Steve,
Don’t get hung up on the ramp - it may only be necessary if you take your locomotives to another site. An option on your own layout is to have a stub track (mine was off the turntable) with enough room to set the carrier down. The bottom of the carrier was the same height as the stub track so I could just drive the loco out onto the layout from the carrier.
In the picture below you can see my stub track on the left - there’s plenty of room to set down a carrier.
Edit to add a picture.
And if you do find you need a ramp, you could either get the LGB rerailer ramp, or make something similar - it doesn’t have to be permanently attached.
Bruce,
A stub track was my first thought way back, but ruled it out because there’s not enough space in the train room or shop, and outside it limits me to that one location.
I’m going do do an experiment with my 3d printer to make a stand-alone ramp. The carrier would become nothing more than a box with grooves for the wheels. It’s bottom would be designed to straddle the tracks to maintain alignment. You put the carrier down, open the door, and lay this ramp down on the tracks next to the carrier opening.
The ramp is in essence a portable stub track. Only need one for all the carriers, or possible print one for each site: Cheyenne, SF/LA, etc. It makes the carrier construction much simpler.
Bruce,
Our posts crossed, my last post was made before yours on the rerailer appeared. Yes, the LGB rerailer looks more or less like what I have in mind.
Steve said:
Bruce,
Our posts crossed, my last post was made before yours on the rerailer appeared.
Yes, the LGB rerailer looks more or less like what I have in mind.
FYI: your post shows a blank outline on my Firefox browser. I right-clicked and did “copy image link”
and got:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Ps0AAOSwC7hgpNTw/s-l500.jpg
which works in a new tab.
Glad you were able to figure it out. I have that ramp, but no picture of my own. It’s handy, but a 3D print would certainly be my choice for the price they want!
Here’s a picture of the ramp Dan uses on his carrier. It has grooves on both sides so it fits down over the track.
Mine are basically the same but not as long and are hinged to swing up and close to keep the loco inside.
Bruce & Ken,
Here is my ramp so far, as seen with the 3d slicer:
I’m using FreeCAD, which is a parametric modeler. This just means I can tweak a single dimension and the whole thing adjusts according (usually) So I’ll be able to make fine adjustments without a lot of bother.
The square sides straddle the track. The flange supports the wheels. The slots are for the wheel flanges. The top end will be level with the carrier floor. The carrier will have rabbits for the wheel flanges that match the slots on the ramp.
This is my carrier. It has rabbits in the underside to sit on the track and hold it in place. I cut the end down to a ramp but didn’t quite get it flat enough, just a little more would have been perfect.
Steve said:
Bruce & Ken,
Here is my ramp so far, as seen with the 3d slicer:
I’m using FreeCAD, which is a parametric modeler. This just means I can tweak a single dimension and the whole thing adjusts according (usually)
So I’ll be able to make fine adjustments without a lot of bother.
The square sides straddle the track. The flange supports the wheels. The slots are for the wheel flanges. The tip end will be level with the
carrier floor. The carrier will have rabbits for the wheel flanges that match the slots on the ramp.
That’s a lot prettier looking then the ones I make, but it’ll work!!
Bob Cope said:
Steve,
I made this one for a fellow club member to carry his Airsto Mallet https://gscalejunkie.com/52insidecarry.html
Really sweet drawings, Bob. SolidWorks?
So the rail-bars can pick up the rail power for the (rail-powered) loco to drive up? Really clever.
Yes, SolidWorks. I forget which version, been done for a couple years. Being able to do track powered locos was one of the design criteria, along with being stackable for storage. The original concept was for my K27. Never got to build mine, but the members works well. The mallet got it large enough that it is a bit on the heavy side.
The banding strap was inspired by it’s thin and springy nature, I figured it would do well with the small bit of cantilever.
Bob Cope said:
Yes, SolidWorks. I forget which version, been done for a couple years. Being able to do track powered locos was one of the design criteria, along with being stackable for storage. The original concept was for my K27. Never got to build mine, but the members works well. The mallet got it large enough that it is a bit on the heavy side.
The banding strap was inspired by it’s thin and springy nature, I figured it would do well with the small bit of cantilever.
If I’m understanding your design correctly, there’s no ramp at all, just a little bump as the wheels go over the thickness of the strap. And the carrier-box is laid right on the track, without any slope involved. And I reading that right?
I tried to create and insert an image of your section view via Imgur, but can’t make it work for some reason. Anyway, it’s your Sheet 3, section A-A, and it shows how the thin strap might lay right on the railhead.
Steve,
Not a loco carrier but a nice car carrier ghetto and on the cheap in my opinion if it matters. You got some cars to carry as well?
Link to base material is below but the rest is your,you’re imagination!
https://www.lowes.com/pd/EverTrue-5-82-in-x-10-ft-Unfinished-PVC-Garage-Door-Jamb/1000444167
While researching different carrier designs I found these test stand rollers
Printed 4 of them and whipped together a stand:
Steve said:
While researching different carrier designs I found these test stand rollers
Printed 4 of them and whipped together a stand:
Well, I’m sure confused. How will THAT help you transport a loco?
Bruce Chandler said:
Steve said:
While researching different carrier designs I found these test stand rollers
Printed 4 of them and whipped together a stand:
Well, I’m sure confused. How will THAT help you transport a loco?
They’ll carry the weight of the drivers?
Bob Bruce,
It wont … BUT - I’m thinking thru a carrier that uses aspects of the different carrier designs we have discussed.
What about a carrier with a short bottom section that popped off, allowing the carrier to be placed directly on top of a stand in the shop with the above wheel rollers? Now you have a solution where the loco/tender is stored/carried in this carrier, and can be used in the shop as part of a roller test stand. Now it can be carried from shop to shelf to outdoor track without ever messing with the drawbar or stressing the motorblock mounts.
I think you have a foam topped support bar in-between (and parallel to) the track along this short section just short of touching the motor block assembly. When you remove the bottom section the weight of the motor block is supported as it descends. When you place the carrier on this shop stand the block lifts back up as the rollers engage the drive wheels.
I’m still thinking thru the details.
FYI: the stand in the above picture is in use with my DCC++EX project. Now I don’t have to haul the loco/tender out to the train room to run tests of the system. So this solves 1/3 of my shop/train-room/outdoors dilemma.
Steve said:
Bob,
It wont … BUT - I’m thinking thru a carrier that uses aspects of the different carrier designs we have discussed.
What about a carrier with a short bottom section that popped off, allowing the carrier to be placed directly on top
of a stand in the shop with the above wheel rollers?
Now you have a solution where the loco/tender is stored/carried in this carrier, and can be used in the shop
as part of a roller test stand. Now it can be carried from shop to shelf to outdoor track without ever messing
with the drawbar or stressing the motorblock mounts.
I think you have a foam topped support bar in-between (and parallel to) the track along this short section
just short of touching the motor block assembly. When you remove the bottom section the weight of the
motor block is supported as it descends.
When you place the carrier on this shop stand the block lifts back up as the rollers engage the drive wheels.
I’m still thinking thru the details.
FYI: the stand in the above picture is in use with my DCC++EX project. Now I don’t have to haul the loco/tender
out to the train room to run tests of the system. So this solves 1/3 of my shop/train-room/outdoors dilemma.
Very cool. The best part of this hobby is that you only have to answer to your self.
I had a similar problem carting heavy locomotives from the house to the garden and back. I have made a few boxes for my Bachmann Annies which work very well. Different locos. have different sized boxes. The base has 2 strips of 2mm wood which act as rails and there are 2 slots which fit over the rail. The locomotives are battery powered and drive into and off the boxes perfectly, I just tilt the boxes up slightly and the slots engage the rails nicely. I am just finishing off 2 more which I have painted in different colors so that I can get the loco I want easily
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I should have mentioned… I use 6mm marine plywood. My dimensions work with 6mm ply. It has ample strength for the application.
