A rail car mover is a road-rail vehicle (capable of travelling on both roads and rail tracks) fitted with couplers for moving small numbers of railroad cars around in a rail siding or small yard. They are extensively used by railroad customers because they are cheaper than owning a switcher locomotive, more convenient and cheaper than paying the railroad operator to do the switching, easier and more productive than manual moving of cars, and in addition they are more versatile since they can travel on road wheels to the cars they need to move, instead of needing clear track.
Some have two drive systems and drive only on steel wheels on the rail, with their rubber tires lifted out of the way, while others have only one drive system and use steel rail wheels only to guide them and use their rubber tires on the rail, in a similar fashion to HiRail trucks.
Rail car movers are fairly lightweight, so in order to gain more traction some models transfer weight from the car they are hauling onto their own wheels. Other models that employ the rubber tire drive while on the rail do not require this "weight-transfer" from the railcar.
In Europe, trucks (lorries) fitted with railway wheels and couplings are used as rail car movers (often called towing or shunting vehicles).
Numerous manufacturers produce rail car movers. Perhaps the best known, and one of the earliest, is Trackmobile, whose name is sometimes used inaccurately as a generic term for these vehicles. Other well-known rail car mover brands in North American include Rail King and Shuttlewagon. In Ireland, Unilokomotive has been manufacturing the range of Unilok Road/Rail Wagon Movers since 1954! The Unilok carries out shunting tasks that locomotives 4 to 5 times their weight would do, but with greater mobility and at a fraction of the cost. German brands are Unimog, Zwiehoff and Zweiweg. In Italy Zephir produces rail-road shunters since 1977, both diesel and electric (battery powered). In Belgium, the company UCA produces the UCA-TRAC, rail/road vehicles based on the chassis of a JCB Load-All (UCA-TRAC B) and JCB Fastrac (UCA-TRAC F). The UCA-TRAC provides traction through its rubber wheels.
Famous quotes containing the words rail and/or car:
“In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.”
—William Congreve (1670–1729)
“I marched in with the men afoot; a gallant show they made as they marched up High Street to the depot. Lucy and Mother Webb remained several hours until we left. I saw them watching me as I stood on the platform at the rear of the last car as long as they could see me. Their eyes swam. I kept my emotion under control enough not to melt into tears.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)