May I suggest a high tech solution for separation?
Perfect!!!
Devon Sinsley said:
Perfect!!!
Except they plan on motorizing the beast… it was a pretty pic, so I left it.
If it were at the end of a string of flats…
John, I may just do this, as there is no plan to motorize it. I have to rummage through the box-o-tracks to see if I have a spare turnout…
Devon Sinsley said:
Eric,
Two things:
1 love this project. It really is coming out nice.
2 I loved the near craftsman ship/neutralized comment. I thought there was something very wrong with my build because I hadn’t hurt myself yet. Made up for lost time last night and sliced both index fingers. The project now has blood on it so we are good.
Devon, so far, I have avoided blood…
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
@Ric: Our pleasure!
I was going to make the mast and rigging, but I am under quarantine as the 'flu passes. Kid-zilla and I thus turned-to on the train bit of this:
To be honest, I am not sure what he is doing, but he is quite engaged!
I scavenged some screws to reassemble the Big Hauler chassis and puttered around with where I wanted the drivers. Note I did not return all 6 drive wheels. Two are still attached to a collection of nylon discs formerly known as gears. I just didn’t want to deal with pulling all that apart, and, I sort of like the even more haphazard look of an improvised 4-4-0. The net result was to leave the blind drivers in the center of the chassis, and flanged ones in the rear. It’ll do…
Today, Kid-zilla and I are adding decking to the chassis as part of “garden therapy.” Once I am out of CINCHOUSE imposed quarantine, I will get to Ben Franklin for a dowel to serve as the kia (mast). The ones on hand are too big, and I do not feel like sanding them down if I can avoid it.
On track to turn the project over to the crew for final fitting out!
Eric
A 4-4-0 with blind forward drivers is not uncommon. There is one in the B&O RR Museum, William Mason. Just remember to fix the pivot on the pilot so it can’t slide sideways.
Pete Thornton said:
Just remember to fix the pivot on the pilot so it can’t slide sideways.
I wasn’t at all sure why I didn’t like the blind driver on a 4-4-0. But it just didn’t seem like it would be right when I was thinking of the big hauler chassis. I have no idea how it was done prototypical but it just seemed off to me. Then your explanation about the pilot made sense. As the front swings on the sliding pivot point it would allow the front blind driver to come off the rail. Fixing it does seem like the answer. Thank you. I learned something.
@Pete. Thank you! I had always assumed the blind driver was a way for B’mann to get its Big Hauler to pull around 4’ radius curves. I had been given to understand otherwise, but I appreciate the documentable evidence! I shall tinker with the pivot later…
The upside of 'flu recovery, it seems, is a double update. We built the decking over the old chassis, and you can see the gang test-loading it at the Pu’u’om’ao service facility:
I am burning through my craft sticks, so the foredeck got a bit short changed! I glued the craft sticks to 1/4" x 1/4" strips of basswood from the craftstore. That, too, was lying around my junk corner. Then, after it had all dried, I glued the deck to the chassis with E6000. So far, so good…
The Triple O work crew posed before going off duty:
It looks…ridiculous…EXCELLENT! On to the rigging!
Oh, anyone else seeing a cab-forward in this?
Eric
This is such an over the top, weird, whimsical build; and I love it. What a unique idea on a wide open challenge.
I don’t know much about locomotives much less driver theory, but one thing I have learned (up til this 4 driver discussion) is that the first and last driver are flanged and all other drivers are blind. In order for the real deal to negotiate curves of any size this had to be other wise the flanges on middle drivers would cause bind since they have zero lateral movement. they had to be able to slip laterally over the rails even if just the tiniest bit. So Bachmann is prototypical. At least when it comes to this.
BTW: Blind drivers are always much wider on the tread then standard drivers. 315’s are almost twice as wide.
Center drivers do not have to be blind. I men they aren’t always blind. Some locomotives have hinges in the side rods so that the drivers can have some side to side movement.
David Maynard said:
Center drivers do not have to be blind. I men they aren’t always blind. Some locomotives have hinges in the side rods so that the drivers can have some side to side movement.
Thanks for the correction David. Interesting idea, I love mans ingenuity.
Gents,
I never knew when we undertook this tongue-in-cheek project how much I’d learn about real locomotives! Thanks for the discussion. To be honest, I had wanted to make a little coaling depot, but Oldest Daughter proposed this idea, we voted, and now here we are. I only hope I’ve not “hijacked” their project while recovering from the crud, and the crew will have fun detailing it out. The odd part is I keep finding myself worrying over details that belong on something absolutely whimsical to make the absurd seem more plausible. Maybe that is the appeal of anime?
I am waiting for photos to upload. Yep. It is a cab-forward!
Eric
John Caughey said:
May I suggest a high tech solution for separation?
That must be the track that the Polar Express takes across the frozen lake in the movie. ?
Cool separation idea, John. This is a most interesting build. I like it more every time it progresses.
As promised, photographic proof of “progress!”
Kid-zilla helped bore the holes for the spars that will form the frame of the “cab:”
He has been my train buddy while I’ve been recovering from the bug! We’ve been running the “train railroad” all day for three days! It made my annual bout with the crud much more bearable…At any rate, we then fitted shishkabob skewers into the holes and lashed scrap skewers to the sides and top to from safety rails and a canopy. I cut a t-shirt stained with red-brown concrete dye (a casualty of our landscaping) to make a simulated kapa (a fabric made by beating the snot out of a fibrous plant) tarp over the deck. I think this will serve as my sail material, too. The Triple O work gang was much appreciative of the amenity!
The lines are packaging twine. I unravel it a bit to make it thinner.
With quarantine lifted, I can get the right sized dowel for the kia (mast), paepae (boom), and ope’a (spar; this thing is sort of a gaff rig). The human crew is on notice that detailing out the wa’a (canoe) is their job. Hopefully, I’ll see a few things start to materialize on their own, but leadership is best by example!
P.S. I swapped out the fake knuckle coupler for a loop. It is way too high to engage another vehicle’s hook, but it will be a lot easier to lash a hawser to if when we parade this thing along the rails for real!
Love this build