The Train Cart


A side shot of the traincart painted yellow with the B&O cart number 1213 on the side.


Steve Mantell bought a 1949 B&O Railroad train cart (model S-2). I was in on the deal convincing him to buy it. Anyway, Steve, his brother Matt, and I took the cart out on rides in various places. With a top speed of about 40 miles per hour, it was quite fun to run, but fairly complex.

That train cart was rebuilt in 1994 and has a 13 horse power motor in it. The motor turned two large (2' diameter) fly wheels which gave the two stroke, single cylinder engine its momentum to keep running when you engaged the drive belt. The cart weighed about 1,000 pounds empty and could easily haul up to eight people. Of course, with eight people on it, it only went about 30 to 35 miles per hour!

We decided we need a better version than the S-2, so Matt, Steve, their cousin J.T. and I all went in and bought an MT-14 from Canada. We sold the S-2 because of how hard it was to run - you had to manually advance and adjust the timing as you went faster - pretty tough to do. Imagine working a brake, throttle, choke, mixture control and timing knob all at the same time!


A view of the rear and side of the MT-14


The MT was restored and used for a few years before Matt and I bought out J.T. and Steve.  It was easier to have fewer people in the ownership of a vehicle.  

The progression of the hobby continued for us. We have 2 home built trailers that were completed in 2004 and in the summer of 2005, Matt and I purchased a larger train cart - a 1983 Fairmont A-4 with a Pinto engine. This train cart has all the power we'll ever need (maybe!), but we are not parting with the MT-14. It's pretty neat to see the two trailers, the MT-14 and the A-4 hooked together just like a train going down the tracks fully loaded with 35 people!


The MT-14 on the left and the A-4 on the right

In spring of 2007, Matt and I purchased a set of hirails for a truck that we hoped would eventually find a home.  After looking for 3 months, we found the perfect truck on EBay, bought it for a great price, and got everything installed.  "Lawrence" as we like to call the truck (in honor of the previous owner) is a 1994 Chevy 3500 with 273,000 miles.  Everything looks great except for the driver seat (but a new seat cover will help that!).  The truck has the narrow hirail wheels on it and runs "strong to very strong" (any "Meet the Folker fans out there?)!


Matt, acting as a new proud papa of "Lawrence". June 2007 just after installing the rail equipment.


What do we use them for?
Well, this makes a great toy to just cruise around our little part of the world.  We have access to some private rail in Michigan that we are allowed to use in exchange for assisting with "work weekends". We've also hook up with some other speeders  and go riding in a group. The new train cart will primarily be used for riding on group rides with NARCOA.

What is "BASSRUN.ORG"?
Matt grew up in a little town in central Ohio.  Running along side this little town of about 75 houses is a rail line that connects to Ohio Central's rail system.  We started the work in 2006 to see if we could acquire the line for use with that various rail clubs in the area.  We named the association after the local pond people called Bass Run - Bass Run Rail Riders!  In all there are about 14 miles of track crossing 3 bridges. The tracks go through some nice cut outs, across and along streams, through tree tunnels, and along open farm fields.  We hope to have permission to use and maintain the line in early 2007, thereby allowing those in local clubs the unrestricted ability to use their cars without impacting live rail operations.  If you want more information on the club, email me or check out the website.