12" working railroad

Discuss park gauge trains and large scale miniature railways having track gauges from 8" to 24" gauge and designed at scales of 2" to the foot or greater - whether modeled for personal use, or purpose built for amusement park operation or private railroading.

Moderators: Glenn Brooks, Harold_V

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Topics may include: antique park gauge train restoration, preservation, and history; building new grand scale equipment from scratch; large scale miniature railway construction, maintenance, and safe operation; fallen flags; track, gauge, and equipment standards; grand scale vendor offerings; and, compiling an on-line motive power roster.
Glenn Brooks
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Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Glenn Brooks »

The Miller helmet I bought stoped working this spring. Discovered the battery is an old fashioned rechargeable AA . Big improvement over the older button type. It is hidden behind an unassuming battery cover. But once I found it, popped in another battery and now good for another year or so.
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Yeah mine uses the big sized button batteries. Walmart carries them so it's hasn't been a big issue for me. I got about 6 years out of my first batteries, it takes 2 of them.
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Just a little update, I sourced some bronze spherical plain bearings to use for the bolster pivots on the riding car. A scrap of 1-1/4" schedule 80 left me enough meat inside to bore it for a light press fit for the bearings housing.
Next up will be a clearance hole through the 1x2 tube bolsters, sleeve that with 1" pipe, then weld the spherical bearing sleeve onto the top of it.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I used a 1-3/8" roto-broach to drill these holes on our Bridgeport copy mill, then welded a piece of 1" pipe into the bolsters.
The sleeves I spun up on the lathe to house the spherical bearings.
The last thing I have left to do to these trucks is weld on some standoffs to the bolsters which will hold bearings that will take the actual load yet still allow the truck to articulate.
bolsterpivot1.jpg
bolsterpivot2.jpg
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I ended up getting some more scrap 2x4's that were used to support form wood, made another ~50 ties Wednesday night.
Other than that, the riding car trucks are pretty much done. I'm going to bolt on the bolster bearing tabs otherwise I'm concerned the weld heat on one side would warp the bolster tube. Waiting for a time slot to open up on the plasma table so I can get my wheel blanks cut.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I grabbed another freebie last week, a pressure washer with what was supposed to have a seized Honda GX270(8HP) on it. This thing looks like it had sat outside for years, was all green and full of varnished fuel, I wasn't hopeful of getting much out of it except the electric start parts.
This weekend I tore into it, and found that this pressure washer head had a separate 2:1 gearbox on it. The seal on the gearbox had gone bad, and there was no oil in it at all. The input shaft bearing was coming apart, and pieces of metal had jammed the gears. I removed the pump, sawed the housing away from around the shaft and the motor turns over ok. Motor oil looked surprisingly good so I left that alone. I sprayed a bunch of WD40 into the spark plug hole, connected a battery to the starter and turned it over a bunch as it had been sitting so long. Satisfied with that, I put the plug back in and reconnected everything, and then decided to see if the starter would turn the engine over with the plug in. Evidentially a motor will run off of WD40, because it came to life unexpectedly for few seconds with a huge smoke cloud until it consumed the oil. Sadly the electric start parts won' t fit the pull start GX390 I'm using in the S-12, but I'm a carb rebuild away from having another good engine, maybe to use in my "Hustler" build.
I also pulled the GX390 out and ran it this weekend. With the Seafoam now working it's magic in the fuel system, it started on the first pull and runs really nice now. I'm leaving it mounted to the old pressure washer frame, so I can run it once in awhile and keep it's juices flowing until it's ready to mount on the chassis.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Trucks are getting close to being done for the riding car. Need springs and wheels.
truck.jpg
trucks.jpg
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steamin10
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Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by steamin10 »

Now comes the boring job of making wheels, repeat, repeat, repeat. Oh boy! an axle! For me like pulling teeth. The first pair are fun, then not.

You mention making some ties out of scrap lumber. Bravo on your recycle attempt. But, it wont be worth a hang if you dont treat the raw wood with something. I dunk my wooed ties with copper napthanate deck preserver, and used motor oil. The deck preserver goes by several names, but it is the copper component that does the work at keeping things from growing on the wood. The motor oil sheds the water and gives bugs a bad time and lasts for years. I soak the raw stock for about 48 hours, under a weight and that seems to be enough. Once drained, they are pretty stable, and I use phillips head screws for rail attachment #8 x 3/4 inch. I used to get them surplus from trailer outfits by the pound. A simple gauge keeps things in line, but I went to notching the ties to set the west coast rail in guage so less fiddling was needed bent over.

With groovy track you should investigate a clamp like tool like offset pliers to press your rail into the tie. Long handles will eliminate the strain of getting the leverage to work for you.

Just thinkin' out loud.
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.
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Steamin, I'm already on top of the tie treatment. I've gathered a large collection of leftover oil based stains, and plan on mixing up a brew with a few other things and soaking them in it. I just want to do that part when I'm close to install so I can stack them outside to dry and it doesn't stink up the garage.
Wheels, yes I can't say I'm looking forward to them. So many to make. I have a circular burnout of 1" plate leftover from a large valve box we built years ago. I need to roto-blast it, and then the plasma table guy is going to program several of my "donuts" into it and I'll watch it burn them during my lunch. Once those are burned out, it's just a matter of turning them on the lathe.
I've purchased a .998" reamer, so my thought is to rough bore then finish ream the center hole, and rough the "tire" surface in one operation. Then I can shrink fit the wheels to the axles and then finish turn the wheel profile in a couple visits to the lathe so I'm not tearing down the setup over and over again.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

We had a remnant that I could sneak some wheel burnouts into today:)
6wheels.jpg
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steamin10
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Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by steamin10 »

OUTSTANDING! Your progress is leaving me in my dust. Kudos for the advance.

Run a sharp pencil on all your dimensions, and good luck at turning all the wheels. This is where the fun begins, (so they tell me).

I machine the wheels separate but, that is fielders choice. It is the journey as much as the goal that is important. Do what you feel confident to do. you can always make different moves as the need arises. That is the beauty of creating for yourself. When you are satisfied, you are happy, and done with that step. Feel good about the advance. I am living vicariously on your advances. My situation is currently far from being able to build things at the moment.

The comment about the copper is to make you aware that coloring is one thing, but copper kills a lot of rot and insect growth for long lasting preservation. Oils by themselves wont do it, as the are eaten in nature by enzyme like critters too small to see, and eventually disappear.
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.
Glenn Brooks
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Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Glenn Brooks »

I knew a few guys in the com fishing industry up in Alaska in the old days who swore by antifreeze as a wood pickling process. They painted plank ends and ribs in wooden boats with antifreeze as a preservative and claimed very long protection against dry rot spore. Lots of old timers also made up a bottom coat primer with equal parts diesel, thinner and linseed oil. Claimed it penetrated, protected the wood, and dried to a hard surface finish.

Big Dave is right about enzyenes in the soil eating petroleum products. We spread a lot of the stuff on beaches in Prince William Sound during the Exxon Valdez cleanup and saw dramatic improvement in oil reduction. The only problem with copper Naprhalene is it is very expensive in DYI hardware stores. If you could find, or order, 5 gal buckets for a wholesale price, you might be able to treat the ends of your ties for a reasonable cost. Maybe thin it a bit with diesel to promote absorbution into the end grain. Lots of ways to try to extend the life of the wood.
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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