Suggestions on transporting 7.5" equipment

[Yak18pilot]

Good morning;
I'm in the process of deciding how to transport my 7.5" live steam locomotive and 4 car train so I can attend meets in my area. I'm partial to obtaining a dedicated van for this purpose (don't like hauling trailers). What I'd like to see is some examples of how others have modified cargo vans to hold their trains. I'm particularly interested in how much clearance is usually given for horizontal and vertical space between pieces of equipment. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[cbrew]

for a van step, i can see an issue with head room, but with a rack its doable.
while this is not a van setup, this is a rack I designed and built to haul my equipment on the pickup, with the main goal to allow me to pull the travel trailer.

[Yak18pilot]

cbrew; what is your spacing between cars on your rack? Like your system of tying down the couplers!

[cbrew]

i will have to walk out and measure to be sure, but 16 inches on the lower level, very tight to get three tracks between wheel wells and 18 inches on the top come to mind.
I have redundancy built into tying down the cars, I have J hooks that grab the safety chain points, this pulls down on the truck springs and controls rock and the T brackets capture the couplers and does not allow the car to move.
the locomotives are secured with brackets bolted to the locomotive and the rack,

[James Powell]

I don't think he's on here, but a VIME member had an incident ~10 years ago with a loco in the van. make sure it is well secured...

(Write up might be in the VIME newsletter, or in the Train Mountain one- incident happened near TM).

We had a underwear changing experience in the mid 1980's (perhaps 87/88), in a Pony with 2" roller, 2" traction, fan, 2 riding trailers & steaming gear. Dad was driving, and a toddler ran out onto Highway 7 somewhere between Broom & Lindsay. I don't think that dad EVER put that much brakes on that car as that day...make sure the load is secured...

[Bill Shields]

Whatever you put INSIDE a van must be anchored so that if you have a accident..as in front end...the stuff does not become flying guillotines.

It is tough to think of but a roll over or side slide can become deadly.

40 years ago I had a friend killed in a run off the road rollover...by an oscilloscope he had on the back seat of the sedan.

Hit him in the head and broke his neck. If he had it in the trunk he would have walked away..car was not that badly damaged.

[Yak18pilot]

Thanks for the comments about anchoring items in a van. I'm looking at possibly a Ford E250 van with the barricade between the front seats and cargo and would definitely anchor anything I transport

[Bill Shields]

Barracade needs to be very sturdy...not just an anti theft screen. Think NASCAR ROLL CAGE to understand.

Momentum of 1000# of loco moving at 40 mph has to be experienced to be understood.

I anchor stuff directly to the frame...not the sheet metal body...in a converted van such as you are describing.

[Yak18pilot]

Bill;
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure I can find a local weld shop to make some protection barrier.
I'd like to hear more suggestions as well as photos of any one's transportation vehicle.

[Andrew Pugh]

Question for cbrew, are your axle weights all below max with that arrangement? I would think a loco and cars with support structure would exceed the bed capacity…and then adding the tongue load of the trailer might push the axle weight close to max?

Curious questions, not trying to be critical.

-Andrew

[Greg_Lewis]

A friend of mine uses a dedicated van to transport his equipment and some of it is large. He's not on this board and I don't want to give out contact info without permission, but as soon as he responds to my email, I'll send you a private message.

[cbrew]

Question for cbrew, are your axle weights all below max with that arrangement? I would think a loco and cars with support structure would exceed the bed capacity…and then adding the tongue load of the trailer might push the axle weight close to max?

Curious questions, not trying to be critical.

-Andrew

Very valid question,

a lot of thought went into this setup, as you can see, the top of the bed is not supporting the full load,

Just some quick numbers for my truck,
Dodge 2500 with the Cummins has as the following ratings
front axle
rating of 4500 lbs, with a crib weight of ~2945 ish
rear axle
rating of 6500 lbs with a crib weight of ~2160 lbs
the load, each car is ~180 lbs. 6 * 180 = 1080lbs
the locomotives
diesel weighted on the scale at TM = 902 lbs
Steamer and tender on the scale was less then 800lbs.
So I will take the higher of the two.
Cars 1080, locomotive 902 for a total of ~ 1982
The rack is sub 400 lbs, my brother and I can load it by hand, first the lower rack, then upper rack.
I can pick up each section solo and move.
So if I just give it a weight of 500 lbs, that will cover hardware etc.
So now I am at 2482.
Let’s throw in another 500 for propane tanks and tools, yeah, a bit on the high side but we will error on the side of caution.
That is ~2982
The rated tongue rate on the trailer is 610 lbs, the trailer has a dry weight of 5900 lbs
So that is coming in ~3592 lbs so there is head room.
The tires have a rating of 3415lbs at 80psi.
A fun fact, the ole truck camper I used before buying the travel trailer weighted in over 3000 lbs with the cargo trailer weighting in about the same as the camper.
I do have air bags and I run about 20 psi in the bags, which just sets the truck onto the factory overload. this setup has a very smooth and stable ride.