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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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Yesterday I also found some longer 3/4 bolts that will work for the pivot pins on my riding car. The bolt will go in from the bottom through the truck, then a nut is ran down the bolt until it bottoms out on the shoulder. Then a flat washer, then it goes through the frame, then a tension indicating washer, then another flat washer, and nut. The unthreaded shoulder of the bolt is a nice fit in the inside of the bronze spherical bushing so it can articulate yet not rattle. The bolt head will keep the truck attached to the frame.
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

The shop was able to nest in my bearing standoff plates for the trucks in the laser cutter today:
laser.jpg
laser2.jpg
laser3.jpg
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Test fitting a truck onto my riding car. I also wanted the coupler to self center, so I drilled a couple shallow pockets in each side of the shank, slipped some springs into them, and then carefully reinstalled the coupler.
truckfitup1.jpg
truckfitup2.jpg
truckfitup3.jpg
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

In the 3rd picture you can see the 4 brackets that will support the bearings on top of the bolster, the big bolt in the center goes through a spherical bushing in the bolster. This will allow this truck to articulate and tackle up to a 1" per 12" change in grade, independent of the springs(not installed yet).
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Bad news on the physical side of things. I got a metal sliver rammed into my finger tip that got infected, and it turned out that there was also a small benign tumor in the end of the finger. I had surgery on it Monday and my right hand is on "light duty" for the next couple weeks, so I'm not sure I'll be able to make any progress until it heals up.
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NP317
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by NP317 »

Sorry to hear that.
Best Wishes for a swift and satisfactory recovery!
~RN
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steamin10
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by steamin10 »

At least you can count to 5. Light duty will pass. Getting a temporary disability with a hand will make you take stock of how good you really are. I feel for you having been jammed up a few times. :oops:
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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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Ryan, indeed Yes. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Glenn
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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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Thanks guys, yes there was fishy smelling stuff coming out of it, and I knew it was time to go to the DR. If I had waited much longer, I may have been looking at only counting to 4-1/2 on that hand.
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

So I heard back from the engineer who just ran a free "napkin calculation" on my bridge. C12's vertical with C4 or 4" HSS cross-members is supposed to be good for a 5 ton live load at a minimum :D
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Well the finger has almost finished healing, it just has a little spot in the end of it about 3/32" round that needs to heal up. I think Tuesday I'm going to get back into building things.
I visited my dad's place today and found the spare cylinder head we rebuilt for the boats 4-cylinder red-block Volvo, and I found he saved all the old valves, springs, and retainers, so I have 8ea 105# springs about 1-1/4" in diameter and 1-1/2" long with retainers that I am going to use on my locomotive's trucks. I'd held off on having the truck sides laser cut because I wanted to assure the springs fit right, so now I can finish their CAD drawing and get them cut out.
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steamin10
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by steamin10 »

Hmmph! Take it slow and easy. It is real easy to chomp at the bit and make things worse than you started. A day or two of full healing will last the rest of your days. A good time for planning and daydreaming instead of risk. Go slow, there will be a better time.
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.
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