saw a photo of this in MRR May 2005 pg 40 . this would work really well in a spot I have. A peice of 3 ft flex track will fit nice also. My question is the incline. How high should it be at the end. J
My incline is just long enough to reach the trestle and is as steep as necessary @5% I use the Walthers King and Sons coal dealer kit.
Additionally I restrict the engine from going onto the trestle, it needs spacer cars due to weight.
I was just going to use it for coal hoppers also the engine may creap on a bit if it was just one car. J
Hi,
I grew up next to the C&NW tracks in Chicago in the '50s and spent a lot of time “track walking” and going places by the RR that would get someone arrested or worse if done today…
There were a couple of coal/fuel docks that always got my attention. As an earlier poster wrote, no locos got on the structures tracks, as even the smallest was too heavy. Usually there were a few gondolas or MTs that were between the loco and the coal cars.
I really was and am still impressed by the coal facilities, but I also remember that they were about as dirty as anything I ever saw!!!
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
To Falls Valley RR…
What is the height of the track for the King Cole kit? Or, how long is your 5% incline to reach it?
Thanks,
Mobilman44
I built my own coal dock. This isn’t a great detail picture, but is shows the “lay of the land” around it.
I built a “box” around the opening with hydrocal stone-wall castings, and then added a couple of cheap plastic trestle bents inside the box. On my layout, the base of this coal dock is below the level of most of the track, so the climb up is greatly reduced.
The weird thing in the middle of the track is an old Mantua actuator for my coal hoppers. They have clamshell doors on the bottom which open when they get to this special section of track, dropping the coal through the track. I built a “volcano” cone of black “cinders” ballast, and put a hole through the layout to a box beneath where I can collect the coal and re-load it on the other side of the layout.
Here’s a better shot of the bin with one of the hoppers:
Nice work MisterBeasley! [bow] I’m was just going to suggest making the base lower than the rest of the track to decrease the % of incline. I guess if it was low enough, you could get away without having and incline.[2c]
I used two Woodland scenics 3% sections 2 feet long stacked together as necessary. These were the transition sections… not the full grade riser kit.
If memory serves I needed 3 feet or so to climb to about 1.5 inches. The trestle is just a hair over 1.5 inches minus micro engineering bridge flex track. Im planning a short wood kit laser trestle about 6 inches long as a approch.
I have not yet pernmently fixed the industry, the town is undergoing final trackwork, structure placment. I would say anywhere from 3 feet up to 5 feet away from the switch in total until the King trestle itself.
If you purchased a WS 3% “Incline Starters” and play with them a little bit for a few dollars on a table top, you will quickly see how it goes. I think I had one incline normally and another one either stacked on top to steepen the grade and two straight risers stacked for 1.5 inches high.
It’s pretty steep. I may just bury the coal dealer and have it below street level and call it sufficent.
Cheers.