Overhead line cars are always of interest to me, as I sometimes hang wire. Here's what a Chilean railroad uses. Third picture from bottom.

http://www.winkworth.us/motorcar/argent/argent.htm

Now that would be what I call Large, Wide track. Is Chile and Argentina the only countries in S. America that have track like shown?

No, at least two Brazilian railways were broad gauge (5'6"), the Santos-Jundai and the Ferrovia Paulista. Vale (CVRD) also has a broad gauge ore line.

Broad gauge in Brazil is 1600mm, or 5'3", not 5'6". Chile is 5'6" and I believe Ardentina is also.

And CVRD in Brazil is metre gauge, not broad. All the more impressive when you consider they run 30,000 mton ore trains on the meter ga. using diesels such as an EMD SD45 on D-D trucks.

No need to go that far to see a broad gauge speeder. Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington, PA, has a Fairmont A8, Union RR 396, that is broad gauge. Wasn't built that way, but since all our trolley trackage is 5'2.5", it was a matter of necessity to convert the speeder.

People on the west coast can come to WRM - we were recently given a BART-gauge speeder originally built for Westinghouse, complete with metal Westinghouse logo. Now all we need is some dual-gauge track to run it on...

I own shares in Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and can assure you that in addition to the meter gauge line, it also has a 5'3" gauge line further north, called the Carajas Railroad (EFC). See: http://www.vale.com/vale_us/cgi/cgilua. ... htm?sid=64

Oh, so it runs! Very nice. How did you broad-gage it? Where did you get axles?

The A8 is almost too big to call a speeder, over 6000 lb. and with all wheel drive. They're generally not allowed at NARCOA meets, because if it broke down, what could tow it!?

When the SMRS's 35 ton Plymouth and caboose train conked out in the river valley, they marshalled all the speeders. While the A5s were hauling the cabooses back, an A8 tried to solo the Plymouth - and succeeded. The A5 crews were coming back to assist when they heard the A8's horns... and they got out of the way! :)

Sure it runs, our Way & Track Dept. uses it all the time. Weighs around 5500 lb. The axles remained the same, we put 3" spacers behind each wheel to regauge from 56.5 to 62.5. A8 has disk brakes on the axle, so only the wheels had to move out. We got it as a donation from a track contractor in 1998 and put 1000 hours and $1500 into it. Coming due for some work now, the plywood doors are falling apart. We replaced the original roof too, and reinforced its frame, as every A8 I'd seen was swaybacked due to a weak roof structure. We've had several smaller Fairmonts in the past, all were replaced by this single A8. PTM also owns a Portec speeder built new in 1984 for Pittsburgh's Port Authority Transit. It was broad gauge from the factory. Not presently in use however, needs a significant overhaul.

Come and see the A8 at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington, PA.