Re: McKeen Cars (was . . "Windsplitters")

Re McKeen cars in Australia,Victorian Railways bought
two in 1911,they each carried 73 passengers and ran
services on Ballaarat to Maryborough and Hamilton to
Warrnambool,only lasted three years beore having
engines removed and being converted to ordinary
passenger cars. Source:Victorian Railways Power
Parade,Centenary Edition 1954,Price,1 shilling. ---
[email protected] wrote: > And "-mechanical" meant
that they had clutches and

gearboxes.
The 6 cyl marine-pattern gasoline engines were
mounted
transversely in a long wheelbase power truck with
the flywheel
protruding outside the truck frame. Drive was to
the leading axle,
which had larger wheels than the rest of the car.
They had
center entrances and port hole windows; the rear
ends were
semi-circular. (Some have said that they would have
been faster
in reverse, based on modern aerodynamics!)

They were designed by a high Union Pacific RR motive
power
official, and the UP bought lots of them.

General Electric built knife-nosed gas-electrics in
the early
teens, but they were otherwise more conventional.

(Info from "Interurbans Without Wires", E Keilty.)

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