G-Scale Rolling Stock Plans

[hoofe116]

Mike & DD1:

Thanks, guys, for the info. Since this will be my first 'scratchbuild' (using an LGB handcar power unit) I'm not expecting a lot of from it in the way of 'cool looking'. <g> (Sharp part of the learning curve, etc). I just want some motive power for my RR so I can lay some outside track and get something rolling. That's the best way to learn anything, I've found. (Well, up to a point, but let's not be picky).

Mike, I just have to tell you that Model RR helped keep me from going off the deep end when I moved from an Ozarks high school to a suburban high school in '59. Ouch. That magazine is worth every penny it costs. They were trying to incorporate Lionel's exploding boxcars and missle launchers into model RR-ing. That was before they got away from writing about Hi Rail altogether. I've signed up for GR, haven't gotten my first copy yet, but Klambach has a first-rate stable of tech writers. RR Model Craftsman for some reason has always left me cold and I dunno why. I guess because they're so serious. I don't do this for serious. Perhaps they're too near 'rivet counters'. No criticism of the mag intended, just my opinion.

Les Whitaker

[Anonymous]

There is a wealth of information available in model railroader and railroad model craftsman magazines. You won't find anything drawn to garden railway scales, but it's easy to convert the scales given. You will also have to browse through tons of old magazines to find what you are looking for. Another great magazine is called "short line and narrow gauge gazette". There were also a series of books called "car builders' cyclopedia" that was published for several years. It covered prototype construction of all kinds of rolling stock. I think they are still available through Kalmbach Books as limited re-issues. I have one of their books called "traction handbook" It has some great drawings of traction equipment and detailed interiors.

[mhampton]

I think I'm going to begin scratchbuilding a flat car to the same 'scale' as the Bachmann bobber; it's at least a starting point while I try to find a good Porter pix to copy from--or any 0-4-0, for that matter.

Les Whitaker

Les,

If you haven't already, you might want to Google "Porter Locomotive" and see how many sites pop up.  Last I checked there were over 500,000.

Mike Hampton

 

[Steam1800's]

Sounds good Les!  I have the same type soil although it is fairly level.  Good luck with it and let me know how the construction goes.  You'd be suprised how much you can fit in your space!

Allen

[hoofe116]

Hope so, Allen! I'm building (?) a test track soon to get a 'feel' for this big stuff. I'm going to use track power on the outdoors RR because of initial expense. Then, possibly in May, I'll lay the first PP line. Dunno exactly where, yet. I have abt 20 x 60', a huge space to an old 027'er, but I suspect not so huge in this gauge. I like the code 332 rail: it's big and tough-looking. My only piece of rolling stock is a Bachmann bobber at the moment.

I'm going to dig a trench, tamp in gravel, and lay track. I'll possibly be smarter--or more satisfied--next year when I see how it winters over. I have a side problem: my ground is all heavy, impermeable clay, so the track trenches are going to be drainage ditches to some degree. Ground slippage is minimal. Glacier-like, actually.

One thing I will definitely have to do is build trestle. Lots and lots of trestle because the ground slopes badly.

Anyway, good luck!

Les Whitaker

[hoofe116]

K:

Many, many thanks for the links. I was going to use woodburners on the layout, but decided that coal tipples were more interesting than piles of wood here 'n there. The coal can be shipped in from 'elsewhere', possibly giving rise to one more operation. I have only 3 in mind: sawmill (of which I'll build a facsimile from the one in my youth that I actually hauled logs to); a potash 'mine' because part of the RR is going to have to circumvent the fireplace ash pile; and a stockyard, again, of which I am familiar. I don't want a 'town' per se. Perhaps a general store.

I think I'm going to begin scratchbuilding a flat car to the same 'scale' as the Bachmann bobber; it's at least a starting point while I try to find a good Porter pix to copy from--or any 0-4-0, for that matter.

Les Whitaker

[Steam1800's]

Ian,

Thank you.  I will search for this book that you are speaking of!

Allen

[Anonymous]

steam mate;

I know very little about this subject but i have a book which goes into great detail about how to make bridges and that includes trestles. It is a Kalmback book, if you are interested i will track it down.

With regard to my photo, i did not do this; the people that run the forum did. i am not too good with computers and have no idea as to how to fix it. My wife is a bit more knowledgable about this and she is going to help me fix it up.

Rgds ian 

 

[kstrong]

Finding drawings of how stuff works is far more problematic than finding drawings of the structures themselves. For instance, a magazine may publish plans of a sand house, but the inner workings will almost never be mentioned. Same goes for coal tipples. Unless you physically see it, or a good model of one, there's a lot left to the imagination.

Coal tipples all work on the same principle--get the coal higher than the tender, and let gravity do the work of loading the tender. How you got the coal higher than the tender varied. Some railroads used ramps and dumped the coal directly from a gondola (by hand!!!) or a hopper car into the tipple's bin. Others dumped into a pit in the ground, and used a mechanical conveyor or elevator to bring the coal up to the bin.

Here's a photo of the coal tipple at Chama. The housing for the elevator mechanism is in the the covered part at the top of the tipple.
http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/images/mbrgal11/tipple.jpg

Here are some photos of the EBT's coal tipple, which was loaded via a long ramp parallel to the mainline.
http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/Tour/coalbunk.html

Getting the coal out of the tipple was simply a matter of lowering the chute over the tender. Raising the chute back up was sufficient to stop the coal from continuing to empty.

Sand houses worked on the same basic principle. The trick was keeping the sand dry. Since the quantities were far smaller, this could be done by drying the sand in an enclosed structure before bringing it up to a holding bin. (The small cylindrical tower in the Chama coal tipple photo is the sand bin.) Drying the sand was usually done with nothing more than a coal stove. Some houses used manual labor or a conveyor to raise the sand into the bin, others blew it up with compressed air.

All the ash pits I've seen were emptied the old fashioned way--cheap labor.

As for mines, you'll probably have a better chance at finding on-line references to how they worked. Of course, there are so many different types of mines and ways of moving cars in and out, too. I suspect that logging operations would be similar. I know there are myriad books on logging and mining that would offer some insight.

As for small drivers, try Hartland Locomotive Works. I know they sell 1-1/2" drivers, they may have smaller ones, too.

Later,

K

[Steam1800's]

You lost me Ian?  By the way, what is that photo at the bottom of your screen?  Do you happen to know how to make a jig for trestle bents?  I know your into concrete, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

Allen

[Anonymous]

In a word, "no" but i'm sure pleanty of other people do, good luck.

Ian

[Steam1800's]

Les,

Sounds like your going down the same road as I plan to travel.  Good luck!  Maybe we can share ideas or answers to some questions along the way!

Allen

[Steam1800's]

I would like to build canyons like the D&RGW through Royal Gorge or the Central Pacific through those deep slot canyons with trestles like the Dale Creek Trestle, tunnels, snow sheds like near Cisco, 8' radius curves and alike.  I think I might even try to tunnel under the mountain and maybe try to curve the track up around the mountain like the old D&RGW Narrow gauge through Colorado.  I'm thinking of starting with Bachmann Spectrum for motive power and hand building the cars.  Mike Hampton knows what I'm talking about with respect to the rolling stock.

Mind you I'm new at this and I have an ambitious project ahead of me that probably take me years to finish, but I'm up for the challenge!

Allen

(Ruff and Ready!)

[Steam1800's]

Thanks again Fellas!  I was thinking more on the lines of finding plans (such as logging camps and others that I mentioned above) and building them all from scratch not kits.  Narrow Gage is a correct assumption.  My area that I'm going to be working in is 24" by 32' by 15' by 34'.  It's an area like a triangle on top of a square.  I have two Austrian Pines and a large mound of dirt in between that I will build into a mountain with a water fall/stream combo that disappears somewhere.  Other than that, I have no idea where to begin or how to come up with an interesting layout idea.

[hoofe116]

Allen: Welcome! I'm pretty much new here myself. This is a very friendly board.

K, I'd like to amplify on Allen's question: I want to know how a coal tipple works. I want to scratchbuild my trackside items, but I need to know how a given structure is supposed to work. Like a coal tipple. I've never been around coal in my life. I have seen one pix of an ash dump (?)--y'know, where they emptied the fireboxes--and that was years ago. Just two rails over a long hole? How'd they empty it? Sanding towers: how'd they keep the sand from freezing in the wintertime? Yet all I ever see is a rectangular building  on piles. Bet there'd have to be at least a brick furnace underneath, right? And mine heads. I see plenty of pixes of gantries with 'thingys' on top, but what do they do besides haul the men/coal up (and down?) where's the power linkage to make one work, and the building to house the machinery? That sort of stuff. From what I know of logging firsthand, most saw mill kits are woefully inaccurate. I'm not complaining, but as long as I intend to build the thing, why not make it as approximately correct as practicable? (Note the wiggle room I left<g>)

I'm getting ready to start turning an LGB pumper car into a Porter-type 0-2-0. Where's a good place to find spoked drivers?

Thanks, Les

[Rastun]

Another place for building kits and plans is Smith Pond Junction you can find thier web site at http://www.spjrr.com If you click my logo and look at the buildings section of my website there's a little write up about a Smith Pond Junction building I made.

Jack 

[kstrong]

There are a few companies that offer wood kits for these kinds of structures. The two that pop into my mind are Garden Texture and Kamloops Junction.

I've not built the Garden Texture kits, but I've reviewed a few of the Kamloops Junction kits for GR. They're good kits, and can be detailed by the builder to suit.

Also, in terms of older rolling stock suitable for the 1800s (assuming you're doing narrow gauge), many of the g-scale (1:22.5) cars scale out very well for 1870s vintage equipment when measured to 1:20.3--the "proper" scale for modeling 3' on 45mm track. Click on the banner in my sig, then go to "Rolling Stock" for a few examples.

Congratulations on the retirement. I'm 6 lucky numbers away myself.

Later,

K

[Steam1800's]

I guess while I'm on the subject of not knowing what I'm doing yet, and G-Scale Plans, where do I go to find track side structures?  You know, Coal Tipples, Water Tanks, Sanding Towers, Forest Service Fire Towers, Milk Platforms, Stock Pens and Loading Chutes, Freight Warehouses, Old Hotels, etc. etc.  I know I'm asking a lot, but now that I'm retired, I have nothing but time!  Money, now that's another story in itself!!

Allen

[Steam1800's]

John,

Another good idea.  Thanks!  I took a look at those assembly steps and he does a bang up job.  Now I'm anxious to get started especially since it's snowing again!  When I get the plans I'll give it a shot!

Allen

[John Busby]

Hi Steam1800

You may find this link useful it does have a bit on interior in it as well as the construction.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/300623/ShowPost.aspx

It would be well worth your while going through the pull out plans threads to find the other construction pieces done by toenail ridge.

And the kit bashing and scratch building treads to find the structure he built

regards John

[Anonymous]

Funny thing, I was thinking of others sharing plans which I thought was a good idea but it is up to the person to share.

William

[Steam1800's]

Thank you gentlemen!  I will try what you have suggested.

Allen

[mhampton]

If you'll go to http://www.trainweb.org/nasrr/caboose_interior.html, you can see what the inside of MY bobber caboose looks like.  There's also a reference on the bottom of the page for a book (now long out of print) which has a wealth of information about railroad cabeese.

As for car plans, I've got copies of most of the plans that GR has ever produced.  Contact me via PM or email ([e-mail]) and we can discuss arrangments for getting some plans in your hands.

Mike Hampton

 

[Rastun]

Sounds like you could use the Garden Railways pull out plans for most of what you are looking for.  Some of the older plans are available at Sidestreet Bannerworks. If you are a subscriber to Garden Railways you can get all the pull out plans since they switched to the new pdf format for free by searching thier site for pull out plans. If you are not a subscriber you can get the current pull out plan in pdf format from the same place. If a plan set you are looking for is no longer available from Sidestreet you may want to look at the back issues of Garden Railways and see if the issue that has the wanted plan in it is still available. Also be sure to check out the pull out plans discussion forum at the bottom of the list here.

 

[Steam1800's]

I am new to both Garden Railroading as well as forums so bear with me.  I would like to find plans for the early steam Flat Cars, Box Cars and Bobber Caboose.  In addition, does anyone know what the inside of the "Bobber" looks like?  Thanks!