This forum is dedicated to Riding Scale Railroading with propulsion using other than steam (Hydraulics, diesel engines, gas engines, electric motors, hybrid etc.)
First a little backstory: I truly appreciate the highly detailed, accurate models that are often the subjects in this forum. I am simply in awe of the talent, skill and patience it takes to produce models of that caliber! However, my own take on the hobby of live steam rideable railroading might be described as Lionel on steroids - Operational? Certainly. Durable? Usually. Detailed? Well... not really. I'm just happy to have something that stays on the rails. So with that in mind, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of my recent cheap & dirty archbar truck project. My theory is that for a workhorse car, I just need a simple, durable truck - nothing fancy. When it's going down the tracks, most people simply won't notice just how crudely they are made! Perhaps something here might be of use to someone; maybe someone out there will share some tips, tricks and designs on building their own version of simple, durable work trucks.
Anyway, these trucks were made using some secondhand wheels that I got from the WF&P RR. They are 12" gauge, 2.5" scale for use on my railroad. They ride on 6205 ball bearings and small block Chevy valve springs. The sideframes are made from 1/4" x 1" hot roll steel, with DOM tube machined to hold the bearings. Steel rectangles cut from 16 ga. steel are used to mimic journal boxes. The first picture shows how crude they appear close up, but with a little black spray paint, they just disappear under the car in the second picture!
For better or worse, there they are! Just the thing for the workhorse rolling stock on my N&F RR. There are more details on this page of my website: http://nfrailroad.com/page26.html
FriscoJim wrote: The first picture shows how crude they appear close up, but with a little black spray paint, they just disappear under the car in the second picture!
Yup. And add to that the viewing distance.
I'm reminded of a bridge I built in HO for a club I was in. I knocked myself out on that. Made a trip of about 150 miles r.t. to measure the prototype. Then spent about two weeks of evenings plus weekends on it. Five hundred NBW castings, individually stained wood, detailed to the max. Might have been a contest model. Installed it on the layout and all that detail disappeared in an instant. And then the monofilament cables and scale posts for the walkway were soon broken off by clumsy club members. In the end, I could have slammed the bridge together in an evening and had the same result.
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.
I've had this goal of building four or five cars for my "railroad" and the major setback, to one living on a tight budget, is acquiring trucks for the cars.
An advantage to returning to school is obtaining cad software at a reasonable cost. It was a free download with a varifiable dot edu email. So far, I drew a basic journal that might be able to be manufactured inexpensivally. Hot roll (A36) bar stock is cheap. I'm figuring for a ten inch wheel base in 2.5" scale using 5.5" diameter wheel sets. I posted the below in another thread today but but at the risk of sounding redundant, I'll do it again...
Following a Modeltec article on building trucks cheaply (wood journals? really?), I'm going to make forms out of steel to bend my bar stock around next.
George J. Becker
Lancaster, CA (formerly of Shandon, CA)
Model railroading is fun but the work expands proportionately to the track gauge.
Looks like a good plan to me, George. Are you going to turn wheels from stock, use castings, or perhaps the pipe & plate fabricated wheels? I know where you're coming from... hobby dollars are scarce, and have to be spent carefully. Ditto on time; I'm the only person working on my railroad, so time saved building a set of trucks is time that can be applied to the dozens of other jobs around the N&F.
Honestly, I was afraid posting such an ugly duckling was pushing the limits of good taste on the board... and I hate to admit it, but I have even simpler examples of trucks polishing the rails around here. And yes, I even have a set of trucks that have wooden journal boxes! I'm not proud of it... I'm not going to post a close up... but they actually work quite well when used within their limitations. Just for fun, they are under one of the cars in the picture below - you guys can try to guess which one!
fresnojay wrote:WOW!!!! That is just awesome. So Greg you up for a trip to the scrap yard? I have a little over a week to get 2 sets ready for the next meet.
Jason
Jason: Uh, you're going to burn out and turn 16 wheels from plate in a week? Do you have all-night access to a good lathe? Can you function on three hours sleep?
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.
Greg: I figured it was pretty much an impossible mission, lol. All night access is a no but daytime access is possible. Functioning on 3 hours sleep is doable, but not every day . I will be happy if I can get the chance over the next week to get a wheel turning lesson from you sir .
As for the thread topic, I too am one on a tight budget. But at this point I have 2 cars ready for trucks and 2 more that are not far off. The trucks are what is killing me at this point. These idea's and those given to me by Mr. Lewis in the last month or so are really getting me thinking. I am running 7 1/2" guage and these idea's in my guage would be much easier to do and cheaper to boot. I do have anytime access to all tools needed for what I have seen except a lathe, mill, and welder. But I do have daytime access by appointment to those items. So by all means please keep posting these awesome idea's and person tips and tricks.
Jason
P.S. My guess in under the boxcar. But only because they look like they might have the right shape for it.
Yes, in 1.5" scale it should be a little easier to build some (cheap & dirty) trucks. Wheels are an issue in both our scales; but the usual options - apart from store bought, machined wheels - would be turning from round stock, burning a blank out of a plate of the proper thickness and turning, turning from a casting or fabricating from plate & pipe and turning. It just depends on what scrap or cheap material you have available to you. The flatcar that these trucks are under originally had cast aluminum wheels that I poured way back in High School... not ideal, but it rolled along for quite a few years on them.
But once you have rolling wheelsets, the rest of the truck can be built a variety of ways. I don't have two sets of identical trucks on my railroad, since I pick up secondhand stuff or build with what I have on hand. At the cheapest end of the spectrum is the aforementioned archbar truck with wood journal boxes. A nice, seasoned oak machines almost like cast iron... and with generous lube, wears OK. The next step up would be to use the oak journal box, but press in a bronze bushing, or even use a ball bearing. Steel strap can make up the rest of the sideframe with it all being bolted together. Even springs are optional, a length of channel can simply be bolted to the top of the sideframes for a bolster, and I've seen oak used for bolsters, too. Again, I'm not claiming this is ideal, it is simply some economical ideas to get some sturdy trucks rolling down the track. If you do a good job machining the wheels and axles, you can always build a nice, prototypical, detailed truck later and swap the wheelsets into those. Whatever you build, just make sure they are stout, and I prefer to have a minimum of freeplay in the axles to help the truck track well in curves.
I hope that this type of stuff isn't too heretical for the forum, but maybe these types of techniques will help encourage participation in the hobby - perhaps if a person isn't able to build a locomotive, they could at least build a car to bring to the track! It could be upgraded as time, talent and money allows.
FriscoJim wrote:I hope that this type of stuff isn't too heretical for the forum, but maybe these types of techniques will help encourage participation in the hobby
That's precisely how I view your comments. Not all can own the required equipment to do the job *properly*. They should not be eliminated from the hobby--they should be encouraged to pursue their interest to satisfaction, within their means. You sharing your experiences should serve to help them in that quest.
The only time anyone should be concerned is if comments (from any source) can be dangerous.
Harold
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
If you can find the right material for tires I don't know why aluminum castings with shrunk on tires aren't an option. A press fit to the axle doesn't work very well with alumium, but Loctite and a resonable surface area between the axle and wheel should work.
As I've said a number of times, it depends on how badly you want something. A friend's project included making eight 8" drive wheels from 1" steel plate. He recently donated a pile of scap to me to add to my collection. In it was a partially completed wheel. He only got to the point of chain drilling the spokes and breaking out the excess material on this one, but you can see about 150 1/4" holes. He went on to finishish the complete set of eight. The best craftsmen aren't alway the ones with the prettiest stuff, sometimes they are the ones who made the most with the least.
Last edited by Dick_Morris on Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Well since ideas are being tossed out there. Here is a newbie question for fellow low budget souls. How about a piece of say 3/4" steel plate with a piece of maybe 1/4" steel bolted to it to form the flange? Obviously shaped and rounded where needed. Is this too simplistic a view of things?
No it is not. You can buy washers for industrial bolts, that are huge. I have seen such washers, with a core of steel welded in the center with a ring of pipe welded to the outter limit. and this was bored for an axle and trimmed up on a lathe. Not the prettiest but it works.
Myself I struggle to cut up to 5 inch bar, and whittle it down. It is a boring process to make as many wheels as needed. but will train you to run a lathe fairly well with all the basic motions.
I have several sets of aluminum wheels. They are fast and easy to make, as castings. Ok the flanges chip, they wear rather fast compared to iron or steel, but they can be on the track in little time for no money. Under a car that doesnt have riders, they will serve quite well. Caboose, tank, boxcar. Ya know, its just evaiding buying wheel castings , that can be fairly salty when the numbers go up. A little North of $100 for 8. how many cars? 5-6. It adds up.
I cast my first wheels, with just a push of an axle from a car into damp beach sand, and filling the open impression with metal. Thas how I started. I am a long way from that now, but it worked and the wheels are still here.
There are many things you can do, that I would not now, but as a hobby, it is the way YOU want it to be. Clubs make rules so as not to endanger their installations, or each other, but mostly anything goes. Gas mechanical, Hydraulic, steam. They dont tell you no, unless it is a snooty club. Steam rules, and I have seen so many fine engines, that belong in a museum. I want a fun ride, and people to talk to.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
I have a little over a week to get 2 sets ready for the next meet. 
.
