I am looking for plans or somewhere to start regarding the building of a coal dumper/unloade. I am not interested in the rotary style, more so for mining and also shipping. any thoughts would be appreciated.
Railroads have been dumping coal for a long time, so if you could include information as to the era and location of your railroad, and the receiving customer (retail, power plant, rail-to-ship, etc.), we can better target your needs.
Jim
I know there are others that have been cited here over the years, but don't have links so someone else will have to help there. I just saw a link to this loader build by Craig Linn (HOn3) that is nicely documented. It's narrowgauge and loads limestone, but you may find some ideas here that will work for you.
http://www.riogranderr.com/ModelRailroading/Construction/Structures/CFI-Limestone-Loader/
He plans to eventually build a model of the Rio Grande's barrel transfer at Salida that transferred the loads this facilty at Monarch generated into standard gauge gons for the trip to the CF&I at Pueblo after the third rail through Royal Gorge was taken up. So if you do get the itch to unload that way, check back later as he seems to be rolling on this interesting project. Keep in mind the mechanism is the hard part, building the correct structure around it is going to be easier in most cases.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I found this one when I was looking to build one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0NnXyVwQOA
Mike:
Clickable link.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
mryombee I am looking for plans or somewhere to start regarding the building of a coal dumper/unloade. I am not interested in the rotary style, more so for mining and also shipping. any thoughts would be appreciated.
Some clarity would be ever so convenient.
"the rotary style"--that would seem to refer to an UNloader.
And then we have "coal dumper/unloade[r]"--it says UNloader.
So.
D'ya wanna UNload cars? Coal? NOT rotary?
That sounds so much like regular hopper cars dumping, to me. About all there is there is the Tyco/Mantua ones, the Revell ones, and the Ulrich triples.
Ed
the 1965 book" bridges and buildings for model railroads" by kalmbach has the plans for a small tilt dumper.
Thanks Jim, I am modeling a time period from 1945 - 1965, Canadian if that helps. Many thanks.
Thanks Mike, I will look into this
mryombeeI am assuming that the book is out of print now, would that be correct.
There is one listed on Amazon right now. Price is good. This is the Canadian listing so I'm assuming it is available in the US too:
https://www.amazon.ca/Bridges-Buildings-Railroads-Railroader-Anderson/dp/B005RZ976G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483423823&sr=1-1&keywords=Bridges+and+buildings+for+model+railroads
There are some prototype photos of Great Lakes coal shipping HERE. The entry entitled "Fontana" taking coal at Sodus shows a fairly large loader similar to those used for iron ore or pellets.
Wayne
There's also this, which you may or may not regard as "rotary":
7j43k There's also this, which you may or may not regard as "rotary": Ed
thats simular to one in book.they call it a tilt type dumper.
Yup, looks pretty-much rotary to me.
Thanks Ed, This is more the style I am looking for, yes, it may be considered rotary, but what I am trying to keep away from is the more modern style of rotary I have seen displayed on the internet, where numerous cars pull in and are all dumped at the same time, as they have special couplers attached.
I am trying to keep away from is the more modern style of rotary I have seen displayed on the internet, where numerous cars pull in and are all dumped at the same time, as they have special couplers attached. This is more of a dumper mechanism than rotary.
Building a "tilt dumper" will definitely be a wonderful thing.
Since you don't want a regular rotary style, let me remind you of an option mentioned earlier: hoppers that dump directly into bins that dump into ships/barges.
As far as I know there have been 3 versions of operating hopper cars (none of them up there with Exactrail and Tangent in detail level):
Ulrich triple--it's a big all metal hopper car. Of the three, it has the least evidence of operating mechanism showing. It's designed to unload one car at a time by shoving the car onto an actuator. You can't pull a string through a dumper. Well, not without a whole lot of cleverness.
Revell--it's a double hopper and has the most "showy" mechanism. An arm sticks out each side of the car. When the arms intersect the dump mechanism, the hopper bottom is lowered and the car dumps.
Tyco--another double. It's got gravity closing doors on the bottom. When the doors pass a ramp, they're spread sideways to open. I've heard good things about the operability of these.
It's my impression that the Ulrich is the most "leaky", though I haven't checked that out. What's neat about the Tyco (Mantua) is that you can pull a whole string across a dump mechanism. And they're probably the most available/cost effective.
For any of them, it probably wouldn't be much of a challenge to do a multi-bin setup, if you were in the mood.
If you are planning on working with loose model coal, I recommend researching that early on. Especially the size(s). For example, if the Ulrich is going to leak, it will be worse with finer grains. My guess is that real coal is a poor choice because it makes (yes) coal dust. Not good on a layout, I think. I'm pretty sure someone makes plastic coal, and that would be my first choice.
Great information Ed, thanks, I will look into these versions and se what I can see. I appreciate yourt time and patience with me. I am modelling in HO and have a dedicated garage 24'x24' with a 10' ceiling. I am just in the process of planning, but am working on building segments of what I want over the colder winter months. This is a project I want to tackle.
Hello all,
One option that has not been mention are the 34-foot Tyco operating hopper cars from the 1970's.
My pike is based on these vintage cars and their sole operation.
Unfortunately these cars, and the accompanying unloading docks, have become popular and expensive, enven in the stock form.
The drawback of the Tyco system is that the cars have to be shoved or pushed over the unloading dock. The unloading flanges, from the track, extend too far above the railheads for locomotives to pass over.
On my unloading level one head-end and two pusher locomotives bring the cars up the incline to the unloading siding.
The single head-end loco is cut, before the siding, and moves into position on the opposite side of the unloading shed to receive the empty hoppers.
The hoppers are then shoved through the unloading shed. When the first hopper clears the unloading shed the single, head-end, loco helps bring the remaining hoppers through the unloading shed.
The pusher locos are cut before the turnout at the unloading siding. They then back down the grade and return to the yard to wait for the empties.
Below, on a siding of the main line; designed to receive the load from above, a train traveling in the same direction is receiving the load being discharged by the cars above.
By the time the upper train discharges it load into the lower train, the lower train has cleared the lower siding, where the empties will return via a spiral trestle back to the mainline.
Another drawback of these cars is that they were equipped with Talgo style truck mounted Hook & Horn couplers.
I have updated theses cars to Kadee couplers and HGC trucks. This requires drilling and tapping the frames to accept the 2/56 screws to mount the couplers and trucks.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I have 2 of these on my layout in the steel mill area and yes i am still touching up areas this year for smooth operations. now back to the subject they work fantastic and were built by tyco and 1 other company and can be found at swap meets and probably ebay rather cheaply. I would also consider scratch building a conveyor to refill them the areas can get tight for movement room when you get serious like i did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLbqnw2bKeI
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Great working model!
I would still consider this a rotary type dumper.
Thanks for sharing!