Kearney High-Speed Railway Car number 1

Taken from the Kearney Files.

Description of Car number 1

Car number 1 has recently been completed by the Brush Electrical Engineering Company at their Loughborough works at Loughborough  Leicestershire.
The general dimensions are standard - Vis ., Length 45 ft and width 8 ft, with 7ft 6ins headroom in centre aisle. The roof is of the plain arch type.
Considerable attention has been given to the design of the car body with a view to minimising the sir resistance and not only are the ends of the car tapered and pointed, which alone will reduce atmospheric resistance to about one-fifth that of a bluff ended car,  but the sides throughout are practically smooth, this result being achieved by the use of frameless windows and the elimination of sills.
The car has seating accommodation for 45 persons. At one end there is a private compartment fitted with tables, tea cupboard and a secret wash-basin. At the other end lounge seats are provided, from which an excellent view can be obtained owing to the curvature of the glass sides for the pointed end.
The main portion of the car is of the open saloon type with transverse seats and centre aisle.
The two telescopic columns which pass through the car to connect the trucks with the guide wheels are handsomely cased in, the principal panels containing mirrors.
The manner in which these columns have been treated renders them an ornate and striking feature of the car.
Beyond the private compartment and the lounge at either end is a driver's cabin, from each of which the car can be controlled.
The car runs on two two-wheeler trucks, each of the four wheels being motor driven. The diameter of the driven wheels is 36 ins, with a flange depth of 2 in.
The two guide wheels have each a rolling diameter of 11 ins with a flange depth of 2 in. Safety clips are provided on each side of each guide wheel that it is impossible for the guide rail unless the clips are first taken adrift. Normally the clips will not come into contact with the rail.
Ball bearings of a new type which provide for combined thrust and journal load are used both for the guide wheels and the under wheels, the latter being a considerably larger pattern.