Spring work on the big yard railroad

Well, tight now I just use the flatcar for hauling ballast gravel for the railroad. I want to build another car that's a bit bigger than the little one that I have now. This picture is from last year.

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torico (63) · 6 years ago

dat looks fun, but way a lotta work. i want to see the "train" cart nao.

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1 vote

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amberyooper (69) · 6 years ago

Yes, it does get to be a lot of work sometimes.
I'll have to take a decent picture of the flatcar for my next post about this project. I thought I had a picture of me on the car but I can't find it.

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serkagan (65) · 6 years ago

Excellent overview @amberyooper and your railway looks amazing, this is a very interesting structure!

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2 votes

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amberyooper (69) · 6 years ago

Thank you!

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builderofcastles (65) · 6 years ago

Soooo...
When are you getting the scale, working snow plow for your train?

and the gravel cars?

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3 votes

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amberyooper (69) · 6 years ago (edited)

Not much point in a snowplow, it's too cold to be outside when you might need that. LOL
The gravel cars...well I certainly could use one of those, just have to build one. The main problem with this size railroad is that everything is so expensive. A machined wheel for this size is at least 25 bucks each, and you need 2 per axle, so it adds up fast. If I was able to machine the wheels myself, it would cost a lot less.

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builderofcastles (65) · 6 years ago

$25 each?

I should start making wheels!

Wheels would be a fairly decent first project on a mini-lathe.

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4 votes

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amberyooper (69) · 6 years ago

Yes, it probably would be a good project on a mini lathe, as long as it can handle a large enough diameter piece to turn the wheels from. You can find the IBLS wheel shape standards on line. That's what most of the ride on railroad wheels are cut to.
Also, you can buy the rough wheel castings for a lot less if you can turn them yourself. Most of the wheels for 7-1/2 gauge track are around 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 half inches diameter.
There is also a smaller gauge of ride on railroad, it's 4-3/4 inches between the rails and represents 1/12th scale. The wheels are smaller for that. People ride on special cars with seats on them that are pulled behind scale size engines, some of which are live steam. Of course, live stean involves serious amounts of money, where a battery driven electric locomotive is a lot less expensive.

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builderofcastles (65) · 6 years ago

Do you like steel, aluminum or brass wheels?

Do they come pressed onto the axel?

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amberyooper (69) · 6 years ago

Generally, either iron or steel wheels are used with 7-1/2 inch gauge due to the weight that the cars can carry. Aluminum is ok for 4-3/4 inch gauge. I would imagine that brass would be ok also, but I don't know of any brass wheels in the large sizes, probably due to the cost.
You can buy wheel sets that are assembled, the wheels pressed onto an axle, or you can buy the machined parts, or you can buy the raw part, depending on how much work you want to do.
Most of the manufactured rail used for 4-3/4 inch gauge and 7-1/2 inch gauge railroads is made from hardened aluminum, but some people make their own rail using steel bar stock. 1 inch tall steel rail is available, but it's about twice as expensive as the aluminum rail and a lot heavier, so harder to deal with in 10 foot long sections. Then there's shipping costs for it...

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