzzy for me, does anyone know what happens to the bus after it was painted like a GG-1 or EMD E8? Was the Gandy Wagon attachment taken off of the original bus and put onto a new bus? A new nose decal would've been fabricated to go over the VW logo. But the nose itself changes; which leads me to believe the bus was swapped OR it was in an accident. Early VW buses had turn indicators shaped like bullets, referred to a 'bullet nose'. In the 2 pictures I can find after the paint job swap, they are lights that would've been markers appropriate for a 1962-1967 VW bus. Flat & round lights, referred to 'Egg Yolks'.

In the book 'Steel Rails to the Sunrise' by Ziel and Foster, there's mention of a second Gandy Wagon existing. Does anyone know if this one is still around today? It's possible that it was checker board in scheme.

I would appreciate any data that anyone might have or another lead that they could offer up. My hope is that one day I could restore and bring back a Gandy Wagon in terms of being period correct. But it would require a lot of reverse engineering. Any information would be helpful to me. No matter how small of a nugget.
 #1559216  by VWBusUser
 
Thank you for the details. I had questions as to whether they were 1960's buses or not. In one picture, a plate is visible and it's from 1959. Which lead me to believe they were from the early 50's along with the style of nose on it.

The one you talk about is the only one I have tracked down so far. It almost looks like someone took the kit off of the bus and put it on a different one.
 #1559470  by Backshophoss
 
Unless you are allowed by a Tourist/Heritage Railway,You could not run on the rails,in most cases back then,the Hi-Rail gear was removed, if the Hi -rail gear was still on,owner could have fined
if any Hi-Raul parts broke and did road Damage.
Remember: Hi-Rail vehicles DO NOT SHUNT SIGNALS,they are too light weight-wise,
 #1559497  by VWBusUser
 
Backshophoss wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:51 pm Unless you are allowed by a Tourist/Heritage Railway,You could not run on the rails,in most cases back then,the Hi-Rail gear was removed, if the Hi -rail gear was still on,owner could have fined
if any Hi-Raul parts broke and did road Damage.
Remember: Hi-Rail vehicles DO NOT SHUNT SIGNALS,they are too light weight-wise,
Thank you so much for this nugget of information. This really does help me, you have no idea. I knew about running on rails but I didn't realize it would be illegal to own them.
 #1559499  by LB
 
There used to be one parked at Ronkonkoma Yard Facilities in the mid-sixties. Several photos from that time period show the vehicle parked next to a crew shelter building. Here's one from Steve's website.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/Ronkon ... rrison.jpg

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/Ronkon ... 7-1966.jpg
 #1559512  by Red Wing
 
According to this. It does not appear to be illigal to own a hyrail vehicle: from narcoa

https://www.narcoa.org/newsite/faq.htm

10. Is it possible for members to operate Hy-rail vehicles?

At the discretion of the excursion coordinator, Privately owned hy-rail vehicles can be permitted to operate.

They can be very useful for carrying spare parts, extra baggage or running into town if something is needed.
 #1559565  by VWBusUser
 
LB wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:52 am One more thing, it was painted yellow with Dashing Dan Decals.
Thank you so much for this information - I wonder if they were painted yellow in the 60's in that case? Thank you, I saw the first picture in a previous thread, but the second one is new to me.
 #1559566  by VWBusUser
 
Red Wing wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:14 pm According to this. It does not appear to be illigal to own a hyrail vehicle: from narcoa

https://www.narcoa.org/newsite/faq.htm

10. Is it possible for members to operate Hy-rail vehicles?

At the discretion of the excursion coordinator, Privately owned hy-rail vehicles can be permitted to operate.

They can be very useful for carrying spare parts, extra baggage or running into town if something is needed.
Thank you so much - I appreciate it. I paid/spoke to an attorney in automotive law and he stated that it's legal to own one here in my state. My father is a volunteer at 2 separate private railroad outfits so we would only be using it at their discretion. But I see from the reading that I would need to be certified and have ID; which makes sense.

Thank you, I truly do appreciate it
 #1560070  by kato
 
VWBusUser wrote: Mon Dec 14, 2020 4:14 pm There are German equivalents in museums today, they'd be called a 'Draisine'. They weren't a conversion vehicle though, as they weren't built for the rails and would've had a lever system to drive it on the rails.
Small correction there:

I assume you mean the GBA1 series of "Betriebsamtsdraisinen", with 30 units bought in 1955. These were not hybrid or road vehicles, but rail only. For GBA1 VW delivered a full T1a bus chassis with an added frame welded to the undercarriage. A third-party company (Beilhack in Rosenheim, Bavaria) converted the axles on these chassis to run on rails (the GBA1 had steel wheels only) and added a hydraulic lever system under the sub-frame that would allow lifting the vehicle to turn it.

Beilhack was a company that otherwise mostly produced accessories for rail auxiliaries, such as snow blowers, but also produced some other similar small auxiliary vehicles for DB at the time. The GBA1 were apparently mostly used as vehicles for maintenance of signals, also under the designation Klv 20. About 7 of the 30 vehicles survive in museums.


The "Gandy Wagon" with the gear added to front and back was a specific product. In Germany these seem to have been offered as "Gandy-Wagen" around 1961 by Hans A. Kampmann KG in Uslar, Germany, although i'm unsure whether this is actually an original product by them or some sort of licensing deal at the time. The company seems to have been a spinoff by the CEO (Hans A. Kampmann) from parent company Sollinger Hütte. In case you want to follow that trail - Sollinger Hütte went bankrupt in 1983, although it's still around as "RW Sollinger Hütte GmbH" belonging to Austrian company Reissner & Wolff.

There are a few pictures floating around of a T1 pickup variant with such gear mounted to it, possibly a prototype for DB, which may have later been sold to the Sollinger Hütte parent company and operated by them. As a project it seems to not have been successful in Germany, presumably also because it would have filled a role somewhere inbetween the existing Klv 11/12/20 rail vehicles for moving mostly small teams of personnel with some tools and the larger Klv 50/51/53 vehicles for moving small cranes and similar gear as well as small payloads up to a few tons.