Evening star., 1933-08-20
BY RAIL
AROUSES INTEREST
Combination of Competing
Elements Likely With
New Device.
BY EDWARD w. MORRISON.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DETROIT, August 19.-Freight trans
portation combining the speed Of the
railroad and the door-to-door conven-
ience Of the motor truck is believed
to be in the offing.
The appearance in Detroit Of a device
that enables truck to hop on the
rails and 60 speeding away has set the
engineers speculating on the possible
ity of q marriage between two of the
competitive elements in the tranSpor-
tation world
In the Detroit demonstration. driver
climbed into the cab of an 8-ton truck.
drove it down the street until he came
to a railroad track, proceeded to put
the wheels of the truck on the rails
and. with the touch of an air-valve
lever, lowered four flanged wheels to fit
on the rails. The truck was then ready
to go places.
The four guide wheels that fit on
the rails are identical in appearance
with the pilot wheels Of a locomotive,
though smaller. They are made of steel
and rubber. The lowering of the pilot
wheels to the rails locks the steering
wheel. At the same time. two-thirds
Of the weight of the truck Is lowered
to the pilot wheels.
Delays Are Avoided.
In appearance. the effect is not unlike
that Of a motor truck mounted on an
elongated railroad hand-car.
Equipped with this improvement"
said D. 2. main manager of the Trans
portation System. Inc. which controls
the device, "the converted bus or truck
can pick up its load anywhere, drive
to the nearest approach of railroad
obtain the necessary clearance orders
and proceed swiftly. cheaply and with
out interruption over the rails. Then
when 1t nears its destination it can
depart from the tracks and reach the
street door Of the receiver, all without
transfer of load or delay in transit"
Mr.. Main said much higher speed
could be attained on the rails than on
the highways with equal or greater
safety, because Of the smooth traction
surface He said there is as little like
lihood that truck equipped with pilot
wheels will jump the rails as there is
Of locomotive going off the track.
The pilot wheels take the load in the
center of each axle, where joint al
lows for any rocking motion of the
truck without disturbing the solid con-
tdCt Ok tliC PlAOt WAfCCAo WAIAA VIC 1uAlo
Stock car tests for roadway reactions
and gasoline consumption are growing
in popularity. Witness the widespread
use Of 10,000-mile tests by Ford this
Summer
New Models Talked.
Gossip in Detroit indicates there may
be some new models in the Fall to spur
the expected Fall sales
Graham-Paige Motors Corporation
has incress ssed its original production
schedule for August by more than 26
per cent.
Automotive week at q Century Of
Progress Exposition in Chicago has
been fixed from September 2 to 8. The
event will include an open-air automo-
bile show on the Congress street plaza
Of Grant Park.
The Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac divi-
sion of General Motors has started a
campaign to expand its dealer list. New
sales zones have been established in
Charlotte, N c.; Cleveland, India
Oklahoma City, Lincoln, Nebr,
and Denver.
Oldsmobile cars have been in exist
ence longer than any other make--36
years, to be exact. Packard is second
with 81 years.
De Soto output for August already
has been sold. The Studebaker sales
curve is still turning upward, too.