There was a recent article on how to build a coal loader
does anyone know where it’s located ?
TIA
Terry
Hi C&O Fan,
Unless some one else can help You with Your request, sorry I can’t help You. I tried the data base and come up with nothing and I don’t recall the article You sure it was in MR???
Frank
Yes Frank and it’s been in the last 3 months i think
Do you mean coal loader as at a coal mine? The MR Virginian RR project layout had an article by Jim Hediger about bashing the New River Mine kit and perhaps that is what you are thinking of. May 2012 [Edited post - by which I meant, it appears in the May 2012 issue of MR]
But I seem to recall there was also an interesting coal loader (with a neat way of recovering spilled coal in a sort of tray underneath the cars) either in Model Railroad Planning or Great Model Railroads
Dave Nelson
Yes Dave i’m thinking it was a tipple loader for the cars and it was a featured article
but don’t know which month
I recently built one and i wanted to see how they did thiers
C&O Fan,
I did another search and this time, I came up with C&O RAILROAD in n-scale with a working coal loader by LOU SASSI in the JULY 2011 issue. Don’t know if that is it, but anyway it looks good
Cheers
Frank
there was one in CCT awhile back, a modification for the lionel model. Were you mabey reading that?
nope
nope
A bit farther back, there was an article titled, “Build a Working Coal Tipple,” in Model Railroader, later reprinted in the project book Realistic Animation, Lighting & Sound.
The operating part was an auger (wood drill bit) turned in reverse inside a piece of PVC pipe by a windshield wiper motor. The auger got coal from a hopper in the upper level of the modeled tipple and delivered it, downward into the waiting car, through a slot at the end. A brass bearing in the end cap on the pipe kept the auger from scraping the inside of the PVC pipe - it held the threaded tip (with threads blunted, IIRC.)
I intend to have a variant of this design to load loose-running cars. The rails under the tipple will be arranged like those of an ash pit, so any coal that misses the car will drop through into a collector box. The over-auger hopper will be replenished by a working conveyor. (The author of the original article refilled his hopper by raising the tipple roof.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Gidday Terry, I think the article Chuck is referring to is an article by Jim Ferenc in the July 1999 Model Railroader. I have a similar article by Rick Spano from the July 1979 RMC in my " To do someday, perhaps?" scrapbook.
Can’t comment on the magazines availability on the US second hand market, but seeing your penchant for animated coal operations, I do expect to see the resulting video posted in the near future. [swg].
Cheers,the Bear.
Ok Chuck that sound alot like the one i found on u tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p08Jte_dCw&feature=related
I wanted to see the article because i made one for my layout and wanted to see how others
made thiers
I made mine using 2 ballpoint pen springs glued end to end and used the ink shaft to roptate them
i placed them inside a straw the i sliced lengh wise to make a trough
when the springs are rotated with a small 12 volt motor they act like an auger and move the coal to the end of the straw
see
Well Bear since i model the C&O here in the US coal is thier #1 source of revenue
as you can see from my reply to chuck i built one but i was very curious to see how others did thiers
if you view the u tube links you’ll see it in action
I am pretty sure someone has has a crack at this. There is a blog some where…
Some where around here and on the MRH site you will find it.
http://cwerailroad.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/tipples-truck-dumps-and-prep-plants.html
You nailed it, Bear. It is the Jim Ferenc article.
The major difference between the article and the You-tube design is that Mr Ferenc’s auger is fully enclosed. That and the use of a much bigger automotive motor with integral gearbox. (The motor on the You-tube model looks about the size of the biggest one in a printer I just dissected.)
To detail a crusher/sorter with windows, the first thing to do is spray the insides of the window panes with a fine mist of black paint. Coal dust gets into and onto EVERYTHING - especially windows which might be damp from condensation. (For that matter, if you paint the interior walls and the machinery housings black you’ll be pretty accurate. For night operation, a couple of dim bulbs here and there…)
When I kitbash the Walthers mine kit into a reasonable facsimile of the sorter for the big mine at Shime, Fukuoka-ken, I’ll be loading loose cars by auger on the outermost track (with the rails underneath set up like an ash pit, so coal that misses the car will funnel down into a catch receptacle) and running my empties in/loads out on the innermost track. The center track will be available for (ssh!) storage.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a coal cleaning plant transplanted from Western Japan)
Gidday again Terry, I had seen your video when you originally posted it and thinking of the Rick Spano article at that time, was intrigued with your approach.[bow]
My comment regarding a “video posted in the near future” was a slightly tongue-in -cheek [:P] reference was to the second tipple you may scratch build using the auger method.
As you said " the C&O here in the US coal is their #1 source of revenue.
Please excuse me for my sense of humour , or lack of it. [:D]
Cheers, the Bear.