steeple cab project
#1
Hello everyone .
I got "bitten" by trolleys about a year ago .....specifically the industrial variety ....so much so that my next layout will be a point to point dockside setting with a steeple cab as the featured loco

[Image: wood-steeplecab.jpg]

I've not started anything yet but will do in the next couple of months ....other things on my plate as it were . A friend who designs and builds models has a couple of laser machines for cutting his thin plywood used in his structures ( Imagine That Laser Art ) and I'm going to try my hand at cutting the pieces for the steeple cab and building it . I'm hoping to NOT end up with a pile of smoldering kindling Goldth , but I HAVE to build that loco ...just something about it .

Terry
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#2
TJ that loco is one I have always thought would be perfect for a small switching layout. That said I don't have any interest in dealing with the overhead wire and so I never persuded the idea. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#3
I completely agree on your thoughts with the overhead wire and I said as much to a friend who decided to build them for a small display layout .....Joe insisted that the overheads were no big deal ....sort of " if he could make them anyone could " .......I really don't know if the overhead wire actually works or is just for show and the electricity is provided by the rails like normal . I'll have to ask Joe .
Given that I'm going with a dockside layout I wondered if the overhead wires would be located so close to water in real life and I was told that yes , that would be the case . I'm modeling a 1920's era ......probably going to have a couple of little diesels ( boxcab or two since I built those little Grandt Line units ) and maybe a 0-4-0 steamer . What the heck , I can just make it up if I feel like it . The layout will be about 25' x 2 1/2 ' in size but will have areas jutting out so as to break the monotony .


[Image: toronto-flatmotor.jpg]

[Image: boxcab1.jpg]

...the flatmotor is another model I'd like to build ( top pic )...also not my Grandt Line boxcab , saw it on line , guy did a nice job I think .


Terry
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#4
Yeah those are neat as well and the boxcab doesn't need overhead wires ! Cheers
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#5
teejay Wrote:Given that I'm going with a dockside layout I wondered if the overhead wires would be located so close to water in real life and I was told that yes , that would be the case . I'm modeling a 1920's era ......probably going to have a couple of little diesels, and maybe an 0-4-0 steamer . Terry

Just a thought........Overhead wire, on a dock....OK, and how exactly does a crane lift a load off of.., or put a load on, a flat car, "under the wire" ??? I can see a cargo net full of "goods" swinging up out of the hold of a ship, and across the dock, and ZZZzzzzzaaaaappppp! Eek
...How? it doesn't, because the "dockside" locomotive is also equipped with a "third rail shoe", and the pans, or the poles, are lowered, and locked down, when on the dock. Yes, there is now the danger of the third rail, too close to walking, and working people.
I suppose the wire could end at the head end of the pier, and freight cars on the pier, could be moved, using idler flats.
Or,.... the steeple cab could operate ashore, and that 0-4-0, could handle the pier work.
Just thoughts....
That Steeple cab, looks to be a challenging, and interesting project. You will need to know the width of the laser "burn", for each thickness of material used, and compensate for that in your design. ( then again, you may already be aware of that )
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#6
I was thinking idler cars , especially since I'll be unloading a train ferry that I have partially built Voco Marine ( became Bearco I think ) ferry that needs a TON of kitbashing . But you bring up some good points on thinking the whole process through .

Thanks , Terry
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#7
One advantage of the functioning overhead (on the layout) is that it eliminates reverse loop wiring, since reverse loops don't actually change the polarity... Wink

One former member had a great traction layout that he had built - worked amazingly well, and was very simple to wire.


Andrew
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#8
I hadn't even thought of the reverse loop deal since I was going to have the fairly narrow confines of a long and narrow layout ( HO ) but we HAVE been known to change our minds , haven't we ? 357

T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#9
One justification for an electric loco: an industry that won't tolerate Diesel fumes.
The Seagram distillery in Waterloo declined to have Diesels in its plant for years. But they must have relented because they were being switched by Diesel in the mid-60s (Grand River Railway/CPR). The distillery is no longer there.
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#10
Terry,

any updates of your steeple cab project ?
greetings from northern Germany
Joerg

Indiana City, my layout
http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic...=46&t=5379
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#11
No , I just got back at the layout . We were going to sell the house so I stopped work on it ...not knowing what layed ahead . I'm back at the layout now ( house didn't sell ) , but don't have a definite plan for the steeple cab right now .

T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#12
teejay Wrote:I completely agree on your thoughts with the overhead wire and I said as much to a friend who decided to build them for a small display layout .....Joe insisted that the overheads were no big deal ....sort of " if he could make them anyone could " .......I really don't know if the overhead wire actually works or is just for show and the electricity is provided by the rails like normal . I'll have to ask Joe .
Given that I'm going with a dockside layout I wondered if the overhead wires would be located so close to water in real life and I was told that yes , that would be the case . I'm modeling a 1920's era ......probably going to have a couple of little diesels ( boxcab or two since I built those little Grandt Line units ) and maybe a 0-4-0 steamer . What the heck , I can just make it up if I feel like it . The layout will be about 25' x 2 1/2 ' in size but will have areas jutting out so as to break the monotony .

Overhead wire for traction and trolley layouts is not very difficult. A few sturdy poles, some phosphur bronze wire, and some fittings are all that is necessary.

"traction" overhead (as opposed to the PRR stuff i'm building) pretty much consists of a pair of poles with a wire cross span stretched across. Above each track in the cross span is a little fitting that supports the "trolley" wire. Turnouts have trolley "frogs", where the trolley pole wheel can be guided one way or another, but these are little more than "plates" with little guides on the side, to which the trolley wire is hooked and soldered to.

Unless you plan to run something BIG (GG1, E33, etc.) you don't need to build an especially sturdy system. A steeple cab won't likely place enough pressure on the wire to justify "heavier" construction. Even if you decide to use pantographs instead of trolley poles (as some traction railroads did), I think you can get away without having to make complex turnout pull offs.

teejay Wrote:I was thinking idler cars , especially since I'll be unloading a train ferry that I have partially built Voco Marine ( became Bearco I think ) ferry that needs a TON of kitbashing . But you bring up some good points on thinking the whole process through .

Thanks , Terry

Actually thats exactly what they did. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure i saw photos of the New Haven loading a car float with EF-4s (more commonly known as E33s) from under the wire, and those were big motors! You should be able to get away with it.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.  
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#13
Reading back on my old plans ...25"x2.5' , unfortunately that has changed somewhat as my first of two sections/halves is 10.5' x 33 inches with the second one planning to be a similar size overall but different configuration . Looks like the trolley idea is out unless something drastic happens .....then again I have been known to change my mind . Nope

T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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