Getting a lift on the F&CC

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Marty_Knox
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Location: Michigan, USA

Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

Since I started my home railroad, the Freeland & Copper Creek, I've been thinking about how to load and unload equipment.
The setup I liked best was what Don Sweger had on his railroad in Pennsylvania - it was basically an electric forklift.
Last year I bought a Crown pallet stacker. We made a rack for it last week. This evening I worked on the approach track. It needs some refinement but I think it will work. Here my Grandson, Noah, tries it out.
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Marty_Knox
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

I already had a pad next to my pole barn. The pallet stacker needs a hard surface to roll on. Here we are trying it out with my dump car.
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Marty_Knox
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

Here is the lift in the raised position.
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Marty_Knox
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

It is really a very basic machine. A 12-Volt motor turns a pump to raise the ram. You lower it by releasing the pressure.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Simple is good. Looks great.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
UPsteamfan
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by UPsteamfan »

Marty is that a pike lake and eastern plymouth. Very similar to the couple at the MLES track and the control looks the same
Marty_Knox
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

UPsteamfan wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:21 pm Marty is that a pike lake and eastern plymouth. Very similar to the couple at the MLES track and the control looks the same
Yes, it is! I got the kit from Tom Artzberger. My nephew put it together.
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kcameron
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by kcameron »

We did something similar at FLLS for the 1" track. However we added track to the forks so it was both a lift and transfer, about the width of a normal truck bed. However we found one issue with this center supported design. You must make sure you block the wheels at the far ends as there was enough twist between the forks to create enough grade for many pieces of rolling stock to roll. So ours is not as simple to use as we had hoped. Maybe your lift doesn't have as much play in it as ours does.

Overall, the best design I've seen was at Bill Hayes Michigan Central. It had enough lift range, it rolled for transfer so you didn't have to move the vehicle to unload left, right, or center, and being supported at both ends of the track, it stayed level as you rolled on or off. He added one more feature I've not seen elsewhere, a rotator track so you could load or unload making any special change for 'this end first' right before the lift. It was a simple track on a post which had a pivot in the middle. Made it much faster to get somebody in or out of the place.

Here is a picture of his rotator track.
IMG-20110518-00051.jpg
Here is a picture of Bill's lift/transfer track.
IMG-20110519-00054.jpg
-ken cameron
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Marty_Knox
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Re: Getting a lift on the F&CC

Post by Marty_Knox »

It's funny you mentioned Bill Hayes's lift. We were there and used it today. My Granddaughter said 'Papa, you should build something like this!'
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