Anyone familiar with the old Sperry Rail Service aka Sally Rand Special rail test cars ? When I was in college, I worked for Sperry on the test cars during summer break. I saw many miles of track and trackside industries on the L&N, Southern and Seaboard. I worked between 2 jobs, either driver (no not engineer) or on the test equipment at the rear of the self propelled car. We were distinctive in our bright yellow paint job. The cars were almost all gas-electric manufactured by St. Louis car company.
The primary task was to detect transverse defects in the rail and via magnetic and ultrasonic fields transmitted thru the rails. For those that arn't familiar with transverse defects, steel rail that flexes as heavy trains pass over start to crack from the inside out. The rail appears to be intact until it finally shears all the way through. This failure mode has put many a train "on the ground" which spoils everybodies day.
I have seen HO scale SRS cars advertised in MR and other magazines. I am curious if anyone on the-gauge has seen any of the prototype cars operating recently ?
Thank you
The primary task was to detect transverse defects in the rail and via magnetic and ultrasonic fields transmitted thru the rails. For those that arn't familiar with transverse defects, steel rail that flexes as heavy trains pass over start to crack from the inside out. The rail appears to be intact until it finally shears all the way through. This failure mode has put many a train "on the ground" which spoils everybodies day.
I have seen HO scale SRS cars advertised in MR and other magazines. I am curious if anyone on the-gauge has seen any of the prototype cars operating recently ?
Thank you
