Fiat 500 (draisina)

The Fiat 500 Motocarrello, listed as the Fiat 500 draisina, is a motorised railway trolley that Fiat built in small numbers in the 1960s for moving personnel along the line. It is a light two-axle vehicle with a driving cab at each end, derived from the Fiat 850T van and, in the earliest examples, from the Fiat 600T. It was driven by the 499.5 cubic centimetre two-cylinder Fiat engine that also powered the Fiat Nuova 500 Giardiniera and the 1960 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica, and from 1966 the Autobianchi 500 Giardiniera. Because the engine sat under the vehicle as in the Giardiniera and not in the van body, the radiator grille at the front was a dummy, and on some machines it was left off, leaving a square recess. Early trolleys had the trapezoidal grille of the 600T and later ones the square grille of the 850T. Although largely replaced by more modern draisines, some are still used as work vehicles in Italian depots and by enthusiasts who restore them. One, once painted dark grey with grilles on the windows and used as a cash-in-transit van in Sardinia, is now kept at the Volandia museum.