The simplest design of trolley comprised a substantial rectangular wooden base supported on two wooden frames running fore-and-aft. These frames carried four inverted U-shaped notches serving as simple bearings for two wheelsets (an axle with two flanged wheels set at the correct gauge for the railway). Usually, no 'underkeeps' were provided on the axle bearings, allowing the trolley to be quickly removed from the track by lifting the wooden base off the wheelsets and then removing the wheelsets clear of the line. Pushed along the track, this was a simple and versatile way of moving track materials to where they were required. When I was an active volunteer at Birmingham Railway Museum (see blog post here), this was still the standard method of moving materials around the site.
In more modern times, a rectangular, horizontal steel frame is carried on four wheels mounted in cast axleguards, replacing the earlier heavy wooden framework.
Steel-framed 4-wheel rail trolley (Battlefield Line, 2020)
Similar simple designs can be found on other railways. The picture below shows a type in use in Burma. The extensions on the side frames provide four 'handles' to assist in manhandling the vehicle on and off the track.
Metre gauge rail trolley used in Burma (MyanmaRailways 2019)
Further development sometimes divided the horizontal frame into two sections, each carrying two wheels. The two sections can be simply locked together to form a four-wheel trolley, with the construction in two sections making transportation to the work site before use easier.
Inspection Trolley
Traditionally, permanent way gangers were responsible for maintaining the line in a specific area which could involve a number of miles of track so man-powered inspection trollies were sometimes provided to facilitate the (usually) daily inspections. The view below shows one Great Western 3-wheel design of inspection trolley. Note the clips on the outrigger to the 'third wheel' which support a specially-shaped key hammer with a long wooden shaft. The thinner end of the hammer head was for knocking back in displaced wooden keys (which held bullhead rail in place in the cast rail chair fixed to the sleeper). Over the years, spring steel keys started to replace wooden keys; 'flat bottom' rail profile (also called Vignoles) came to replace bullhead rail; continuous welded rail (CWR) avoided the disconinuities of fishplated track resulting in permanent way maintenance on modern railways being very different from those far-off days.
3-wheel inspection trolley, as featured in the film 'The Titfield Thunderbolt'
I've written a short post on The Titfield Thunderbolt here which includes a link to my other posts about this well-loved Ealing film and the locomotive which starred in it.
Mentioning a key hammer reminds me of the Tipton Ganger I knew in the late 1950s. He was expected to carry out daily walking inspections of his complex area but decided that shouldering a standard key hammer for hours at a time was too tiring, so he carried out patrols with a fishplate spanner. As the name implies, this is designed for tightening fishplate bolts and is terminated in a long metal shaft to allow sufficient torque to be applied to the bolt. He decided anything a key hammer could do, a fishplate spanner could do, without the weight penalty. Many years later, I became a volunteer at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (there's a personal history here with a list of my posts) and, when carrying out volunteer Operating Officer duties there which included a daily track inspection, I confirmed the wisdom of the Tipton Ganger's technique!Pump Trolley
Pump trollies had four wheels and were propelled by working pump handles up and down, often using two or more men.
Publicity shot from 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' showing the 'Pump' trolley used in the film
A 'pump' trolley also featured in the comedy film 'The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery', made in 1966 on the Longmoor Military Railway. There's an article about this film on Wikipedia here.
'Pump' trolley used in the comedy film 'The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery'
During my visit to the 2019 'Lionsmeet' model event at Bournemouth (described in the post here), I photographed a rather splendid 5-in gauge model of a 'Pump' trolley, actually powered by two small electric motors and remote controlled by radio!
A splendid model of a 'pump' rail trolley, displayed at Lionsmeet 2019, Bournemouth (the control unit to the left is the remote radio controller for the model)
The 'pump' trolley model is powered by two electric motors each driving the adjacent axle via bevel gears (Lionsmeet 2019, Bournemouth)
Powered Trolley
Powered railway trollies could be larger and travel further. In general, petrol engines have been used as the motive power (sometimes production automobile engines) but electric vehicles powered from batteries are also manufactured.
Wickham of Ware built powered rail trollies over a long period. One of their powered trollies featured in 'The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery'.
During the time I spent as a volunteer at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, I had an opportunity to drive one of the Wickham powered vehicles. Fitted with a car engine (Morris, I think), gearbox and foot pedals the experience was like driving a car without a steering wheel.
Wickham Inspection Trolley at Manchester
More modern designs used in the UK tend to omit weather protection, as shown in this picture of a 4-seat powered trolley awaiting restoration at the Battlefield Liine. This type of trolley can often be used to tow a 4-wheel trolley carrying tools and materials.
4-seat powered rail trolley
In 2001, during a visit to Glenbrook Vintage Railway in New Zealand (described here), they had two 3 foot 6 inch gauge motorised inspection trollies on display.
Motorised Inspection Trollies (Glenbrook Vintage Railway, 2001)
Rail Trollies in Thailand
But the experience which always comes to mind happened in 1989 during commissioning of a Train Despatcher Telephone system we'd designed for GEC used on a railway project in Thailand. At the time, overall control of railway trains throughout the country used long-distance telephone circuits carried on open-wires on old-fashioned telegraph poles (There's a brief post here). At various times during the execution of this project, I went out to Thailand to assist and, occasionally when problems arose, I went out in the field to carry out tests or investigate the difficulty. There was one branch line in southern Thailand where unacceptable levels of audible noise were periodically present on the telephone circuits. Normal circuit testing had failed to reveal the intermittent problem and sending a fault team out by road hadn't improved our understanding (the roads were only near to the railway occasionally) so we persuaded the railway to lay on a motorised inspection trolley so that we could drive the whole length of the branch looking for possible external factors to account for the problem.
I joined a couple of G.E.C. engineers and we drove by car to Chachoengsao, as far as I remember, where we found the powered inspection trolley and the railway inspector who was to drive the trolley. There was some delay whilst we waited for a diesel multiple unit to load its passengers and depart ahead of us but at last we set off. Back then, most of the lines were single with authority for trains to proceed given by electric token, but I had a nasty feeling rail trollies were not protected by this system so I felt rather vulnerable in our basic, lightweight trolley (There's a brief introduction to the principles of railway single line working here). I'd also noticed the bamboo flagpole, topped by a small and rather dirty red flag, mounted on our trolley which I assumed was intended to make us more conspicuous should we meet a train. The feeling of insecurity was heightened by the seats being not far above the rails with no enclosing bodywork which made the speed seem much greater. The inspector/driver was in the front left seat, I was in the front right seat, wielding a video camera to record what I could. We were separated by a Briggs and Stratton petrol engine (10 h.p., I think). At that time, I had a lawn mower powered by a similar Briggs and Stratton so I had confidence that we would not get stranded but the engine was raucous and the noise, combined with the heat of the sun which beat down on us remorselessly, made us all quickly tire. I realised that the first part of the journey, as we passed through a number of country stations, was just 'positioning' to reach the junction where the offending branch line diverged.
Typical minor railway station. Note the telegraph pole on the right carrying the Train Despatcher circuits involved in the GEC project (Railways in Thailand: 1989)
After one or two hours of travelling (it seemed much longer), we reached the junction station and started our survey of the branch. We seemed to be passing through a farmed area with tall crops on both sides and the condition of the telegraph poles and open wires was generally good. Nothing suggested a reason for our telephone transmission problems. Suddenly, about halfway along the branch, the farmland gave way to one of the largest high voltage switchyards I've ever seen, right next to the railway and with numerous overhead cables crossing or running parallel to the railway. The induction from this installation was more than enough to account for the problems but people working on the project had been either unaware of its existence or failed to grasp its relevance. Once we'd identified the problem, G.E.C. were subsequently able to mitigate its effects. We completed our survey to the end of the branch but found nothing else untoward. I felt vindicated that our trip had identified the problem but my G.E.C. colleagues, battered by the sun and deafened by engine noise had had enough and phoned for an air-conditioned car to return to Bangkok in comfort.
But on the basis of 'I may never pass this way again', I decided to spend a few more hours returning, as originally planned, on the trolley with the railway inspector/driver. I discovered that my concerns about our safety had not been entirely groundless. Returning along the branch, I found the inspector frequently referring to a page of what looked like a railway timetable. The inspector had very little English and I still have even less Thai, so I couldn't explore my concerns with him but his anxiety level seemed to be increasing. Abruptly, he stopped the trolley on a rural level crossing. We both climbed out and, when he started to slide out the simple lifting beams, I assisted until four wooden handles had been deployed. By then, it was obvious that he intended to manhandle the trolley clear of the track so together we 'walked' the trolley clear of the line. Almost immediately, over the tops of the crops, I saw one of the Hitachi diesel locomotives approaching with a passenger train. Within seconds the train had disappeared and we both set the trolley back on the rails. I realised that he had chosen a level crossing to 'dismount' the trolley since, with the road surface level with the top of the rails, the job was much easier.
We completed the long journey back without further excitement. I made a videotape on that day which I must try to get converted. Later in 1989, the whole project was completed and an 'I&C Seminar' was held at a Bangkok Hotel where G.E.C. outlined what had been achieved to a large group of senior managers from the railway. The seminar is described in the post mentioned above).
There's a postscript to this tale. During my visits to Thailand in connection with the G.E.C. project, I'd met Sanpasiri Viriyasiri, founder of the Thai Railfan Club, who was carrying out an ambitious plan to open a railway museum in an existing warehouse building in Chatuchak Park, Bangkok. In 1990, with the Train Despatcher Project complete, I returned to Bangkok to spend a few days helping to ready this museum for the official opening and that trip is described in the post here. One of the exhibits at that museum (sadly, now closed) was an inspection trolley similar to one described above we used for our survey.
Motorised inspection Trolley similar to the one I travelled on in Thailand pictured at the Bangkok Railway Museum in 1990.
The Rail Trolley Trust
The Rail Trolley Trust is a registered charity formed in 2014 dedicated to the preservation and display of Rail Trollies, petrol, diesel and electric. They've a fascinating website here.
