SPERRY RAIL SERVICE painting and lettering in a distinctive yellow and silver paint scheme. Previously made as 1 number...RMT-5101 SPERRY #100 which is SOLD OUT. New production (2010) RMT-92510-2 will be new roadNUMBER SPERRY #101. The rail flaw detector car was invented by Dr. Elmer A. Sperry. Born October 12, 1860 in Cortland, NY, Dr. Sperry founded 8 companies and took out over 400 patents. In 1923, Dr. Sperry began work on developing a method of locating internal rail defects. In 1927, he contracted with the American Railway Association to build a rail test car. Although it had been completed almost ten months earlier, the SPERRY railcar was not accepted by the Rail Committee until October 2, 1928 following a test run on September 27, 1928 by Dr. Sperry and H. C. Drake, his research engineer. Soon testing began on the NY Central under the supervision of the ARA. So successful was the test with the modified 101 that construction on another railcar, SRS 102, was begun almost immediately. Dr. Sperry's original plan had been to build and sell the rail detector cars to the railways, as well as selling the testing service. However, the railways were reluctant to purchase the cars outright. To market the testing service, Sperry Rail Service Corporation was created. The first commercial testing was done in November 1928, on the Wabash Railway over a 130 mile section of track between Montpelier, Ohio and Clarke Junction, Indiana, with SRS 102. In addition to providing service to U.S. railroads, the Sperry rail cars also travelled to Canada, Mexico, and even overseas. Many Sperry cars were created by rebuilding existing railway cars, in particular, Doodlebugs. In most cases, the rebuilt cars bore little resemblance to the original. Now rail testing can continue on your model railroad with the RMT-91510-2 SPERRY #101! Powered unit only...no non-powered units. |