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Hi guys,
Yesterday, I was outside doing some work in the yard. My neighbor who is always interested in the trains I've got came over and we started to chit chat.
His primary interest is the period when canals and railroads coexisted. He had family that worked canal boats and worked for the railroad and feels special connections to those industries. He had an idea to build an HO scale canal and railroad. Then he saw my new Bachamnn 4-4-0 and was starting to ask me questions like "Would it be possible to model 6 or 7 miles of railroad in large scale?". Obviously, the answer is yes.
Then he started talking about canals and canal boats. It would be possible to use radio controlled battery or live steam powered boats. Building locks would be challenging but not impossible. Plus, operating a canal could be a lot of fun. I drew up a concept for a canal, but maybe someone out there has already done this:
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At the top and bottom are ponds representing river towns. The canals are for upstream and downstream traffic, and the gray in the middle represents the rocks and shallow water preventing the boats from using the main channel. Since the era is really like 1850, the railroad portion of this is represented by the loop and bridge. The main focus will really be the canal and the operation of the locks anyway. I figured that the easiest way to make working locks would be to have a pump in the bottom pond feed the upper pond. Water flowing down the stream can be diverted in to the upper canal sections. Then, using real valves, the locks could be lowered or raised. The boats could be battery powered for operations, although 'polling' the boats could be done by the operators, too.
Anyone out there ever done a canal with working locks?
Mark
PS Anyone else a bad influence on their neighbors?
Yesterday, I was outside doing some work in the yard. My neighbor who is always interested in the trains I've got came over and we started to chit chat.
His primary interest is the period when canals and railroads coexisted. He had family that worked canal boats and worked for the railroad and feels special connections to those industries. He had an idea to build an HO scale canal and railroad. Then he saw my new Bachamnn 4-4-0 and was starting to ask me questions like "Would it be possible to model 6 or 7 miles of railroad in large scale?". Obviously, the answer is yes.
Then he started talking about canals and canal boats. It would be possible to use radio controlled battery or live steam powered boats. Building locks would be challenging but not impossible. Plus, operating a canal could be a lot of fun. I drew up a concept for a canal, but maybe someone out there has already done this:
At the top and bottom are ponds representing river towns. The canals are for upstream and downstream traffic, and the gray in the middle represents the rocks and shallow water preventing the boats from using the main channel. Since the era is really like 1850, the railroad portion of this is represented by the loop and bridge. The main focus will really be the canal and the operation of the locks anyway. I figured that the easiest way to make working locks would be to have a pump in the bottom pond feed the upper pond. Water flowing down the stream can be diverted in to the upper canal sections. Then, using real valves, the locks could be lowered or raised. The boats could be battery powered for operations, although 'polling' the boats could be done by the operators, too.
Anyone out there ever done a canal with working locks?
Mark
PS Anyone else a bad influence on their neighbors?
