Can a car thats set up for narrow gauge be converted to standered guage?

[Anonymous]

I'v been watching a few auctions on ebay for old time denver and rio grand
rolling stock. I have seen some narrow gauge stuff from time to time
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19126&item=5980219528&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
Would I be able to just change the trucks on these and run them on reg track?

[Pennsy58]

I see no reason why not. In fact that would be prototypical for some narrow guage lines. They would bring the cars out for interchange to standard guage railroads and change out the trucks to send them on.

[ereimer]

i suppose it depends on the individual car . some narrow guage cars look like standard guage cars with small trucks , they'd be fine . some narrow guage cars would look really bad with huge trucks under them . buy a really inexpensive car first and try it , let us know how it works out

[ndbprr]

Generally narrow gauge cars are smaller than standrad gauge. The East Broad Top in Pennsylvania interchanged with the PRR and had a transfer rig that lifted one end of a car so the standard gauge truck could be replaced with a narrow gauge truck for transfer to the end user on the EBT. In Europe they have/had variable gauge trucks that could be switched a couple of inched when going onto a new state rairlway and there is somewhere in Europe where truck exchanges took place I doubt much narrow gauge D&RGW stock was switched as there was a lot of dual gauge track on the system

[dinwitty]

EBT is about the only place I can think of that had tween-gauge converting. But they threw NG trucks on standard gauge cars, not the reverse.

Your talking about standard gauging a car, many NG lines converted to standard gauge but what of thier equipment? This had to happen in the late 1800's to early 1900's during the many gauge craze. Standard gauge equipment may not have been much larger than the narrow gauge so maybe there coulda been some freako conversions, but mostly to allow standarg gauge equipment to function with their line, making interchange easier.
Otherwise you have Standard/NG transfer points to move the cargo off the NG to Standard and vice versey.
Besides the converting to standard gauge track, RR's could use Standard gauge cars that could haul more per car.

Freelance however you want tho, just have a reason/story behind it to make it justified, however real, strange, or hilarious you want...

[Attaboy]

The couplers are lower, SDR north. The EBT had a adapter that fit over the coupler on standard gauge cars so it would mate with their narrow gauge rolling stock. It had the effect of lowering the location for the smaller narrow gauge coupler to engage it. It was just an aluminum block made to fit over a closed coupler, like a dummy coupler. It didn't open and close like the regular couplers.

[jrbarney]

Back in the late 1800s there was a patented design, "Ramsey's Car Truck Shifting Apparatus and Car Transfer Apparatus." Beams atop tracked dollies on narrow gauge tracks on either side of the car supported the car as it was towed over a depressed section of track where the alternative gauge trucks were waiting to be moved into position as the car reached the end of the depressed section. There's an illustration of this in the railroad section at the Smithsonian. Don't know how many were built. And, I believe I saw a photo of an HO/HOn gauge model that someone built. You might find more on Ramsey's design with a Google search.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P. S. Here's a link from a Google search:
http://www.ironhorse129.com/rollingstock/builders/ramseys_cartruck.htm

[dehusman]

The differences are the width of the cars (narrow guage cars are narrower), the height of the car (they are lower). You would have to be concerned if the couplers would be the right height, narrow guage cars use smaller wheels to the bottom of the car is closer to the rails (which also means the body bolster is thick enough to keep the small wheels from hitting the bottom of the car), the distance from the bolster to the end of the car, if the bolster is closer than 5 -6 feet, then the wheels of the standard guage truck will stick out beyond the ends of the car. That also means that the wider standard guage trucks will hit the sill steps on the ends of the cars, limiting the amount the trucks can turn to go around curves.

Most of the time cars had their trucks changed to change gauges, it was a standard gauge car getting narrow gauge trucks. It is relatively rare for a narrow gauge car to be converted into a standard gauge car.

I would be concerned that the stanard gauge trucks would bind on the underside of the car, either by hitting the underside, or by hitting the coupler pocket or sill step. How much modification to the underside of an Nn3 car are you willing to do?

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, I didnt know how much when between standered gauge and narrow gauge. I always though the cars were the same, just differnt trucks. :o)
i'm looking at a couple of narrow gauge cars becouse I'm having a hard time finding small 40' box cars from the late 1800's to early 1900's. I just seen a lot of them on ebay, might buy one and try it. Besides is my railroad right? :o)

[DSchmitt]

In the 1800's and even early 1900's standard gauge locos and cars were smaller (for instance 36' , not 40', box cars were standard. Many narrow gauge cars might be ok in height and width. However, they might be too narrow.

As said by others gauge transitions were and are still being done by changing the trucks (as between Russa and China, 5' to standard gauge).

Another method of moving cars of a different gauge is the transporter. A low flat car. A standard gauge car on a narrow gauge transporter is quite a sight. There are also standard gauge transporters to haul narrow gauge cars.

Two railroads which used gauges that were cloose could use "compromise wheels". A dirrect connection was made between the two railroads. Compromise wheels had flanges spaced for the narrower gauge, but the threads were extra wide so that they could run on the wider gauge without derailing.

Another method tried was to have wheels that slide on the axel. When going from the wide to the narrow the running rails forced the wheels in. In going from narrow to wide, guard rails forced the wheels out. Of course this idea was quickly abandoned.

[IRONROOSTER]

If your goal is to get RTR cars from the 1800's, early 1900's I would suggest you look at the new Roundhouse (MDC) RTR cars coming out - http://www.horizonhobby.com/ . For kits LaBelle http://www.labellemodels.com/ and/or Ye Olde Huff 'n' Puff http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/ would be worth considering.
Enjoy
Paul