Equipment Car 1015 - Official Work Thread

[Mike Fox]

I started work this weekend on the conversion of this trailer from road to rail. Boards were removed and burned, leaving the center board for support when I cut the cross members.

[Ira Schreiber]

Where will you get the rail running gear? Will it have a suspension?

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Mag-lev

[Mike Fox]

Road axles are coming off. 2 new frame pieces will be cut into the cross members, approximately 30 inches apart. Springs will be relocated to the new frame, one set in front and one set in the rear, with a single axle under the front of the deck, and a single axle at the rear of the deck, where the rear axle is now.

We are reguaging a set of 14" wheels on 36" axles to put under the car. The car will also be narrowed up about a foot and a half, by trimming off everything outside of the original frame, to get the width to about 6' 6".

Also am planning some feet in the future, if this spring arrangement works out. The feet will hang down under the car so if the excavator is being used to the side the car will not tip, and be designed in such a way they can be folded up under the car to be out the way when not needed.

Hoping to have it done quickly and move onto other projects..

[Benjamin Campbell]

Great project Mike! What is the history of your wheel sets and what diameter axles to they have?

As a more efficient alternative to using the tip cars to fill the large washouts/slides we must fill I had thought to myself that it might be possible to mount a dump truck body (possibly a cool antiquish one) to a frame on some sort of wheel sets. Given the narrow wheel base, it concerned me that it might become unstable as the body and load rose. To counter this I thought that outriggers similar to those used on railroad steam cranes could be deployed. It appears that they used steel outriggers which telescope in and out of box tubes affixed below the crane's frame. A little time consuming to deploy at each dump but  probably faster than using the tip cars due to the larger capacity. Just a thought.

Keep up the good work.

[Mike Fox]

The tip cars may be small, but would work in a pinch. The 3 we picked up this summer need some TLC to get rolling again, but are probably worth the effort. A car with a dump body on it would be great, but then we would need more axles.

As far as the history behind the wheels I am unsure.

[Ira Schreiber]

Jason, you have been around me too long............

[Wayne Laepple]

Well gee whiz. If we got the tip car fleet going, we could re-enact a cranberry bog sand train with the tip cars and the Brookville!

[Benjamin Campbell]

Still on the dump truck body idea - could we weld an old dump body to a steel skid or frame which could be temporarily placed at the end of one of the flat cars? It may need a counter weight at the other end of the car and still need outriggers which could be mounted to the dump frame. Just excited to see us head north and trying to think of ways to get the yardage of material we'll need out there. It might be nice to be able to dump from the end rather than the side as well. If we go with the tip cars can we build some sort of temporary trestle using standard framing material so that we are dumping directly into the washout rather than at it's edge? Has anyone done a yardage estimate of the material needed for the first fill? 

[Mike Fox]

First washout I estimated at 165 yards +/-. There is a small washout 400 feet north, it is going to need about 20 - 25 yards, but may gain some when installing a culvert nearby, so that could wind up being only a flat car load.

The dump idea would work, and we have discussed it around Sheepscot, and even had a dump body in mind. But it limits the amount you can haul per load. My thought is using a flat car, shovel off the sides into the hole. I have a design in mind for a temporary trestle, and need to draw it up so all the figuring can be done and approved. Also need to grab my bridge book back from Jason..

[Mike Fox]

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

Mike:
What did you say the wheel base was to be? I read 30"?

4 wheel rigid (no swivel truck) yes?

[Mike Fox]

Wheel base will be about 10 feet. The two new frame members I need to put in will be a little over 30 inches, final determination will be made after the bearings arrive, which have yet to be ordered, which I hope to do this week.
It will be a 4 wheel sprung set up. No trucks. One axle towards the front, and one at the back of the flat part of the deck.

[Paul Uhland]

AFAIK, your 1015 conversion will involve:  stripping deck/street equipment, narrowing  existing framework  to conform to WW&F width clearances , welding two parallel , longitudinal, main frame members 30 inches apart sitting on leaf springs attached to a pair of axles each ten feet apart, riding on 16-inch rail wheels, with hinged  stability "feet" to prevent tipping or rollover (somewhat similar to mobile cranes), with "link and pin" fittings at each end for towing, a replacement deck for track/fill materials transport, with  side boards?

Can't wait for construction, along with box 67.
Competent design and construction is always fun to cheer on.   

  

[Mike Fox]

I would say no fill will be hauled on this, but one never knows. There will be no sideboards.