rotary dumpers

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Anyone built an operational one for model trains?

I am planning on build one (or two) to represent the dumpers at Lamberts Point (Norfolk VA) circa 1950. I am looking for ideas, on technique. I have a Walthers dumper, and it will not be part of this. It is not built for real operation.

This is the only one that I know about: http://nomre.railfan.net/hoscale/somerset/

Thank you for your input.
Nigel

2

Nigel

Have you considered the requirements for a working rotary dumper?

All your hoppers would have to have a rotary coupler at one end to allow realistic operation. The other alternative would be to uncouple both ends of the hopper to allow dumping.

I scratch built a rotary dumper in N scale for the Walthers paper mill, they don’t make it in N. It is positioned dumping a car on the layout. I used a piece of mylar, with saw dust glued to it, to simulate the flow of wood chips.

If the rotary dumper is located inside a building, you might consider what my neighbor and I have done on his steel mill module.

For the coal dumping operation, we’ve built a dump house with pit, for bottom dumping. The rear wall of the house comes out to allow removal of the loads using a magnet. The loads had a small washer glued to the load base.

You could use a similar method, but insinuate a rotary dumper inside the building.

I know this isn’t as good as an operating dumper, but it might be a reasonable alternative, and alot easier on your wallet and your nerves.

Mike
St Louis

3

Hi Mike;

I hear you - but I want to simulate the coal dumper out in the open at Lambert’s Point. I am mainly looking for ideas. I am a firm believer in leveraging (copying) whatever you can, and inventing only when required.

The cars were pushed on to it, one at a time, (pretty easy to handle with an uncoupling magnet right on the dumper), dumped, and allowed to roll off the dumper, down an incline, through a spring switch, up another incline, which brought thier speed to zero, rolled back down thru the spring switch and into a yard.

I got out my PIC catalogue (http://www.pic-design.com/) and have found most of the components I need for the rotary part, I still have to figure out the clamping of the cars, it needs to have enough travel to handle relative low 50 ton gondolas, relatively tall 55 ton hoppers and everything in between. From a length standpoint, 34’ to 55’.

I am thinking about a acetal (Delrin®) bar with a spring to push or pull it up, and solenoid to pull it down.

I am a Mechanical Design Engineer, and I have a small milling machine at home, making and modifying things is not a big deal.

Thank you for your input.

4

Nigel,
Thought I remembered an article in a back issue so did a search at the Index of Magazines with the following result:
Rotary car dumper, Railroad Model Craftsman, December 1979, page 85,
( “BUCKLEW, ROBERT”, DRAWING, DUMPER, ROTARY, RMC ) Haven’t gone down to the basement to dig for the issue, but think it may help. Also remember a line drawing on the cover of an earlier issue of RMC, but that didn’t pop up in the search so I’ll have to look for it the hard way. Hope this helps, especially since your tips have helped so many others.
Bob

5

Nigel,
I got off my duff and got my copy of the December 1979 RMC issue. Bucklew’s working model is/was of a Whiting Corporation “Rotaside” car dumper rather than the Thrall dumper at the Somerset site you cited. His description may help you with your design - one of his parts was a 3 1/2 inch diameter gear from Boston Gear Works. If it’s cold enough in your shop to affect your flourescent lights, you may have to make the car heaters on the Somerset model functional. You might want to do a Google search for Bucklew to determine if he is still amongst us.
Bob

6

Nigel,
Went back to the Index of Magazines and just used the search term “dumper” rather than the “rotary dumper” I used the first time, with the result I found a few more articles that may be relevant.
Bob

Car dumper, Model Railroader, June 1945, page 251
( CAR, DUMPER, ORE, “WILEY, CHARLES F.”, MR )

Rotary car dumper,
Railroad Model Craftsman, December 1979, page 85,
( “BUCKLEW, ROBERT”, DRAWING, DUMPER, ROTARY, RMC )

Adding an operating gravel dumper, Model Railroader, April 1991, page 68,
Article also published in HO Railroad From Start to Finish, page 18
( BEGINNER, DUMPER, GRAVEL, “KELLY, JIM”, STRUCTURE, MR )

Coal Dumpers - Part 1: An Overview And A Look At The Port Reading Facility,
Model Railroading, April 1993, page 44 ( COAL, DUMPER, “ROSEMAN, VIC”, UNLOAD, MRG )

Coal Dumpers - Part 2: The Dumper At Vestal, Model Railroading, May 1993 page 59 ( COAL, DUMPER, “ROSEMAN, VIC”, UNLOAD, MRG )

Adding an operating gravel dumper, HO Railroad From Start to Finish, page 18, Article also published in Model Railroader, April 1991, page 68
( BEGINNER, DUMPER, GRAVEL, “KELLY, JIM”, STRUCTURE )

Simple Modeling Projects: Car Dumps, Model Railroading, September 1997, page 21, ( DUMPER, HOPPER, “INGBRETSEN, ROGER”, LOADING, FREIGHTCAR, MRG )

Rotary dumper, Mainline Modeler, June 2001, page 72, photos of dumper at Silver Bow, Montana ( DUMPER, INDUSTRY, PHOTO, “WAITE, THORNTON”, MM )

7

Bob;

Thank you for all of your assistance!! All of my mags are still in boxes, but I will be getting them out before I start this project.

My shop will be in the garage, but my layout is in the basement.

8

I have one of the Walthers rotary dumpers as well. We haul live loads and I had planned to use the rotary to unload (probably inside a building rather than in the open). Nigel mentioned that it isn’t made for operation, which is a real dissapointment. Any feed back on what caused you to say that? I also have the 90’ Walthers turntable which I am getting ready to build but apparently it isn’t any prize either. arrrrrgh!

9

Hi,

The Walthers dumper, and 90’ TT have similar issues, lack of precision of the parts, they just don’t fit together well enough to reliably operate.

Take a look at this site:
http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/railroad/dumper.htm

My planned dumper is rather different due to wanting it to look similar to the N&W ones at Lambert’s Point.

10

Nigel,

Since posting my previous response, I remembered seeing an operating Walthers rotary dumper at a friends store in Augusta Mo.

It’s on a demonstration layout that is computer controlled. It loads a hopper on one side of the layout then takes it to the dumper, on the other side to be emptied.

There is a picture and short description on their web site:
http://www.augustastation.com

Click on the Layout pictures on the side bar.

11

Sorry, Nigel, I got it wrong, “Train Displays” has the picture of the rotary dumper.

12

Mike Ritschdorff in Chicago has one and it is a blast. He has a mine that loads the hoppers, you take them around the layout to the dumper. Cars are dumped one at a time, no rotary couplers needed.
His layout was featured on the HGTV show Fantastic Basements.

13

There is a detailed construction article on scratchbuilding a rotary car dumper by Dave Johnson in the January/February, 2004 issue of N-Scale. It should be able to be translated into HO.
…Bob