Large Scale Central

Transporting locos around the site

General Discussion
#41

Red said:

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

Red, those are really cool. I think I might try and build a couple of those for my live steamers.

#42

Dan Hall said:

Red said:

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

Red, those are really cool. I think I might try and build a couple of those for my live steamers.

I AGREE …but are there handles to carry them and if I missed them why are there no handles to carry them or perhaps they are stackable ? Only asking ??

#43

Cliff Jennings said:

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.

Sorry Cliff, I missed this. Your interpretation of the drawings are spot on. Even a wind up loco can get in there. The intent was that power was not to be an issue, and it has accomplished that task.

#44

“but are there handles to carry them”

Rooster;

If you look at Red’s first photo, you will see that the first case has what appears to be a rainbow-striped canvas cloth around it (Perhaps from Joseph’s technicolored dream coat?). That cloth has heavy blue bands sewn into it, and those bands have a loop on each end. A dowel (perhaps 1 inch diameter?) is passed through the loops. The dowel is the handle and the cloth is the carrier. Simple but elegant.

Regards, David Meashey

#45

David describes it perfectly.

Using cloth or canvas slings was an important decision for the following reasons:

  • The center of gravity of the box with a loco varies and having fixed handles would result in awkwardness when carrying, unless it is a very long handle.
  • this way I can position the canvas or my hand on the dowel at the center of gravity- Handles get in the way of stacking, this way I remove the slings and the boxes stack easily.

The canvas sling has Velcro to keep it tight around the box, the photos show how it all works.

The underside of the box is chamfered for the length of the 2 rail locating grooves, this makes it much easier to drive the locomotive onto the tilted box. The pieces of sponge fit snugly around the loco and hold it firmly & safely in place, even when the boxes bounce about in the rear of my pickup truck.

#46

Since all my live steamers are tank locomotives at present, the less elegant (but practical) carrier solution for me is to adapt tool boxes from Lowe’s. Gandalf (below) is presently my largest live steamer. A “three in one” tool case, mounted on its own two-wheeled dolly, carries lubricants, lighters, fuel, tools, and distilled water.

Have fun, David Meashey

#47

David Meashey said:

“but are there handles to carry them”

Rooster;

If you look at Red’s first photo, you will see that the first case has what appears to be a rainbow-striped canvas cloth around it (Perhaps from Joseph’s technicolored dream coat?). That cloth has heavy blue bands sewn into it, and those bands have a loop on each end. A dowel (perhaps 1 inch diameter?) is passed through the loops. The dowel is the handle and the cloth is the carrier. Simple but elegant.

Regards, David Meashey

Yes,

I totally over looked that ! Balances it well IMO.

I just used rope for the one carrier I built (posted earlier) …this was a different carrier I built …heavy but still works. However you have to unload it by hand at the track. Not a loco carrier but a small train carrier.

Mind you I’m a ghetto builder and no expert!

#48

Finished up my 3rd (and last for now) DeadRail control/battery car, so I’m back to the carry case design.
This is fresh off the printer, an 11 hour over-nite job. It has a subtle compound “S” curve along the horizontal that eliminates an abrupt angle change at the top and bottom.

Still untested.

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#49

It seems to work quite well. My test track is only 8’ long, not enough room for loco + tender + ramp + full size carrier. So I made a 34" test carrier bed (all there was room for). Its enough to get the loco and front half of tender on it.

Next step is to make a real carrier bed, testing will have to be on the outside track. A lot of design work remains as I want to build in a bottom panel under the drivers that removes allowing the carrier to be set directly on top of a set of test rollers.

#50

This was chucks design

The thing under the front is the end piece that holds the engine in the carrier…I place it up front and under helping to raise the carrier so it will sit somewhat on the rails…

#51

Then we have the just place it in and go.

The wooden dowel is covered with pipe insulation…

#52

I didn’t notice it when I did my first ramp test (3 posts above), but the bottom of the front end scrapes the top of the ramp.

This is because the first set of drivers is still at track level when the nose begins to hit the ramp. From this point forward the nose scrapes the ramp. The 1st model with the compound curve shaped ramp was even worse - this pic is with a straight ramp:

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This pic was taken with the 3rd model. It looks like:

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The Bigboy will be even worse as the driving wheels are much further behind the nose. The only solution I can think of is to lengthen the ramp. This one is approx. 10". Next step is to lengthen it to 20" and retest.

#53

Yep, the problem with a ramp is the vertical curve - you end up needing a LONG ramp to make that connection. Maybe you can come up with a design where you can just set the carrier on the track, pop out the sides and it’s ON the track and ready to go?

#54

Bruce,

That last photo is using a flat ramp, 10" long. I increased the length to 20", had to split it in half as my print bed can only do 11". Printing 1st half now, its an 18 hour job!

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#55

Steve said:

Bruce,

That last photo is using a flat ramp, 10" long. I increased the length to 20", had to split it in half as my print bed can only do 11". Printing

1st half now, its an 18 hour job!

Yep, at this point you just HOPE that it works!

#56

The 3rd version is working quite well:

This is made as 2 10" sections. I got rid of the outside wings, they didn’t add any appreciable rigidity. Changed a few dimensions:

Turns out the BigBoy has a lot more clearance, the Daylight streamlining skirt is the cause of the trouble:

This is the point the old version scraped bottom, close, but no problem:

All aboard (so to speak):

#57

Nicely compiled. Looks like you hit the mark with that print.

#58

I decided my plan for a trap door on the carriers (to allow setting directly on a roller stand) added
too much complexity for value returned. So I built a carrier mock-up and proved to myself that it was
simple enough to place the loco end of the carrier on the end of a test roller stand, lift it gently, move
10-12" over and set it directly on the rollers:

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It has enough track/space to accommodate the BigBoy’s 8-8 drivers.

The 1st mock-up of the carrier itself:

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It’s 6’ long, holding the control/battery car as well. Not sure yet if its practical to carry around a carrier that long, but it would be very nice if I never had to connect/disconnect that as well!

#59

I would want at least two handles for something that long and potentially unbalanced (heavy engine on one end and not as heavy car/tender on the other). I would hate to have it tilt and have the train roll out the end.

#60

The carrier is fantastic but the ORGANIZED work area and the cabinet on wheels with the “Bite Me” sticker is over the top for me along with what appears to be more organized evil plans to the right of the “Bite Me” top secret box !!

Thank you and outstanding work with all your posts as I watch them !