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Paul Norton
1st Class Member
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Foreman
Posts:320
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 | | 08/18/2008 8:14 AM |
| Each Saturday morning our club members transport 100 or more cars to and from their storage sheds using car carrying trays. These are old bread trays, but the same thing could be made to size using a 1 x 4 pine frame, 1/8” hardboard floor and a couple of cupboard handles.
We no longer use the pine boards at the front and back or the foam lined rigid dividers. Adding the foam to hardboard was a messy process and the details on the cars picked and pulled at it. All that wood also added unnecessary weight to the trays.
We now cut removable cardboard dividers from appliance cartons. They are free, weight a lot less and make loading easier. Place a divider on the side of the tray, add a car, add a divider, add a car, etc.
The trays are stored in a simple rack system in metal sheds. The racks posts have L girders running front to back that hold the trays.
We only run radio control and battery power, so everyone takes their locomotives home for recharging. When locomotives were small and light transporting them was no problem. I used either their original packaging or bubble pack and a Rubbermaid plastic storage box. Unfortunately as locomotives got bigger and heavier, moving them about became awkward. One of the sunshades on my new GP-40 got folded down on a recent trip.
Fred and Doug got together and built boxes out of 3/4 inch plywood and number 14 screws (inside joke). It takes a small crane just to lift the box. The late Richard Mercer made a lighter transporter of aluminum and Plexiglass, but it was expensive to build.
The base is 3/4 inch lumber with shallow grooves in it for the wheel flanges. As G gauge track is exactly 3/4 inches tall, the locomotives can drive in and out of their transporters at the end of a stub spur. There is one of these spurs on each end of the IPP&W Railway. Note the end of rail devices on chains.
It is hard to see in the picture of Richard’s transporter, but there is a Plexiglass panel leaning against the aluminum panel on the right. It slips in and out of the end of the transporter to hold or release the locomotive. Richard usually uses Velcro straps to secure his locomotives in their transporters.
Other members have built transporters with a 3/4 inch lumber floor and thin plywood walls braced with small lumber at the corners. These are lighter than the Fred and Doug’s atomic blast proof boxes, but heavier than Richard’s. Dollar store sponges are a popular item for adding padded protection to the inside of the boxes.
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Paul Norton
Ottawa Valley GRS | |
| Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1313
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| | Enginear
Brakeman
Posts:49
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| | 08/31/2008 6:20 AM |
| | Eveyone wants to take care of their equipment. I did too. Raymond posted the importance of supporting the drivers, on his site, for the big articulids. If they aren't supported, the steam pipes will crack. I always lift my challenger by both sets of main drivers. Just wanted to make sure everyone knows, Joe | | | |
| Rayman4449
Gardner, KS
Foreman
Posts:483
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| | 08/31/2008 7:32 AM |
| On the Challenger I think it is definitely important although I do lift the rear end from the cab. The MTH Big Boys have the screw tip end of their steam delivery pipes made out of metal I think because of that problem, although I still make sure I support the front engine set from under the drivers. The rear I lift up from the cab. On the Mallet I thing it's ok to lift from under the front of the boiler. The USA Trains BB, I'm haven't looked that close but I support the front engine set from under the drivers too... although setting it down you risk loosing a finger or two if you're not careful.
Raymond | |
Want MTH DCS Protosound 2 in a non-MTH engine? I can help.
www.rayman4449.dynip.com
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