Working Ballast Hoppers "working doors details"

[FLtenwheeler]

I am looking at building some working ballast hoppers. Is there any suggestions on how to make the working doors.

Thanks

Tim

[ccvstmr]

FLtenwheeler,
While I haven't done this myself, I would like to build several cars for my club in the following manner. I would the say the better way to build a ballast car is with SIDE dump chutes as opposed to CENTER dump chutes. There are several reasons for this; 1) you want to make is little physical effort when handling "tons" of ballast, 2) when you are distributing the ballast, you want to continue to move the train without trying to drive the cars over the rock/ballast you just spread on the rails casing derailments (ever try to rerail a loaded ballast car?) and 3) you want to support the ends of the ties...not the center of the ties.

All too often I'll see people tamping ballast between the rails. I don't think this is a good practice. This creates an unstable track base by creating a pivot point in the center of the track. If you do the majority of tamping at the ends of the ties or outside the track wheelbase, you'll support the track much better. At the same time, you can induce superelevation on the outside rail in your curves. Consider for a moment, a ballast tamper in the 12" to the foot world, the ballast is vibrated in the area under the rail and not the center of the tie. Hope this helps. Let us know what you end up doing. cb

[Rowland]

If you decide to use center doors, they will work well if you place a 2" x 2", or what ever will fit, behind the rear center drop door and in front of the rear truck so it is pushed along by the wheels. This will spread the ballast and keep it from accumulating in a pile that will derail the rear truck of the car. Regulate the speed of the car so that it spreads the ballast in the desired amount.

You may have to adjust the centering of the wood stock spreader once in awhile, but it works pretty well. Tamp the ballast evenly between the ties the full width of the track.

We used side door dumps for awhile and it was extra work to have to shovel the ballast from the outside of the rail to the center and then spread it evenly. It turned out to be a lot easier to just let the wood stock spread it like a rolling pin from the center of the rail to the outer edges.

[FLtenwheeler]

Right how we are using 5gal buckets in gons. I have put a 2x4 in front of one of the trucks and it works great. Has any got any experience with the hoppers from Cannonball?

Thanks

Tim

[willjordan]

Prototype railraods have been known to use a tie in front of the hopper truck to spread bassast, so a 2x2 is not so far off.

[catalpa]

The 2 x 2 sounds like a good idea. I haven't done it in scale, but in 12-inches-to-the-foot-scale, you have to somehow regulate how far open the hopper doors go. We generally used a chain come-along on either side, adjusting the opening to the profile of the berm, amount of existing ballast, etc. You just can't let the hopper doors hang open or you'll go through stone faster than you want to (or perhaps can't afford...). Just think of the fun you'll have if you come to a grade crossing and can't get the doors closed...

[hollahan]

The TARR bought two of the Cannonball hoppers ready to run, but in a fit of economy we opted to use non-Cannonball trucks we had on hand. The people assigned to fit-up this combination didn't understand the importance of maintaining the proper bolster height above top of rail and consequently, the spreader plate that hangs under the car to replace the crosstie is at an angle to the rail. If it digs in, such as at a joint, the spreader now lifts the car off the track. (Note: This is strictly because the off-brand trucks have raised the carbody. If Cannonball trucks were used, the plate would be in it's proper position.)

Overall, I think the Cannonball hoppers are well-built. Their sliding door works well and the spreader bar would probably work well if it were properly oriented to the rail. On the minus side, I feel the cubic capacity of the cars is a little small.

Frankly, I feel the 5-gallon bucket is the most flexible design. I love when the HO scale guys try to dump the rock as if they were spreading Woodland Scenics ballast on cork roadbed! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]

We would be happy to lend you our Cannonball hoppers for a test. One of them is on the rip track; it got its spreader bent up in a derailment so we swiped the trucks for something else.