lmackattack
old school
To me those grooves look like Steel "channels" with an angled flanges for the wheels to ride in? not very deep so I bet its built for 25MPH or less?
the beauty of narrow gauge track...
- Thread starter tooter
- Start date
lmackattack
old school
Yes.
I have some long range 7 1/2' gauge track plans for the yard, and want to build a smaller version of this to pedal around on...
Greg
Greg I have always wanted to build the same concept. I would want the wheels to be made out of a light weight meterial to keep the overall weight down. I also would need it made so I could retract the wheels and ride away on pavement ....just incase johhny law saw me
even better would be one of those motor scooter with a larger fuel tank. Could get you around to see some nice parts of the back woods without getting tired!
John P
Active Member
It's certainly built for low speed. This is streetcar trackage in the downtown area.
But that's a very good point, and I hadn't thought about it. I do know that in American streetcar design, it's common to have shallow flangeways that raise up the wheels where they go through junctions, so that they roll on their flange tips. This is done to save wear on both the wheels and the trackwork, and it could only work with light equipment moving slowly. It appears that they've done the same in Zurich. Look at this enlarged section of the picture. What it seems to show is that the flangeways do lift up the wheels, so there's no shine on the rails, though they are certainly there. I can even persuade myself that where one flangeway crosses another, there's a little groove crossing over, where the wheels have rolled:
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lmackattack
old school
It also reduces people geting their feet stuck inbetween the rail and roadways
tooter
play every day
Greg I have always wanted to build the same concept. I would want the wheels to be made out of a light weight meterial to keep the overall weight down. I also would need it made so I could retract the wheels and ride away on pavement ....just incase johhny law saw me
...a-like a-this?
Man, I'd love to do that, too...
...but since there are no rails anywhere near me, I'll just have to be satisfied laying my own 7 1/2 inch gauge track. I think it would be a ball cycling around the yard on rails!
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tooter
play every day
It's certainly built for low speed. This is streetcar trackage in the downtown area.
But that's a very good point, and I hadn't thought about it. I do know that in American streetcar design, it's common to have shallow flangeways that raise up the wheels where they go through junctions, so that they roll on their flange tips. This is done to save wear on both the wheels and the trackwork, and it could only work with light equipment moving slowly. It appears that they've done the same in Zurich. Look at this enlarged section of the picture. What it seems to show is that the flangeways do lift up the wheels, so there's no shine on the rails, though they are certainly there. I can even persuade myself that where one flangeway crosses another, there's a little groove crossing over, where the wheels have rolled:
That's absolutely fascinating!
I thought it would trash the flanges having so much weight concentrated on such a small area.
tooter
play every day
I've been scouring the web for ideas to modify so that I can build a small pedal powered "locomotive" that will roll on standard 7 1/2 inch gauge garden railway track.
Just type in 'bicycle rail images" into your browsers search window. And then click on the entry "images for bicycle rail images"... and there they are...
Greg
Just type in 'bicycle rail images" into your browsers search window. And then click on the entry "images for bicycle rail images"... and there they are...
Greg
That's absolutely fascinating!
I thought it would trash the flanges having so much weight concentrated on such a small area.
Actually BNSF has been studying it for a while with several prototypes out there. One of the ideas is that when a low traffic, low volume line crosses a higher traffic and speed line that the lower one raises. Instead of there being a frog the flanges from the low speed take the weight of the car and place it onto the head of the high speed, high traffic rail. It is hard to explain but they had a very nice slide show made up for a presentation for the University of Illinois Railroad Engineering Program. I found it on Trains forum (Am I allowed to mention another forum?). I am sure if you type BNSF + U of I in google it should get you started. I wish I could think of the name they gave this type fo crossing. Maybe flange bearing frogs?
Edit: OWLS is what the type of diamond I was referring to is called. Also, apperantly BNSF is not the only one looking into this.
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I guess that was a little selfish to ask for pictures without contributing anything. Here is a video of a solution to a problem.
Have narrow guage track but standard guage customers? Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7p1h5zeT3M
Have narrow guage track but standard guage customers? Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7p1h5zeT3M
tooter
play every day
Tooter,
Have you run out of neat pictures of narrow guage? Surely not! Please post some more
Hey bk,
I'll see if I can dig up some more... I think old narrow gauge rails are so beautiful!
Greg
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Hey bk,
I'll see if I can dig up some more... I think old narrow gauge rails are so beautiful!
I would love to add rampant vegetation in and around the tracks - it looks really good.
________
VAPORIZER AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
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tooter
play every day
Hey bk,
I have the same idea as you...
They're long range plans but I'm saving up money to do it. I found a good place in-state where I can get steel rails with with no-rot solid plastic ties and gauge guides for easy installation...
They even offer built up switches... and I plan to get one.
Then I'm going to get one of these to ride around the yard...
One complete yard railroad setup... a large oval of 7 1/2" gauge track... (this is not the track I'm getting, just the only representative picture I could find)
with one turnout to a siding and a handcar costs about $5,000.
Greg
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with one turnout to a siding and a handcar costs about $5,000.
Greg
Greg,
If you think about it $5000 isn't too bad (not saying it aint a lot of money, it is) but some people blow more than that for a vacation. I would much rather spend a weeks vacation building a little railroad. Do they sell just the rail? How much does the no-rot ties cost? Thinking it may be a lot cheaper to just use treated lumber. By the time it would rot you might be wanting to change the route. Or it would give you an excuse to buy some MOW equipment. Wouldn't that be neat; a scaled down, operatable tie replacer or balast tamper? Ok, done with my rambling
