Abstract
In the early Showa era, the Nippon Sharyo Seizo at Nagoya in Japan designed new smallish rail-cars. These rail-cars had light weight small bodies and were using imported low power gasoline engines, as well known as Ford type T made by the Ford Motor Co. in the USA. The characteristics of these kinds of rail-cars are as follows: 1) The weight of these rail-cars body was very light. Because, the steel-made main frame and body structure were made of parts with small section area and thin plates. 2) The imported low power gasoline engine was mounted in front of the operator's seat and the driving apparatus were mounted under the main frame of the rail-car. 3) Most of these rail-cars had two-axles and rear shaft driving method. A worm and worm gear system was mounted for the rear shaft drive. 4) The operation cost of these rail-cars was cheaper than steam locomotive train operation cost. This report introduced the outline of these rail-cars.
