BART Double Ended Maintenance Yard Burden Carrier Electric  Vehicles

The rails and maintenance area are narrow and the need was for a vehicle that could go forward and backward without turning a radius. In other words, you cannot turn the vehicle around to go in a different direction. We built two vehicles in one.

The front of the vehicle had a complete set of brakes, steering wheel, seat, and so did the back of the vehicle, facing the opposite direction. The driver could drive forward, stop and switch seats - by walking about ten feet and then sit on the other seat facing the opposite direction.

Both seats are Dead-Man Seats This is the Wiki explanation of a dead man seat: The seat is hinged at the front and rests on springs in the back. To operate the machinery, an operator needs to be in the seat which would cause a metal tab (contact?) mounted to the bottom of the seat to connect with one mounted on the frame below the seat and complete the dead-man/kill circuit, allowing the machine to operate. With no weight on the seat, the springs will lift it and break the circuit, causing the motor to shut off and brakes to engage.

This was a fun and challenging project and our vehicles gave BART decades of use. You might see an original Karrior Double Ended Vehicle if you know where to look.