Has anyone seen, built or otherwise come across rotary couplers for use in a rotary car dump. There would only have to be, for model RR purposes, conventional couplers where the cuts would be made every time. Any ideas would be appreciated.
I’ve got an idea in mind but don’t want to reinvent the wheel if there is already something available,
http://www.sergentengineering.com/
Check these guys out. I haven’t used them personally, but they popped up when I was hunting for the same a few months back. Maybe someone else here has more experience with them (I’m not even sure what scale they are - the site doesn’t say). Worth a shot, maybe?
Stu
Stu, those are cool. I really enjoyed reading the text in the description (“Prototype practice is to use a rotary coupler on only one end of a car and have all rotary ends facing the same direction in a unit coal train. This allows the train to be completely unloaded without ever needing to uncouple.”)
One of my neighbors works at a coal fired coal plant in the fuel yard, and I can usually tell when the unit train has at least one car facing the wrong way (that’s how I learned why one end of coal hoppers are painted a different color). The rotary dumper will twist off the non-rotary coupler, causing a long delay while a crew comes out and replaces it, and unless the railroad turns the car around, that car will cause the same problem on down the line.
If you want to be really prototypical, save some of those cheapie, plastic couplers, cut the heads off, and have some lying on the ground. You could even model a scene with some figures replacing a broken coupler. [swg]
If you DO decide to check some out, make sure you read the the description closely. These couplers require a minimum radius of 22". Because of their design, they do not swing side-to-side.
Those are nice if you want to use Sergent couplers. Just be aware that if you use Kadee couplers on your locos and/or other rolling stock the end car will need a kadee/Kadee clone on one end. Sergents ARE NOT compatible with other couplers.
Rastafarr
Sergent couplers are HO scale.
Dave
Someone has modified kadee #5s to be able to rotate.
If you are modeling an era that still uses cabooses there should also be one “Double stripe” (rotary on both ends) car in the train. That places a rotary drawbar next to rear unit and next to caboose. When train is making it’s loaded trip the ideal place for the double stripe is about 2/3’s deep in train. Shouldn’t be on head end as it is the weakest (drawbar pull) car in the train.
Dick Haave
Modern coal trains have the double stripe car somewhere near the middle.
A DPU engine has replaced the caboose.
A few years ago I visited a shop in Kansas City that had some Kadee #5s modifed for rotary coal dumping. They actually had a display with a rotary dumper. Maybe you can google for the area/shop. They were pretty neat. I was afraid of keeping the centerline for the couplers and dumper, but these guys did it.
Richard