A Design of Road and Rail Vehicle Abstract A road and rail vehicle has a truck tractor vehicle frame such that it is street legal, but also provides sufficient power to move freight cars on low density rail lines or at other desired locations。 The vehicle has a transfer case to provide front wheel drive by road wheels when the vehicle is in a road or highway mode and to provide rear wheel drive by rail wheels when in a rail mode。 The vehicle has a front guide rail wheel unit which moves front rail wheels between an upper road position and a lower rail position。 A rear or back axle has right and left back road wheels thereon and is movable between an upper rail position and a lower road position。81184

Key words: road and rail; car; wheels; position 

1。Backgroud of the invention

The present invention relates to a rail engagement apparatus having powered rail engagement wheels for a road vehicle。 Further, this invention relates to a vehicle having such an apparatus mounted to it。

As used herein, a road vehicle is a vehicle having wheels which contact a highway or other road, as opposed to only having wheels which roll on rails on a railroad track。

Railroad service crews often have to go to various places along a railroad track in order to make repairs and inspections。 Depending upon the type of service which is performed and other factors, the service crew may ride to the work site using a rail vehicle or using a road vehicle, such as a truck or car。 Since the best way to a work site may include travel along a road and travel along a railway, service crews and other rail workers often have used road vehicle having a rail engagement or guide wheel apparatus mounted on them。 Such cars or trucks may travel along a highway or other road with road wheels engaging the road。 Upon getting to an appropriate place along the railway, the rail engagement apparatus is operated such that railway wheels are lowered from the vehicle until the vehicle is bound to the railway。 Usually such vehicles include an apparatus at the front of the vehicle which lifts the front road wheels off the ground when two front railway wheels engage rails and an apparatus at the back of the vehicle, which apparatus secures the back of the vehicle to the rails by two back railway wheels。 The two back railway wheels allow the regular road wheels to contact the rails or other surface such that the road wheels may provide traction to move the vehicle even when the two front railway wheels and two back railway wheels have secured the vehicle to the rail。 When the vehicle wishes to leave the railway, the two front railway wheels and the two rear railway wheels are retracted or lifted up such that the vehicle may again run along the road。

Various structures have been used to allow railway wheels to be attached to road vehicles。 Although such structures have been generally useful at moving the railway wheels between an upper position in which the vehicle may travel along a highway or other road and a lower position in which the vehicle travels along a railway, such structures have often been subject to one or more of several disadvantages。

Regular locomotives have often been used for moving freight or other rail cars along light traffic density outlying rail lines。 For example, if a given manufacturer is sending two freight cars a day to a rail yard on further travel, a locomotive could be used to move the two freight cars。 (Alternately, the locomotive would pick up freight cars at the manufacturer only after a larger number of freight cars are ready, but this may slow the manufacturer's ability to ship in timely fashion。) If the locomotive is tied up moving a small number of freight cars, it cannot be used at other locations where its great power is needed。 Further, moving the locomotive by rail to the rail line adjacent the manufacturer's plant requires that track occupancy and rail signaling be handled properly so that the locomotive is switched to the right path and does not collide with (or cause significant delays for) other trains using some of the same tracks。