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.
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

trucksassm.jpg
These truck frames are done! The garage is just above freezing, so no reason not to assemble nice clean painted parts on my bed instead. :D
Onto the wheelsets. Once I've got the frame welded up and the wheelsets in the truck frames, I'll take coupler height measurements and then make my bearing standoffs for the bolsters(like on my riding car trucks) so everything is at the correct height.

The locomotive wheelsets are going to be alot of lathe and mill work, I've got to bore and weld all the smaller sprockets to the hubs, key the axles, turn the wheels, and fit the brake "drums" to two of the wheel sets. Final assembly is going to have to happen on the track atop the workbench, as I'm already at nearly 50#'s a truck just for the frames alone. By the time I get wheelsets, brakes, hydraulic motors, pillow blocks, and everything else in there I wouldn't be surprised if these are ~150#'s each or more.
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Harold_V
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Harold_V »

Thanks for submitting the picture. According to administration, the bug has been successfully addressed, so you should be able to post your pictures now.

We appreciate the report of the problem you discovered. It's nearly impossible for us to find all the potential problems, so we rely on help from the readers.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

It seems like its working now, thanks Harold!
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

S12hood.jpg
Anyone know what this is, the fitting sticking up in the middle of the tapered portion of the headlight tube?
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NP317
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by NP317 »

Radiator filler cap? With a chain on it...
~RN
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

I can't seem to find anyone who knows what it is. I'm thinking I'll just install a short 1/8" NPT pipe nipple here and cap it so it looks like that +/-.
Radiator filler would make sense though, location is about right.

Once again I've got to thank SMS Rail Lines for the photos. I sent an inquiry requesting some and a couple days later one of their employees sent me a bunch of pictures of one of their S12's from angles that are nearly impossible to find online (from above).

http://smsrail.com/

Looks like someone is living their short line RR dream in full scale :D
rkcarguy
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

Thought I'd add this interesting picture of a Pennsy S-12 with a snow plow on it.
PennsyS12.jpg
I've been playing with my switch stand kit a bit, but otherwise there is not much going on with the build. The garage is freezing and we've got quite a bit of snow.
Next up is hopefully some lathe work turning wheels, and getting the coupler box parts cut and welded together for the locomotive. Because the locomotive frame is going to be quite heavy and 7'-8" long overall, I've got to get all the coupler box work done before the ends and frame all become one piece or it's going to be far to difficult for me to flip over.
Glenn Brooks
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Ryan, probably time to start looking for a 100 dollar 2 ton engine hoist... I use mine all the time, picking and flipping car frames and locos.
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 »

Glenn, I have one of those engine hoists, but it's not going to fit in the garage where I'm building this beast. It is not so much an inconvenience I'm citing, but just an order of operations for getting the frame built in a way that is the least bothersome for my lower back. I'm working on 18' of workbench which is the same height as my 1-tons bed, so when the trains are finally ready to go home I'm planning on running them right into the truck and then I will hoist them onto the track.
You are...or aren't...missing out on much here in Washington, were in full Blizzard mode right now. If my RR was in operation that plow would come in handy:)
Glenn Brooks
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Yep, know what you mean. I finished up welding my turntable deck last winter and seriously underestimated how much it weighed. Couldn’t budge it off the floor without a lift. Didn’t plan out as well as I could have. But the good ole engine hoist rolled to the rescue.

We had an interesting day on the RR on Saturday. Cold day in Oahu- 68* F, or so. The track gang supervisor came back into the shops at noon with a long face. Seems his volunteer track gang got out to Kaenea point to swap out some bad ties and said - Hey Brudda, it’s to cold to work out here. We can’t work in these temperatures. So they went home.

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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Location: Wa State

Re: 12" working railroad

Post by rkcarguy »

68* is my perfect working temperature haha!
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Harold_V
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Re: 12" working railroad

Post by Harold_V »

rkcarguy wrote: Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:44 pm were in full Blizzard mode right now.
Indeed we are! My wife went out to feed the birds this morning and thought she'd like to know how much snow we had. A yardstick stuck in the existing snow showed 18" one attempt, and 20" for the other.

For folks who live where snow is commonplace, I realize that's not a lot of snow, but one has to realize that we often go for an entire winter with nothing more than an inch or two. I can even recall one winter where we had none. We generally get plenty of moisture, but in the form of rain.

Imagine my joy when we left for our weekly shopping trip (using our all wheel drive one ton truck) and the snow slowly turned to rain. With some luck, we'll have snow-free ground in a few days. Sure felt good to see the temperature moderate. We had become spoiled this year, with very moderate temperatures until snow came. We even had a potted geranium on the back porch that was still in bloom. Not anymore! :cry:

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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