Practicality of Rubber Tyres

[edwin_m]

Most monorails are actually rubber tyre systems, it's just that the tyres are hidden behind the shrouding.

 

[BestWestern]

There was also a strange Russian experiment which involved putting rubber-tyred road wheels under a mainline diesel loco. I'm not sure that they were thinking of: https://fotki.yandex.ru/next/users/masterokst/album/333797/view/783989

That looks more like some sort of road vehicle (or indeed off road, judging by the tyres) built from a locomotive shell. There appears to be accommodation where most of the locomotive internals should be - notice the row of side windows - and very little in the way of grilles and vents, suggesting a relatively small engine and some degree of passenger carrying capacity. Those wheels also seem to have some form of independent steering capability - or one is very, very loose! A locomotive 'recycled' into a different use maybe, or perhaps a new-build vehicle based on an existing loco body design? It appears to have fuel tanks crudely slung under the ends, the space below the 'solebar' presumably being full of axles and a rather substantial drivetrain. The modern-era rear light clusters I presume are a non-original feature!

My money would be on some sort of snowmobile, utilising the relatively light bodyshell of a mainline loco without the heavyweight underframe and oily bits. I certainly can't see those monster tyres ever having run on a rail guideway!

*A quick Google suggests this beast is indeed a locomotive body, mounted on a chassis built by MKZT, a heavy military vehicle manufacturer based according to Wikipedia in Belarus.

 

[randyrippley]

Class 86's had SAB resilient wheels fitted to some if not all in the '80s. Think this was mainly a reaction to the rough riding characteristics of the original suspension system and the 100mph running requirement for passenger services. I'm not sure if they made it into the later classes of AC traction.

They were used on the 86/2 passenger fleet. 86/0 retained the original wheels, while 86/1 used class 87 bogies and wheelsets so didn't have the hammer blow problem. I don't know what the later 86/4 and other variants used.

 

[mark-h]

Most monorails are actually rubber tyre systems, it's just that the tyres are hidden behind the shrouding.

Most, if not all of the straddle beam monorails have rubber tyres.

The 1985 Disney World Monorail Fire was caused by a flat tyre being dragged along the beam.

Lockheed built a steel wheeled monorail (with steel rather than concrete running rails). These did not give a smooth ride, especially when going round banked curves.

 

[Taunton]

That looks more like some sort of road vehicle (or indeed off road, judging by the tyres) built from a locomotive shell. There appears to be accommodation where most of the locomotive internals should be - notice the row of side windows - and very little in the way of grilles and vents.

That is indeed a standard Soviet M62 freight loco (thousands built and used across Eastern Europe as well) body, mounted on an adapted standard Soviet MAZ military all-terrain vehicle chassis. The windows and grilles to the engine room, and indeed the green paint scheme with coloured stripes, are standard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M62_locomotive

http://extreme4x4.eu/top-8-russian-off-road-vehicles/