The Durango Railroad Historical Society is rebuilding a D&RG Gondola (i’m not getting to be much help) and today re-installed the truss rods. Believe it or not… We can not find any specs on how tight to torque the rods to…
Any one out there with some knowledge of torqueing truss rods. We joked about tightening to 1 pound less then the buckle strength of the sills and beams.
I don’t know, but my method is usually 1 turn past shear. Nice looking frame. Is that all new wood?
All new wood, except for a couple spacer blocks for the inner beams. All notches, tenons, groves, and joints hand cut to exactly match the original. End Sills Oak, and all other beams are Fir. The Timbers were cut by a small mill in Arboles Co. Very near the old abandoned D&RG right of way that this car would have traveled on in its working lifetime. At their site is where this erecting to this point has taken place. Now that it’s “trussed” it will be moved to a donated hanger space at the Durango airport for the winter and completion.
Quote:Dave, If the objective of the truss rods is to support the deck and keep it flat, then they would be adjusted 'as needed'. I would turn the car over and tighten them untl the deck is absolutely flat!
Believe it or not.. We can not find any specs on how tight to torque the rods to..
Cool! What scale is that?
Dave,
I have done narrow gauge car restoration for the Cumbes & Toltec Scenic Railroad for the last 14 years. My rule of thumb is to torque the truss rods to the point the body sills are straight. This needs to be accomplished with the structure setting on the trucks with the normal load on the sills. Think of the sills as a moment arm with the fulcrums located at the truck bolsters.
One thing to keep in mind for the future. As the lumber in the structure continues to season and dry out over the coming years, dimensionally the car shrinks in all axis. Everywhere there is a bolted joint will require retightening in the future, until the wood as seasoned.
Really nice looking body frame and quality of workmanship. You folks are doing a great job! Look forward to seeing future pics as the project progresses. There is a lot of satisfaction in working in 12 inches to the foot!
“SAFETY FIRST”
Jerry
Thanks Jerry… I’ll pass this along to George N. and the crew… Oh… BTW I failed to mention that all the wood is cut/planed from old wood removed from barns and Post N Beam structures, so it is well cured, and there shouldn’t be any twisting or warping as it ages, some of the beams are speculated to be 100 Yrs. or more old. Truly recycling. On a couple of beams there were non structural surface cracks, they were filled with epoxy compound and sanded to surface.
You’re welcome Dave. Glad to be of help and it’s great to hear that someone is preserving our wonderful railroad hertitage - especially narrow gauge.
How fortunate to have found a source of barn timbers. 100 year old lumber is certainly not going to warp or torque. Sealing/repairing cracks with epoxy is an accepted proven restoration practice. If this car is going to be in operational service, it’s a good idea to check bolt torque after the car has seen some service and loading. Don’t be surprised if some of the joints loosen as the body structure takes on a ‘natural set’. That is a common occurance.
Does anyone know the history of this gondola?
Jerry
Jerry, this is the D&RG Gondola #1400. Here is a link to the DRHS site.
http://www.drhs315.org/blog/projects/freight-cars/high-side-gon/
Look around, it’s also the site for the 315.
If I could figure out how to post a PDF file I have the latest edition of “The Smokebox” If someone could give me a little help on this I would really appreciate it.
Dave,
Post it the same way you post a pic. It should download to the local computer automatically.
Bob C.
Bob do I up-load to my photobucket site first and then link it from there?
Thanks for the link. Someone did a lot of research and good job putting together the website.
Dave,
I suppose it depends on how you do things. I have my own web availability, so I load the PDF file there and then copy the URL to the file into the post and all works from there. If you are using space here, or on a public site I am not sure of the details of how to make it go from the PDF location to the local. I would give the simple way a try, locate the file on the web server (where ever you store your pictures) and copy the URL into the post.
Bob C.
A great project ! When I got to visit the Chama Yard in the spring of 2010 I was delighted to see the restored freight cars. 
. . . I love working in 12" to the foot scale . . . 
Cabin . . ( 40 years ago )
http://www.drburkholter.com/cf8.html
Old west building . . ( 2 years ago )
http://www.drburkholter.com/cf13.html
I’m now in the process of rebuilding a derelict vacation cabin ( built in 1960 and long abandoned ) into a replica of an Old West Ranch House.
@Bob Photobucket won’t let me upload a PDF. If I were to up-grade to a Paid member, I could upload a .doc file, but when I converted to Word, the formatting went to hell.
I have another site that I will try today.
Dave - You have 5MB of free space here for any file you wish. Click on MyFiles under the reply box then use the upload button. Once uploaded, clicking on the file name will put the file path in the message editor.
A pdf won’t display like a photo, but most browsers can click on the link to open the file.
Thanks Jon… We’ll give this a try.
http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/dave2-8-0/_forumfiles/SmokeboxNo2012-Color.pdf
Good reading guys, It gives you an insight into an restoration club.
Dave,
Great newsletter! Worked great, and I saved it off to my HD.
Bob C.
Good read. Nice to get all the details of your gondola project and some of the other doings of the Society.