Amphibious Trains or Aquatrains

[McColm]

There are aquabuses, coaches/buses that can be driven on land or through rivers/lakes.
I've been thinking of using the Revell 1/24 Routemaster kit and scratch-building a hull and doors.
Which leads me onto my next question, in Whiffland anything is possible to the creative mind. It doesn't need to physicaly fly or float as long as you believe it can then it will.
However has there ever been an amphibious train built or drawings/artist impressions?
It would save on the need to build a bridge over difficult terrain, wheels would be deployed until the nearest railway line was available to use?

I can remember something similar being proposed as a bus-train where a bus would be able to drive on a tube or railway line and then deploy a set of wheels to drive on the road. Unfortunately Ealing Council cancelled this proposal.

[zenrat]

http://www.wired.com/2008/05/half-bus-half-t/

[Dizzyfugu]

German "solution" that was actually operational:





The rail wheels could be detached, and the bus went on to REALLY remote destinations.

[McColm]

Road to rail ,wasn't that used in one of the Die Hard films.
Bruce Willis and Rik Wakeman (Snape)-van/Ute/ pickup truck.
I suppose there's the weight issue, but using speed and huge chunky tires should compensate for buoyancy.

[Captain Canada]

That's a neat looking bus !

How about an amphib, that can cross a river with other similar vehicles in tow, and then lock together to form a bridge ?

[Hobbes]

Trains are difficult to make amphibious and still fit in the loading gauge. Esp. locomotives are really heavy and dense, so they'd need large floats you don't have space for. And you'd be limited to diesel power: electric power and water don't mix, and water near a steam boiler is a bad idea too.



Road/rail on the other hand is not unusual for railway maintenance vehicles, using constructions similar to the bus Dizzyfugu dug up.

[loupgarou]

Trains are difficult to make amphibious and still fit in the loading gauge. Esp. locomotives are really heavy and dense, so they'd need large floats you don't have space for. And you'd be limited to diesel power: electric power and water don't mix, and water near a steam boiler is a bad idea too.



Road/rail on the other hand is not unusual for railway maintenance vehicles, using constructions similar to the bus Dizzyfugu dug up.

Road/rail is quite common, and not a new discovery. Germans in WW2 used quite a range of vehicles, from FAUN trucks to french Panhard armoured cars. But the time to remove one set of wheels and install the other was considerable.
Modern road/rail vehicles used ofr railroad maintenance are very common the world over, but DON'T use the system Dizzy has shown (from the Bochum-Dalhausen museum). That bus' rail wheels are removed at the end of the line, while MOW vehicles have rail wheels that can be raised in a few moments to proceed on road.

[Runway ? ...]

Choo Choo.

Add DUKW/other amphibian ?

[PR19_Kit]

APT-E's first motive power, a Mercedes Unimog.

[McColm]

Thanks Kit, might have an idea to adapt it to aqua-truck. I 've seen them in Ho scale. G scale is close to 1/25 or 1/24.

[sandiego89]

The early Unimogs are so much better looking....

To get something that can move lots of stuff, a Land train might be a more realistic option.  With those high flotation tires and adding a bit of flotation to the frames, she might float as well

...http://www.industrytap.com/worlds-longest-road-vehicle-overland-train-lost-sikorsky-freight-helicopters-1962/19889

[Green Dragon]

Road to rail ,wasn't that used in one of the Die Hard films.
Bruce Willis and Rik Wakeman (Snape)-van/Ute/ pickup truck.
I suppose there's the weight issue, but using speed and huge chunky tires should compensate for buoyancy.

I don't remember that in a Die Hard but they had a rail to road maintenance truck in Lethal Weapon 3. For a big land-train have a look at the Amtak Wars books, the Wagon Train even has an aircraft carrier section called the Air Car IIRC. Had Skyhawk single seat microlight style single seaters and later the two-seat Skyhawk II. Someone actually built a model of one that pops up at shows now and then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amtrak_Wars
some pics https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A2KLj9K6cXtVGx0AJCNNBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZ29xY3ZzBHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEc2xrA2J1dHRvbg--;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcxNzAwNQRfcgMyBGJjawNkdGVqYjg5YW04czg4JTI2YiUzRDQlMjZkJTNEVF9vYTg0NXBZRUtwZm9QZlpna1ZQZldvUXVraDNLTmlkU0V1JTI2cyUzRDNwJTI2aSUzRDV4V2tWOFNHb2JnOE9scHdRR3AwBGZyA3lmcC10LTkwMy1zBGdwcmlkA0o4MjQ5bkE3UVJ1LlVGclptcml2R0EEbXRlc3RpZANudWxsBG5fc3VnZwM0BG9yaWdpbgN1ay5pbWFnZXMuc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAwRxc3RybAMxMQRxdWVyeQNhbXRyYWsgd2FycwR0X3N0bXADMTQzNDE1MzQ0NgR2dGVzdGlkA251bGw-?gprid=J8249nA7QRu.UFrZmrivGA&pvid=j59VVjcyLjPeumtCVWRxCA0UOTIuMgAAAADcFlgB&p=amtrak+wars&fr=yfp-t-903-s&fr2=sb-top-uk.images.search.yahoo.com&ei=UTF-8&n=60&x=wrt

Paul Harrison

[zenrat]

There's a land train featured in one of Iain M Banks' books.  Against a dark background?
It can lift its segments sequentially to clear obstacles.
There are a lot of interesting things in the book like an assault submarine with 3 pressure hulls that can detach the outer 2 and leave them on the beach, a combat hovercraft, a monowheel and the Lazy Gun - A Lazy Gun is roughly half a metre long, 30 cm wide and 20 cm tall. The Lazy Gun is "light but massy", and weighs three times as much when turned upside down. The Lazy Gun is the only weapon known to display a sense of humour. When fired, some calamity or cataclysm will befall the target on whatever scale is necessary to assure its destruction. The effect is random and in no way limited by its own implausibility, ranging from (for example) an inexplicable wild animal attack in the case of humans to a spontaneous cometary impact in the case of a city. In addition to being susceptible to ordinary damage, tampering with the Guns usually results in a mundane but profoundly powerful explosion that destroys the gun and everything in the vicinity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_a_Dark_Background

[poru48]

Have you thought bout an amphibious train based on US Army LARCs?

[McColm]

Thanks for the info, will look those links up on Monday/Tuesday at an internet cafe.