Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

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.
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JR May
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Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by JR May »

I recently picked up some 9” gauge trucks. I generally have 15” gauge, and then some smaller live steam gauges, but they seemed too nice to pass up. If nothing else, the side frames could be used as a 15” gauge truck.

But I do wonder who made them. The gear drive within each truck looks to be fairly well done, certainly heavy duty. They were under an SW-7 at one point so I tend to wonder where the rest of the locomotive ended up.

Look familiar to anyone?

J.R. May
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Harlock
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by Harlock »

Very interesting. Definitely not related to our 9" gauge Mesa Grande Western Railroad, the flange profile suggests some kind of one-off. As far as we know we're the only 9" in the USA at this point. Would be interesting to uncover another deceased operation.

Best,

-Mike
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Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
JR May
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by JR May »

Mike, thanks for commenting. I did look up your RR on facebook and found it to be quite impressive. Not sure what I plan to do with the trucks at this point. Maybe we need an east coast division of the 9” gauge community? I would like to see if I could locate the original locomotive that sat on these trucks, but then have had thoughts of building something on my own. I would like to keep things simple and not be a huge distraction from other projects here in the shop. Thanks again.
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Looking at those pictures, the flanges are huge! Perhaps it was for an amusement park ride of some sort?
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
STRR
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by STRR »

Many years ago, one of the hand pump car manufacturers used 9" gauge. I think it was Hodges but do not hold me to that as I am not sure. The gear drive on these trucks is different than anything I have ever seen. They sure give the impression they were powered by a vertical shaft engine of some kind.

Good Luck,
Terry
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

trucks don't look very flexible, which is probably why they had to have such huge flanges. I bought a 1/2" scale 2 1/2" gauge box car several years ago which was done the same way. the truck side frames and bolsters had all been soldered together so that there was no flexibility to them at all, and the flanges were about 2.5X the depth that you'd expect them to be. It looked like it had run some, so it apparently worked to an extent. I'd hate to see it going through a normal switch frog or guide rail! These trucks look like they were fabricated in a home shop, but used a cast side frame to make them look correct. Since there is almost nothing out there in 9" gauge that we know of, and judging by the looks of these, you may have what is left of some 'lone wolf' out there who was building something for their yard or estate. I know I've never seen anything like this at all. No telling how old they are, either. It is always interesting trying to figure out where some of this stuff comes from! Good luck to you.
rkcarguy
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by rkcarguy »

Those flanges are ginormous, I was wondering if they were that big intentionally or if it was ALOT of wear.
The drive design is not so bad, as a vertical shaft engine can be used and shares the pivot point with the bolster so nothing moves as the trucks pivot. My big concern would be that the heavier the load became on the train, wouldn't that translate back to the torque trying to spin those trucks? Maybe that is why the flanges are so big.
Nik3v
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by Nik3v »

I think this is the loco that Tom white had. I Believe Eddie tombs ended up with the body
Info and pics I remembered from Facebook

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Harlock
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Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by Harlock »

JR May wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2020 3:35 pm Mike, thanks for commenting. I did look up your RR on facebook and found it to be quite impressive. Not sure what I plan to do with the trucks at this point. Maybe we need an east coast division of the 9” gauge community? I would like to see if I could locate the original locomotive that sat on these trucks, but then have had thoughts of building something on my own. I would like to keep things simple and not be a huge distraction from other projects here in the shop. Thanks again.
I like to advocate for 9" gauge, 3" scale as a very good size for 3ft narrow gauge modeling. The stability and speed are much better than trying to do it in 7.5" with 1.5" scale IBLS wheel profiles. Also even divisor when scaling down from prototype. We have a D&RG 268 measured off of the Baldwin erection drawing and a Mogul freelanced from the same parts, and a very beefy gas-hydraulic SPNG X-1 "little giant" which was built a year after the real one was completed.

I also model 3" scale for 7.5"gauge (30" gauge prototype) for my personal train.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
JR May
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Location: NJ

Re: Mystery 9" Gauge Trucks

Post by JR May »

Mike, sent you a PM.
Thanks,
J.R.
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