1

GORDON DANIELS

Mike LaValley, left and Jim Hyslip of HyGround Engineering in Williamsburg stand beside their converted Toyota pickup truck, which is equipped with retractable guide wheels that allow the truck to ride on railroad tracks.

2

GORDON DANIELS

Mike LaValley shows the location of the hydrulic pumps behind the truck cab's seat. The pumps raise and lower the guide wheels at the front and back of the truck.

3

GORDON DANIELS

Mike LaValley, left and Jim Hyslip view the retractable guide wheels at the rear of the truck.

4

GORDON DANIELS

Mike LaValley, left and Jim Hyslip hold a ground penetrating radar unit that attaches to the front of the truck, where it is used to detect the condition of soil layers and water below the surface that can lead to a deterioration of the railroad track bed.

WILLIAMSBURG - James Hyslip's 2009 Toyota Tacoma is ready to tackle some unusual terrain, even for a sport utility vehicle. Hyslip, a railway and geotechnical engineer, can now drive his truck on train tracks just like a railcar.

Hyslip's truck, which is called a Hyrail vehicle because it can operate both on railways and highways, had its maiden voyage on the tracks on Monday at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.

"It was the first test," said Hyslip, a Williamsburg resident. "We stayed right in the museum yard - we really just wanted to see that it's safe and working right."

Hyslip will run a final test with his Hyrail vehicle today at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, and then it will be put to work. He leaves Sunday for a cross-country trek to run a series of tests with ground-penetrating radar on tracks in Ohio, Kentucky and Colorado.

Hyslip, 45, is the president of HyGround Engineering, a railway and geotechnical engineering and consulting company he started at his home on Petticoat Hill Road in 2005. He specializes in railroad substructure investigation, diagnosis and problem solutions, and his job often involves evaluating the land around and under a railway, and advising railroads how they can maintain good conditions or fix problems.

Hyslip said a ground-penetrating radar sends a pulse into the earth and reflects back differently depending on what material it hits.

"It's basically like an X-ray of the ground," he said. Hyslip said that knowing the terrain yards below the tracks allows railways to correct geotechnical issues before they become serious, such as improving drainage before water under the tracks causes a soft spot and eventually, unsafe rails.

Hyslip notes that the country's railroads can especially benefit from the new technology.

"A lot of American tracks run fast passenger trains during the day and then heavy freight at night, so the tracks take a heavy beating," Hyslip said. "The GPR lets you be proactive with maintenance, before the heavy use causes a problem."

It took Hyslip and his technical specialist, Michael LaValley of Chicopee, five days to install the retractable guide wheels and equipment that allow the truck to ride the rails. The guide wheel system costs about $15,000, and weighs over 600 pounds total.

It includes four small steel wheels that keep the vehicle on the tracks but do not propel it. They are attached to the truck through two large steel frames, one under the front of the vehicle and one in the back.

When the truck needs to drive on the rails, the steel wheels are lowered and locked into position by a hydraulic pump in the cab. The lowered wheels are level and parallel with the truck's tires; the back wheels sit directly behind the vehicle's rear tires and the front wheels in front of the front tires. When the wheels are retracted, the truck looks almost the same as any street vehicle; inside, the cab looks similar, too, as the hydraulic pump is hidden behind the back seat.

Hitting the rails

In his 23 years of railroad consulting, Hyslip has helped with railroad projects from South Africa to Scotland, though his work usually keeps him in this country. He often works in the Midwest and the Northeast corridor.

Hyslip said that Hyrail equipment is necessary in his line of work because he regularly needs to evaluate parts of the track that are accessible only by rail. Before he had his own Hyrail vehicle, Hyslip rode along with railroad employees in their similarly equipped vehicles, but he said it will be much more convenient to have his own Hyrail truck because he will not have to load and unload his equipment from borrowed vehicles.

To get onto the tracks, Hyslip said he just needs to find a place where a railroad crossing provides access to the tracks. There, he turns so the trucks' wheels are parallel to and directly over the rails. Then he can lower the guide wheels, lock the steering and hit the gas. The truck accelerates and brakes through its regular street wheels, which also rest on the rails.

Hyslip said that although he only went about 15 mph on the tracks on his test Monday, Hyrail vehicles can travel at speeds of 25 mph, and some special vehicles even faster.

"The ride is usually smoother than the road," he said. "You lock the wheel in place and just follow the rails. ... We usually only go less than 10 miles on the tracks, but they can go for hundreds of miles as long as there isn't any traffic."

To prevent collisions with trains, railway workers always need permission to operate on the tracks.

"It's a very controlled environment and we're very safety conscious, but accidents do happen," Hyslip said. "If you're out on mainline tracks you have to get permission from the dispatcher, and you might have to wait for a few trains to pass first. A foreman from the railway, called a pilot, rides with you, and he's in constant radio contact with the dispatcher."

Hyslip said his vehicle also has a rotating light on top to make it more visible to trains or cars, in compliance with the Federal Railroad Administration's regulations. He said that once a dispatcher has granted him a section of track to work on, another train will not be sent until he gives them the word that he is off the tracks.

He said he anticipates getting busier in the future because railroads are growing in popularity in the United States. Although Amtrak announced Monday its ridership dropped by more than 1 million passengers during the past year, it was still the second-highest ridership year in the railroad's history.

"They're calling it the 'rail renaissance,'" Hyslip said.

Rebecca Everett can be reached at reverett@gazettenet.com.