Anyone ever seen or made a model of something like this - whatever it is?

as to what it is, i think it's a railbus, probably used for MOW. It appears to be a european style body-- as are the trucks---. I doubt that a model has ever been made of this prototype in any scale.

Did anyone produce any rail-bus with inflated tires still attached that you know of?  Everyone one I have seen in any scale was metal wheels only.  this is rather interesting, particularly if it had (not sure this one did) a way to retract the metal wheels so it could run on the road, too. 

Hi Lee. Brekina make an HO model of this Rail-Road-Bus. Here's a link to the details on their website. (In German)

Wow, Nicole.  That looks just like the one in Lee's picture.  Never heard of that manufacturer, Brekina, before but i know that there are a number of smaller producers over in Europe.

Paul Fischer

Brekina are fairly well known here in Europe, but mainly for their vehicles. They do have a presence in the USA too, and they are even in the Walthers catalogue You can order one of these for 3-rail AC Digital for only $289.99 (2014 HO catalogue. Page 687). 

A gentleman in my area made a proposal to reactivate some unused tracks with commuter buses with retractable railroad wheels. The bus would run on the streets at either end of its run, and use the inactive train tracks for the middle portion.

It was made on behalf of a bus manufacturer, I do not recall which one.

The proposal was turned down, the right of way is being turned into a rail trail.

Lee,

this type of vehicle was a development of the 1950ies. If you want to know more about that ,Google  with ´schi stra bus´(rail-road-bus)and you will get a lot of information (mostly in German)

Regards

Albrecht

http://www.info.schnellenkamp.com/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=12

 Quick translation: Master mold is in progress, failing the wheels. Will be available as kit and RTR, with or without motor, light or sound.

 Schnellenkamp has announced this model in 0-scale (1/45??) last year, I don't see anything recent posted about this model. In a couple of weeks maybe more news from Buseck.

Odd that there are only 2 road tires and not four....it is lettered for German State

Railways, and apparently is available in HO for two rail DC, and three rail AC (Maerklin).

Colorado Hirailer, there are 4 wheels with tyres. 2 at the front, and 2 at the back. each end also has a 4 wheel rail bogie. The photograph that Lee posted doesn't show the rear of the bus very well, so it does look as though there are only 2 road wheels at first glance.   The pictures of the Brekina model that I posted a link to earlier show the layout of the wheels in more detail.

You can see the shadow of the rear wheels in the original photo, but they're certainly clear in Nicole's post.  I love the European stuff as it's totally different from what we have here.

I've just found a short video clip of one of these in action. 

And here is a link to some further information. (Translated from the original German text.)

I found another clip too. This one shows the rail bogies being put into place. The hydraulic lifting device is pretty cool. 

Ugly; but definitely different.

Great information Nicole, certainly an unusual piece!

Thanks Nicole, that is great.