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Thanks for your interest in my book.

It costs $30.00 (+U.S. shipping & handling, $5.00)

This is a softbound 300 plus page explanation of the development of railroad motor cars, hand cars and push cars. It shows how they were made and how they were used. It explains the parts what went into making them run including: engines, power transmission, wheels, axles, brakes, chassis, suspension, bearings, lubrication, cooling, fuel, ignition and safety systems. Clearing and turning the motor car and the motor cars' uses are discussed. A complete Fairmont Motor car manual and several contemporary maintenance instructions along with over 500 pictures are included. A small portion of this information was previously available in my articles in the Motor Car Collectors of America's magazine. You can contact me at: njp8881@msn.com or at motorcarcyclopedia@hotmail.com I will accept personal checks, and small lumps of gold. Make checks to: Nick Pull My address is : 2 Lexis Court Bloomington, IL. 61704 Phone: (309) 662-0011 call with any questions

The fo l lowing pages are a sample of the contents .

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Pre motor car - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - 15 Motor car in t roduct ion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16 - 31 Motor car use re la ted terms - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 32 - 37 Motor car engines, genera l - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38 - 52 Motor car power t ransmiss ion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 53 - 68 Motor car wheels , ax les and brakes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 69 - 80 Motor car chass is - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 81 - 83 Clear ing and turn ing the motor car - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 84 - 88 Motor car suspension - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 89 - 90 Motor car bear ings - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 91 - 102 Lubr icat ion and fue l , genera l - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 102 - 109 Motor car lubr icat ion systems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 110 - 117 Motor car fue l systems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 118 - 136 Motor car cool ing systems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 136 - 147 Motor car ign i t ion systems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 148 - 166 Motor car safety systems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 167 - 183 Motor car in use - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 184 - 202 Push cars and t ra i lers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 202 - 204 Index - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 205 - 206 Ext ra Mater ia l - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 207 - 312

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The early push car weighed 450 to 500 pounds. At least four men were required to lift the car to or from the track. The ends of the side sills projected beyond the car's end and were rounded off for lifting handles. A small crew often found it handy to have a push car with a detachable body. The axle bearing boxes were open on the bottom. The body was lifted and removed from the track. The axle and wheel sets stayed on the track and were removed later, one at a time.

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A "T" head engine with two camshafts would need an arrangement to shift both cams. The Mudge "F" head engine shown above only moved one camshaft. Most rotary oil pumps only work in one direction. The only alternative was to use a piston pump and/or splash oiling. Reversing the ignition timing would not be a problem. The 2 cycle engines had been doing that for years. The reversible 4-cycle engine design was a dead end. It was much easier to add a reversing gear instead of reversing the engine rotation.

This Simple brand engine starts without cranking, has "no carburetor", uses "fuel of any kind", is "reversible", has "no fuel in crankcase". There must be some problem, they only lasted from 1913 to 1917.

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Some motor cars had the piston rod connected to a pin on the drive wheel or drive wheel axle, as shown on the Rockford #2 motor car below. Rockford offered the motor car with 2 engines, one on each side of the velocipedes wheel. You could run on either of the engines for economy or both for power.

A third design used permanently engaged gears or chain as seen in photo below, of a Sheffield car.

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Bearing lubrication systems When moving parts touch, they wear. Selecting the right bearing for the job is only part of the solution. The proper type and amount of lubrication is also needed. All bearings and other wearing surfaces must run on a film of some sort of lubricant to prevent contact and therefore wear and excessive heat. It is difficult to keep a film of oil or grease on large plain bearings unless it is pumped to them or they are submerged in it. In the early days of the motor car, where speeds and loads were low, lubricating systems, greases and oils were very crude (no pun intended). It was easier to build bigger bearings than design sophisticated lubrication systems. There were 5 basic systems of providing lubricants to motor car bearings and mechanisms. Lubricators are external devises that drip oil or pump grease at a measured rate to specific bearings. Most early motor car engines resorted to using external lubrication fittings. They were mounted above each bearing that required special attention, such as the cylinder wall and crankshaft. Often, they were small reservoirs such as the Lunkenheimer "Jewel" and “Gem” oilers shown On the next page. The photograph to the right shows an oil cup for the gear change shaft and two more oilers on the crankshaft on a Trasco engine. The photos below show similar applications.

oil lubricators on a Trasco engine

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Tremblers (moveable point) and the adjusting screw on a vibrating coil act in unison with the timer points. They control the electricity flow in the coil. They are mounted on top of the coil and are operated by the electromagnetic force of the coil. When this system was in common use, in the late 1920's, a set of points for one Ford model T coil sold for 6 to 20 cents. Fairmont's engine points cost 55 cents at about the same time. Fairmont's parts pricing structure doesn't seem to have changed much over the years. Repairing points other than normal cleaning and dressing was not common. See page 163 for a set of contemporary instructions on maintaining and adjusting vibrating coil points. Timers were also called commutators, or switches. They were often erroneously called contacts, or points, which refers to the actual switching part inside the timer. They were mounted on the engine, over the ignition cam. A 2 cycle engine's timing was adjusted by an operator-controlled lever. When the timer contacts are closed, the path from the battery, through the primary coil is complete. As they open, the field collapses and a high voltage is generated.

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A slightly later motor car with a carbide head light.

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Eventually battery powered lamps became available. The earliest commonly used battery was the #6 1½ volt dry cell. It is a lousy battery by today’s standards, but it was the state of the art for many years. It would be amazing to know how many telephones, electric fences and science fair projects were powered by this battery. The railroads used it for many purposes and it was the natural choice for not only motor car lights but for their ignition systems. This Fairmont lantern has a slot in the back for mounting on an upright bar on the motor car. It also has an adjustment screw on the back for changing the focus of the lamp from a flood to a spot light. This lamp was 3 volt and its larger brother with four batteries was 6 volt. They were the state of the art for many years despite their poor lighting ability and weight. The four cell lamp with batteries weighted 17 pounds.

A pair of Fairbanks Morse hand lanterns. The bottom one has a mounting plate for the motor car and a set of tail lamps. It is a much later design and used newly developed batteries.

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This following section contains interesting photos related to topics discussed and historic copies of a few motor car related

articles.

Winter track work 208 - 219 Does and Don'ts from "Railway Age Gazette", Dec., 1912

220 - 222

Track Tools from Notes on Track by Walter Mason Camp 1904

223 - 272

Motor cars from the Railway Signal Dictionary of 1911

273 - 276

Motor cars from the Maintenance of Way Cyclopedia of 1921

277 - 287

Fairmont service manual for a typical motor car ( M 14 - H)

288 - 297

Motor car wheel alignment How to lace a belt

298 - 296

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Motor car cost - Railroad structures and estimates

299- 302

Miscellaneous Photos

303 - 312