As you know, I get sent a lot of stuff.
When this came in, I dismissed it. Then I watched it again. And again. And again…
Now it’s driving me nuts. Can anyone shed any light on this video?
(It all happens in the first 20 seconds).
Latest ebay cheat sheet is is here.
Keep ’em coming.
Best
Al
It appears that a large hydraulic cylinder lifts the machine. It is mostly hidden by the workers legs.
Hi Al
If you slow it down & pause at about 21 secs you can see a jack between the leags of the front man at the machine.
It does look incredible though.
Paul
You can just about see what appears to be a (probably) hydraulic pillar or post between the two guys steadying the unit.
It then gently lowers to sit on the rails.
I expect there will be someone out there who knows exactly how it’s done.
Thanks for the vid. V interesting!
Dave G
If you look very carefully it looks like there is a pole sticking down from the center of the train and they are just spinning it around the pole. You can see it very early on in the video. You do have to look close though.
Watch closely at the third second. (time 03)
There is a hydraulic ram extending down from the truck to the track. This is what is supporting the truck and allowing the crew to rotate it into alignment on the rail.
The angle of the camera makes it look as if the truck is tilted, but it must be perfectly level to be able to be balanced on a single hydraulic ram whilst the crew rotate & align it to the tracks.
Because of the movement of the crew, after about the fourth second, the ram is mostly hidden from the camera by the men.
Cheers, Bernard
Behind the vehicle being “levitated” is a pole of some sort, that appears at
the very beginning, behind where the two workers are standing. It must be
some kind of jacking mechanism. Other than that, it could be some “computer
majic” slight of hand.
Ok Al so I to give up WHAT is the answer,,?
Hi Alistair,
not as spooky as it looks 🙂
There’s a hydraulic ram positioned at the balance centre of the vehicle for turning/re-railing.
You can see it clearly at around 21 seconds between the bloke’s legs.
It is retracted when they have the wheels lined up with the rails.
Great video. 🙂
Cheers, Neal.
There is a cylinder rod in the middle of the unit, you can see it in the beginning the it is re tracked when the wheels are on the track. the men are in the way and is difficult to see. Regards Ronald Jones.
Some very clever editing has removed a mighty big crane I suspect.
At the 3 sec mark, you can see a silver pole either on the far side of the track or under the unit. If the pole is under and connected to the unit, could it be an hydraulic system to turn the unit to face the other way. Or, and this is stretching the imagination, is it using hovercraft technology?
Al, I,m still ij a daze about this “magic train”please please whats the answer? All answers on a used train ticket or me or him.
love to you all,,Bernard
Hi Al,
I believe there is a central hydraulic jack type mechanism that when lowered enables the truck to spin on it’s axis, enabling it to turn round.
Kind regards, Andy.
Hi if you look close a hydraulic ram is lifting the train at its balance point, allowing the train to be rotated. If you follow the video slowly you can see the ram lifting as the train sits on the track.
Cool video thanks
Hi Al
It looks, to me, that it has its own central hydraulic jack, in order to reverse direction, but be able to drive forward.
If you look closely, you can see it slowly withdrawing back into the body of the vehicle after it has settle back on the tracks.
Keep up the good work, I love all your mails.
They are just turning it around. Have a close look between the left hand blokes legs when the video zooms in and you will see the hydraulic ram it is standing on.
Its plain to see the central jacking post that allows the thing to swing from the shoring piles onto the rails.
If you look close you will see it is on a central pin, best to watch it in full screen.
Hi Al,
There appears to be a hydraulic jack on the underside of the train. You get a glimpse of its vertical piston in the first couple of seconds of the film and again when the camera zooms in it appears between the legs of the man on the left. Very neat.
Regards, Dylan.
There is a hydrolic under the train to turn it around… Watch between the legs of one of the guys in the middle of the movie
There is a strong pole in the middle of the truck, which either the vehicle has been lowered with in the down position, and once lined up to a female hole set in the track the vehicle is swung around to align the wheels with the rails and then lowered down ( like a jack) If you pause the video at the beginning you can see this shining pole underneath.
It must be pivoted on a central hydraulic ram for doing just that. If you pause the video several times you can just see something behind the guys as it is moved around. Looks dangerous all the same on a windy embankment.
Hi Alastair,
At first I thought the video must have been ‘got at’ but the I enlarged it as much as I could and If you look very closely you will see a column behind the men, then it is hidden by them and apears briefly again between one mans legs. So there must be an hydraulic centre column which enables the ‘car’ to be turned round.
Cheers Mike S
It appears that the crew drives the unit on to the tracks and then lowers a hydraulic “foot” to raise it up and swing it into place on the track..
It’s obvious, Al. If you get as many “science” programs on U.K. TV as we do here in North America where the explanation for everything from the pyramids to the invention of bubble gum is “extraterrestrials,” then that piece of MOW equipment was being levitated by a UFO. Too bad the person with the camera didn’t bother to ask the railway workers. If location info had been provided, more details might have been obtained. Curious stuff, for sure.
Its obvious. Clovis is a mere 110 miles from Roswell – 1 hour 48 minutes drive time, less using anti-gravity. Note the little green men are cleverly disguised in hi-vis circus suits while they shift things around using anti-gravity….
If you look closely you’ll see a post which is hydraulic allowing the vehicle to be turned around
Floating train, If you enlarge the video and watch carefully when to pause it, You will notice that there is a 3″ hydraulic piston that is centered for balance allowing it to be lifted and turned.. One of the MOA workers leg almost blocks the view
Looks to me as if there is some sort of central jack on which can lift the whole vehicle off the ground and rotate it, either so it can be turned round at the end of the line, or driven on to the track at an access point (level crossing etc) and then aligned with the rails. Quite a few bits of British PW equipment do that – I seem to remember something similar happening in one of the Eddie Stobart series.
The “Floating Train” has a center jack underneath so that it can be turned
Wow! I see what you mean. The machine appears to be on a center post that could have a platform at the top to hold it up??? I don’t know; it’s just a wild guess, but I do see a post or something that is quite visible when I pause the video.
Marion
No magic at all in this Just clever photography and well placed people. There is a jack which is clear as day, right below the vehicle. Have a better look and notice the steel hydraulic ram.
Magic solved!
ok if you pause the video on about 3 seconds you can see a bar or pol in the middle of the train, to balance the train from not falling it has extended steel feet on the track that we cant see. then they move the train to position and the pressure is released and the train starts to come down on the rail.
The trick behind the floating train may be the hydraulic ram that descends from the
centre of gravity point onto the rail bed. As it descends the three men sort of complete the balance point and keep it steady until it is turned around and lowered to the rails again. The ram can be seen in the first few seconds of the video. it is a shiny round post under the engine.
If you look closely between the legs of the man on the left you can see the ram supporting the vehicle. After he steps out of the way and the vehicle is back on the rails, you can see the ram retract. I had to watch several times to see it.
It looks to me like a Jack is in place .. look between the far left man’s legs. although I’ll have to admit that looks like a very small jack to do that big of a job
to me, it looks like it has to have some sort of hydraulicss in it, i see some sort of lift arm on the far back side of the machine before it was set down, im guessing that there is more, but we just dont see it..
it being held up with it stable lisers push down into the ground and the raised then turned to be put on the track
We use hydraulics to raise the machine so we can rotate it to Chang the direction we want it to work in. I work for Metro North Railroad here in the Northeast USA
Hi Al, It can only be a hydraulic lift with a flat footprint located at the centre of gravity. As only a short lift is required I think my theory is quite workable.
Cheers Werner
look at second 2 you can see an idraulic piston holging the train up
then look close at second 21 and 22 you can see the big idraulic piston in between the legs of one of the workers
regards
Maurizio
Perhaps you should call Sculley and Mulder in on this one, Al! Good luck!!!
It is a hydraulic piston. This machine is equipped with it to spin the vehicle 180 degrees when the work gang reverses direction so that the operator is driving forward instead of driving backward.
I didn’t get a chance to read all the answers before I said the same thing about the hydraulic ram post. The comments were not visible when I first opened the article for some reason. I thought that I was the first to comment and that was not the case.
The others have it exactly, hydraulics is your answer! Suire beats having to haul your own turntable around with you when you want to turn your toy!
By the way, Alastair, Now that I’m employed again, I really want to sign back up for the deeper newsletters, but, I never see the deal anymore! Any way you can send a note, or post up next time?
Hey, Alastair, the other guys answered your question, it’s all in the hydraulics! a nice, easy way to turn your MOW car when it’s time to go home!
Hey, I was wondering, I’m recently employed again, and, wanted to sign up for the deeper E-mails! any chance you could post up or send me a note!
Pause it at the 21 second mark and you can see the hydraulic cylinder piston between the workers legs. Problem solved….
Yes it’s a jack post to orientate the vehicle.ive seen them here like that.they drive up and straddle the track.It has a level sensor on the jack post to tell them it is in the centre.then this piston comes down with a plate and lift’s the whole works and lets them place the wheels..scary being so close to it and it sways back and forth with all that weight on such a small post lol
did you check to see if Merlin is around~~~~hydraulic cylinder
Al, what you are looking is a tie gang machine, tie gangs remove and replace ties and sometimes the machines need to be turned around so they have the built in hydraulic cylinder and turntable for the purpose of turning the machine. These machines are very common here in the U.S. The angle of the video does not provide a detailed enough look at the machine to positively identify it, however, tie gangs require such specialized machines as tie insert, tie extraction, tie cranes, spike pullers, spike installers, anchor removal and installers, tampers and ballast regulation and so on, the machines are hauled on trains or trucks from one location to another and only travel under their own power to get to and from the work site and “clear” of the main tracks. Working on the Union Pacific Railroad as an engineer I see many of these machines working on the tracks on a regular basis. Jim
It’s Capt. James T Kirk trying out his latest antigravity device.
It appears to me that many have answered the question as to how and what is going on. However, nobody commented re the man standing on the “back” side, probably to provide balance, thus keeping the machine approximately level.I I really enjoy all of the the posts and I think I learn something from each one.
Please keep up the posts for all of us.
Thank you, Roger Oehmke
I have a friend who works for a railroad in Colorado (he’s a railroad police officer) and he sent me this reply as to how it works:
That piece of track equipment had a hydraulic post under the center of the car (you can see it as they turn the car to line up with the track). Older track cars had that as well to allow turning a track speeder from the active track to a ‘set out’ track at a right angle to the mainline track. It looks as thought it was leading a string of track maintenance equipment. I don’t know why they had to turn it around but is what it appears to me. – Jim
Be easier if they installed a reverse gear!
It appears to be a track maintenance machine, which has a special privot under it to turn it around.
The machines may be made by Plasser. There is also a work crew working on the track.
Paul Otway
There is a large plate attached to the piston just visible by the workmanship legs. The video does not show it being extended. It uses the same device that we use on some speeders to turn them around before reversing course. To check out speeders, google North Anerican Rail car Operators ….NARCOA.
No way is their one hydraulic jack at the center or from the far side of the machine. It floated just as an object being moved around by a crane. My bet someone photo shoped it.
I have modeled this many times on my n scale and I’m quite sure that the tiny little people have never seen the hand of God pick the unit up and spin it around back on the track.
Wondering if they are applying some hovercraft technology. My brother did the welding on the first experimental hovercraft which later was used by the navy I believe.
Pause at the 23 seconds mark to clearly see the hydraulic ram. Would need a wide base to ensure balancing can be achieved.
I like the levitating train idea. Hey, if this is so, then when I turn my locos around digitally, it’s much more prototypic:-). I’m not sure I can fit a turntable in on my narrow layout, but with this who needs one?
I ran a production tie gang on the Kansas City Southern Railway for about 25 yrs. Several of the tie machines were equipped with hydraulic jacks so the machines could be turned on short notice without taking them to a wye. These machines were usually turned when it was necessary to swap sides to extract or insert the ties. Mostly it was the smaller machines that got turned this way. The automatic spikers were about the largest that got turned in this fashion.
It’s not extra terrestials, just a good old fashioned sky-hook> By the way, in 2010 I was moving wind turbine blades from Beaumont Texas to Colorado by rail. I fitted some shock recorders that looked like small land mines. One fell off along the way and we never found it so for all the railmen out there across the pond, and especially the chap with the police connection, it’s not dangerous. It is marked MOBITRON,
D/ Scotland
PS, I don’t want it back. I had enough trouble at airport security taking the things over there from Denmark !
Hi Al, In relation to your levitating train, it is very similar to the track maintenance cars we have here in Australia, so I feel they would operate just the same. The middle of the train has a hydrolic platform that when lowered is placed between the sleepers for support, wile the maitenance car is lifted and turned in the oppersite direction as to what it was facing. If ou look at the video from the start you can see the rod that is attached to the plate that goes between the sleepers. I hope this is of help in explaining how and why this operation is performed, as it can be hundreds of miles between turnouts, as these cars are used on single lines, with limited sidings or passing tracks.
Semar, (Downunder)
Hi Al,
It is common practice to rotate a regulator so save time going through a wye. I work in Western Australia with iron ore and the practice of rotating a regulator is done using a crane as using the hydraulic rams is considered by the mining company as too dangerous.
“Hey, That’s Cool !” – says the grandson. But, Gramps – why bother ?, when you can just reach over the layout and grab it yourself, like this ………
How far from Roswell, NM? HaHa
The old hand trucks, 4 men would pick it up, rotate it and put it on the track. Im sure a jack is helping.
there’s got to be a rational explanation and I guess a hydraulic powered post at the center of gravity is most plausible, but it seems incredibly dangerous balancing all that weight on a single post with workers in close proximity. Maybe someone in the industry could explain. Cary in KY
WOW! All these comments and some still don’t see it. See what(?) you ask? The hydraulic ram. It’s visible at 00:21:53 seconds between the legs of the man on the left. The cribbing for getting it onto the track is visible from the man on the right.
You know it the guy taking the pictures had a tripod to hold his camera stead we could see the ram better.
It’s Simple. Clovis, New Mexico is close to Roswell, New Mexico. That explains it.
I can see something like a hydraulic jack in the center of the machine. It is probably on a device that turns it while raised.
there is an antigravity generator buried deep underground when aliens visited the earth hundreds of yrs ago
3 seconds in you can see a jack in the center of the speeder holding it up while it is turned.
You might have the answer already, I don’t think so. In my humble opinion the ones displayed here are all wrong.
It’s a bird.
Clovis New Mexico is near Roswell New Mexico – the site of the infamous UFO story. Take it from there.
At the 21 second mark, you will see the hydraulic cylinder in the center of the unit. Go to full screen and advance frame at a time.
I used a floor jack and a balance point on my Fairmont speeder to do the same. Removed the saddle from the jack and had a pointed pin facing down to fit in the hole left by the saddle.
This car turns on a center post just as the other readers have replied. This principal was used on rail (section gang) cars when they were used. I’ve seen this many times.
The workers are Jedi and they’re using the Force! LOL
This video would have been cool if they cut out the beginning which shows the jack.
That’s what happen when you’re using “Light Rail”…LOL!
Actually, if the photographer would have keep the unit zoomed in, you would have seen the balance plate retract back into the frame of the MOW equipment.
Kinda like your own portable turntable.
If the photographer would have shown the fingers and hand of the layout owner when he put it on the track the first time. The workers are nice scale dummies though.
Yes it has a hydraulic pole that they can push into the ground beneath the machine and then they can raise it up and move back onto the rails if it has been derailed. I actually saw a video of a loco here in New Zealand that had jumped off the tracks at the front so they just put the hydraulic poles down underneath and they were able to move it back onto the tracks. I will try and find the video for you guys
Jezza, that “Hand of God” thing made me laugh. What are you smoking?
As James Moe explained it is a Tie exchange machine to replace ties under the rails. It is much more than what we had back in the 1950 era when all of this was down with manpower. I was on an extra gang that replaced the track between Marysville, Kansas and Marieta, Kansas in 1952 or 1953. All aspects of replacing what the train ran on was done by manpower. I helped with everything including being the flagman. Those ties are very very heavy as well as the tie plates that the rails sit on then spiked to the ties. OH My aching back.
A lot of Matissa track machines had a small “turntable” mechanism which could be pushed down between the sleepers and the whole machine could be turned on the piston/ram. It could also be rerailed with the same device if the rail was not properly secured which sometimes happened with sleepers not being secure.
Cheers
Trevor
The ultimate 0-5-0
Indian levitation is well known. The seated gentleman is a very accomplished Fakir, but that day he got a little over excited and his workmates had to bring both him and the machine back to earth as they were wanting the convoy to get back to the depot. Imagine what the folks in the following units were shouting!
Long list of answers…
Loved the Roswell comments… Had not heard about a “skyhook” in years…
The answers concerning a hydraulic ram are the correct ones… HOWEVER..
Americans have been building certain pieces of railway equipment with built in turntables for over a century now! In the old days the turntable was mounted on a jack and the whole arrangement looked remarkably flimsy… But it worked! The Hetch Hetchy dam railroad had a car built like this and it still exists in Jamestown, California. The car was pretty substantial (more of a touring bus really). There is another from the Santa Maria Valley railroad that is preserved (and restored) in Campo, California at the PSRM railroad museum there.
Today, hydraulics are used but the game is the same… A large flat plate that goes on the ties (sleepers) that provides stability and a hydraulic lift that replaces the old hand cranked jack.
There is a cable coming from the top of the machine and I believe the sound you
hear is a helicopter
It’s a Miracle!!!
Or, in the words of Walt Disney: “Bibbidy bobbidy boo!”
shlack
Yep Post that it turns on. see it when the guys legs get out of the way.
If the machine could truly levitate, why would they need rails? I’m going for a beer. Cheers! NJ Mark
Al there is a jack in the middle of the speeders frame that is setup to allow them
to lift the speeder and reposition it or spin it around to do something for it or the rails ! I have seen this done on the tracks just above my house ma by half city
block from my hose a couple of times when they where working on the track !!
Be well and stay safe Al.
George
“rails, where we’re going we don’t need rails”.
It appears the third man on the unit has control over the horizontal movement while the other two are guiding it.
Some very strong guys!!!😂
One does not simply spin railroad equipment in the air…
I’m not sure if I buy the single post hydraulic idea. It’s been a while but I used to work at a “gas station” here in the US. We sold fuel and repaired vehicles (there are no such places any longer!)
The lifts inside were single hydraulic posts that would raise and lower from under the floor and adjustable on top to brace and balance any vehicle. The posts were mighty steel poles about ten inches to a foot in diameter. Due to Physics, there was a limit to weight, size and shape that they would hold. A full size pickup truck (Yankee monster) was about it, and that was very touchy too! Balance is the problem more than weight.
It’s so hard to see the size of that post under the train/truck there, but it looks about the same. If we tried to put that thing on one of our lifts… no go! Probably wouldn’t lift the weight to start. Balance wouldn’t happen either, shape and size no go. And then pivoting the the thing!
I guess it’s possible with much heavier equipment, the post looks too small but everything else could be stronger. The hydraulics I don’t how they power it, but ours worked from the air compressor which got the fluid moving. That might not lift that monster! Maybe those guys really ARE superguys!
You have got it all wrong it’s David Copperfield dressed as one of the workmen doing what he does best
It’s the same principle as the old railcars, “speeders”.
A hydraulic jack to lift it so it can be turned.
Check out narcoa.org for all things railcar!!
Adding to James and Charles replies – here’s a link to a YouTube video that shows the Tie Gang Machine and all of the other equipment necessary to replace ties in action. It’s quite long (over an hour), but you can easily skip ahead to see the whole process up close and in great detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz8-RxwvCmo
Hey guys!! It’s the Force!! Where are all you Star Wars fans?
Great visual!
I thought it was the “Anti-Gravitational Device” that Diet Smith (friend of Dick Tracy) had been working on for years.
(grin)
Obviously, there is a hydraulic jacking system in use. The question I have is how they can support a piece of equipment on a single jacking point? The equipment has to be perfectly balanced, but I guess it’s not impossible.
It used to change old sleepers while the track is jacked up
You remove the old sleeper put the new one in place
Then drop the track back down into the sleeper
Works with chairs and spikes
You can do anything with DCC…
I worked for the UPRR building all of these machines. Some machines have a center turn table built in the center of the machine and when it is lowered and lifts the machine and you can spin the machine to change directions.
It kind of looks to me that there is a cable attached to the top of the rail car. It could have been suspended from a crane to the left of the car, and the video has been altered to hide the cable. If you watch the video at 25% speed, you see the vertical line appear and disappear, and the visible part seems to change length. This COULD be an antenna and the quality of the video is insufficient to yield a consistent image, but perfectly balancing this rail car on a single hydraulic ram seems to be a stretch, especially since one of the workers steps off the car while it is still “levitating”
Hi, Al. I agree with the majority of the respondees in that there is a hydraulic jack positioned at the very center of the rail car that is doing the lifting although it is partially hidden by the person on the left. Just have to expand, really slow it down and look closely. But, at first glance, it does look bizarre.
I suspect that the issue of the equipment be lifted by hydraulic jack might not be your point …. I think it might be that an earth tremor shook the camera, hence the jerky footage early on ….. and possibly the need for replacement tracks and the string of machinery behind!
hi al. Most of the comments are right there is a hydraulic ram in the car it’s centered in the Middle underneath the car.it enables the crew toswing the car around so they go back the other direction.years ago I worked for a tourist railroad here near my home I operated one of these cars I would follow a tourist train as for fire control if a small brush might breakout from sparks from the steam engine.at the end of the run I would use the hydraulic ram to reverse direction of the car and then follow the train back to the station I would carry at least 4 or five fire extinguishers it was really a lot of fun doing it.the car I operated was only a two man car. thanks val in utah