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.

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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.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Well I didn't get much done over the holidays, the garage as been freezing, and I was going to make my front grille frame from one solid piece of aluminum and adhere the expanded metal to the back of it. Sadly, after I measured the HO scale Athearn S-12, the piece of aluminum I need for the grille scales out 1/4" wider than what I have:(
So it will be back to the remnant rack at the metal vendor to see if I can find a little bit bigger piece.
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I made a little progress over the last weekend, and got the "step boxes" made that go on the side of the body forward of the cab. I still need to make the little steps that bolt on their forward ends from some angle though.
In my truck sides thread, the first run of truck parts arrived from the laser cutter, which will be used for my riding car. I've decided the riding car will be a 34' 7-rib great northern hopper car, which I drew up in AutoCAD yesterday during lunch. I wanted to keep things short in length, tall enough to have some sides to sit down in, but not too tall such that it was hard to get into. After finding some dimensions online, it seems like the 34' hopper is the logical choice. I'll have to leave the forward part of the angled bulkhead out, for my feet to go and the cables/wiring/air to come through for the locomotive controls.
We've had some terrible weather as of late, freezing rain, snow, ice, so I haven't got my lake boat moved out of the garage yet. Plan is to get my 20' of track on some framing at a good working level, get out the MIG welder and start the framework for the locomotive and riding car. A couple days ago the price dropped on the UCF-205-16 flanged bearings I'm using from Amazon, 10 pcs for $49.99 with free shipping with Prime, so I grabbed them. Now I have the locomotive plus riding car covered and two extra's.
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

S12body.jpg
S12steps.jpg
S12stepscrews.jpg
Here is the step boxes. These aren't that big but sure took along time to make. As these form an inside corner, there will be no access once they are attached to the body so I had to file all the rivets flush and get all the edges broken beforehand. I also drilled and tapped a couple 4-40 holes, so I can attach the step/tread that bolts onto the front of these.

And here is a picture of the right hand one attached. She's starting to look like a train instead of a box! :D
rkcarguy
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

S12step.jpg
I got the steps made and installed, these were from a chunk of remnant aluminum ladder rung plucked from the scrap bin. Closest thing to grating I'm going to get.
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I got the grille frame made finally, I used my 8" calipers as scribes and after shearing the outer perimeter to size, I used the cordless drill with a step bit and the body saw to rough cut the openings, then used the dremel to rough things in closer and finally filed for several hours to the scribe line by hand!
Running the caliper down the width of the finished frame, I ended up holding .005" tolerance!
Originally I was going to bed the tiny aluminum expanded metal mesh in JB weld and permanently attach it to the back of the grille frame, then bolt that to the front of the body. The mesh is so fragile though as it's a 5/16x3/16 opening .035" thick aluminum expanded metal, I'm going to bolt and rivet the frame to the body and then attach the mesh from the inside with washers and nuts on the protruding bolt ends so it's replaceable.
Pic is grinding, will upload when it does.

Work is purchasing a hi-def plasma table with an etching attachment that is about a month out, so I see steel wheel blanks and potentially truck sides in my future:)
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Picture
S12grille.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 »

Nice creative job there. On inside cuts like window frames, I blast a hole with a step drill and then use a home built saw table with a jig saw pointing up. I buy the jig saws for cheap at a local pawn, and with a bit of practice can control the blade wander at medium speeds to cut a fair line. Some times a pice of angle will serve as a guide to rub the blade and stay on the cut. A few swipes with a file and a paint stick with sandpaper trims the cut areas up pretty quick. My band saw cant do inside openings cause of the blade loop, but is the first tool for the cutoff and shaping.
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
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Good idea thank you! I have a pair of grizzly tools jigsaws I bought years ago when they had their $19.99 sale, I could certainly mount one under a table for things like this.
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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 »

You can do what you want of course, but I would look for a router table to adapt the jig saw to. A couple of wing nuts and you can use the router for many shaping jobs. I have a ten inch fine tooth blade for my table saw, that I use for cutting aluminum plate. I chew out chunks of one inch for axle boxes, if you dont mind dodging the hot slivers. A few drops of candle wax on the cut line provides some blade lube, and since it is a rough cut, I sharpen the teeth by eye on the bench grinder to keep from rubbing. (easy does it) but get er' done.

My first undertable jig saw was built of 2x4 with a counter top cutout for a slick sliding surface. It fell pray to space needs, and I made a more universal mount for the jig/router combo with guide fence abilities. Dont count on the fence too much for the jig blade as it will lean in the wind, and keep speeds low to prevent heating. Blades are cheep, my time is precious.
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
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I have a router table, I didn't think the jigsaw would fit into the bottom of it without modification though?
The router is setup for hand use for my tie jig and I don't plan on inserting it back in the table for some time.
Yes I occasionally brave the hornet like aluminum projectiles to cut something on the table saw, if there is no other way.....and I often try to find any other way haha!
It's super cold up here right now and I think the garage is barely above freezing, so I'm staying inside this week. I'm kind of at a standstill anyway because I'm going to run a bunch of frame parts on the plasma table when it arrives and other shops are backed up 2-4 weeks so not much is going to get done in the short term. If It warms up a little I'll try to get the grill mounted and the mesh in behind it.
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I got my hole pattern laid out for the grill frame and the "hood lump", I have 40ea #4 holes to drill and tap!
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

S12nose.jpg
S12nose1.jpg
I put on a couple coats tonight and got busy drilling and tapping lots of #4-40 holes. Due to the metal only being .060" thick, I was able to get away with carefully power tapping with the cordless drill and it went much faster:)
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