Bruce this is fantastic.. the methodology and concept is amazing... I wish there were more videos like this.. showing things working and then the behind the scenes how it works.
First thank you for the video. You have really opened up my mind. Look into grain legs and how they move grain that might help you with the steep lifts.
Wow! You have done some really great work here! These days everyone says you need to think out of the box. Dude, you just went and got a better box! Nice job!
Hi Bruce thanks for the video it's the best I've seen about flood loading. And the extra information on the unloading, what a fantastic way to empty the wagon. I see that you don't have many other videos but I've subscribed on the basis of this video. I know that family has to come first so I'll be here when you drop a video
Thank you Paul. I have so much planned and in various stages of tests so hopefully more videos will be made in the coming years. Thanks for your patience.
This is absolutely BRILLIANT!!!! I just turned 50 in February and I've taken this new interest in HO Scale Trains. I'm getting ready to build a 30x30 outdoor rail site that will have a live digging quarry with 5 hydraulic rc excavator, 4 hydraulic dozers, 2 cranes, 2 tower cranes and dump trucks. I have NEVER touched one of these but I've spent THOUSANDS of dollars so far so i'm committed lol. I've been into motocross all my life and rc cars so this will be very different seeings how I know not the first thing about this hobby. READY OR NOT HERE I GO!! Thank you for the video..
Fantastic. Combining RC with model railways is not that common. Your quarry sounds very interesting. I hope to one day see some of your work on RU-vid.
It is awesome. I shared the video to a couple friends of mine they both thought it was amazing too. If I had a bigger layout it is something that I would love to make for it.
South Africa (Not SAR) had an 08 style shunter, a place called SANRASM had one in grey. I have a pic of it somewhere- before it was scrapped. The live load is cool by the way
We used a cable and washer system for moving things1/2" tube with a nylon washer and a cord run through the middle, tie a knot behind the washer then repeat every 4 inches
Thank you for sharing your ideas and designs! I'm getting ready to do something similar and it's great to see what other people are doing! Thanks again.
Thinking outside the square for getting a steeper conveyor... Look up the "Olds Elevator" on wikipedia. This turns the casing rather than the screw. For a model: - You could make the "screw" from 2 (or more?) spirals of wire (not necessarily springs), one inside the other, and then solder them together, perhaps with a central "core"?. This gives a broader "blade" to move the load, without having to worry about them getting out of sync/stretching/slipping. And is also probably easier to manufacture. - The rotating casing could be enclosed within a further static casing (tube) to provide bearings/support for the whole system, and avoid rubbing/catching when passing through scenery/buildings/baseboards. - The motor for the rotating casing could be "above" the "top" of the conveyer, maybe using a belt or rubber wheel drive?, and hopefully reducing possibility of jamming. I've have 50 US-style short ore wagons (in a drawer for 30 years!), "to be used on a layout one day" - but I couldn't work out a simple automatic emptying method - a tippler was just too fiddley. I like your loading and especially unloading method! Now to see if I can make them work.
Thank you so much @rossmcconchie. I will be looking at the "Olds Elevator" right now. Without even seeing it I have a whole bunch of new ideas swishing through my head after reading your description. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the help. Good luck with the unloading. It's definitely the harder of the two problems to solve elegantly. Note that I don't view my solution as elegant. It's fairly robust and very simple, but certainly not elegant.
Wow Bruce - that is so impressive. I am planning something similar on a British coal mine layout and was primarily focussed on the loading of coal into UK five plank wagons from the steam era. You've provided a real spark for me as I was trying to figure out how to to control the flow of coal into wagons. I've already got a couple of those laser detectors (kits from MERG) so hooking them up to an Arduino wouldn't be particularly difficult to do and then using the input from them to drive the servo should be quite comfortable to sort out as well. What did you make the storage bins out of? Are they styrene or aluminium?
When climbing steep hills switchbacks are often used. Could this help with your auger? You would need multiple augers and one or more temporary storage areas. Awesome video. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Ryan. Haha, brilliant. Copper thieves and the resultant non functioning railway are built in features of my layout due to my mistakes and bad plans A, B, and C. Usually by plan D, things start working better. Fortunately in my modelling era (late 70s and early 80s), that was not a feature.
I really like the coal loader. I am researching ideas on how to load my coal cars on my S gauge layout that I can deliver to my rotary coal dumper. I would like to see how you built your loader if the time is available. Thanks for sharing!!
Gooday Bruce just love your work, I'm just about to start on my layout and have been very interested in live coal loads as spent some time in the coal fields down here in Auz . Have been thinking of the arduino for the loader and thinking along the same line as in magnets for unloading, I have already done a bit of a moke up with a dragline (and arduino) to load a coal bin, which I'm hoping can load my coal loader (but haven't got that far yet :( Could you please tell me what you where using for coal again? I've been racking my brain to find something light enough but also realistic. Cheers and thanks again Mark
Thanks for the compliments Mark. I'm using the Woodland Scenics Mine Run Coal. It's not a perfect product: it stains black everything it touches, is quite powdery, and has a very uneven size and shape, more than would be prototypical. However, having thrown shade at the product, here are some positives: it is the only stuff I've found that is light enough for the unloading and it flows well. As far as looks are concerned, the uneven size is not visible from a normal viewing perspective so unless you are very close it will pass the visual test, just. My eyes are aging so that helps too. The staining is also OK as you should only be using it on things that would be stained in real life so I suppose you can argue it's prototypical and free weathering. My biggest complaint, although also prototypical, is the breaking down to powder. I'm planning to implement a sifting mechanism in the bucket that catches the unloaded coal to try and filter out the finer fraction. It seems to break down to dust, when worked. The stuff will then become a consumable in the long run. But I am looking for a light-weight plastic coal to replace this coal, if such a product exists. I'd love to see your dragline and loading, so let me know if you put something up.
Morning @@brucerandell3771 We have just moved house so still trying to find things lol but I will see what I can put together with the dragline, With the coal have you thought about using the real thing I think it would be light enough and maybe a light spay of matt clear would possible seal it, just a thought haven't tried it, Anyway thanks again for sharing Cheers Mark
When are model railroad videographers going to learn about the subject "depth of field". The layouts they shoot would look even more real if they would imply increase lighting and decrees aperture settings.
As a photographer, I agree with your sentiment. However, it's not as easy as just adding light and closing the aperture. Your focal distance is so close that you need to do more than just aperture control. As it is, I have extra lights hanging from Heath Robinson contraptions just to get my amateur product out. Lance Mindheim has done some amazing stuff in that department, but it's quite a chore. Layout building and photography is his profession, so he has the time and the need to focus on that (no pun intended). I'm doing this in my limited spare time, as are most modellers. I'd rather spend that time on my layout than making my videos more fancy. That's probably why most model railroad videographers haven't mastered the depth of field issues. As they say: "When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys".
what Arduino decoder and what sensors is used for this operation so that I can build similar system? many thanks or can you list the all electronic products used to make this loader work
2 lasers shine onto 2 LDRs. The loco and wagons interrupt the laser beams and the LDRs provide a different resistance, so the Arduino Uno known when the lasers are being interrupted. The rest is mostly in Arduino code that tells two servo motors when to move and how much to move. The servos are shown in the video. When time permits I'll put a more detailed how to video out, but that won't be anytime soon though unfortunately.
hey man you probably wont see this comment but i wanted to ask if you would be able to make a video showing how you built this and all the components/electrical devices used so that i could make one of my own in the future i knoiw you show a bit on how it works but quite frankly im not smart enough to build something similar with out alot of help thanks much appreciated
Thanks for the comment. Once I have time, I would like to put together something a bit more detailed but don't hold your breath while you wait. Between work and family and I have very little time for the hobby so it will not happen any time soon...unless I win the Lottery and can stop working.
@ryankruchowski1951 The layout doesn't have a name. The two yards are Ngodwana and Fairview, named after the real names of the stations at or near each yard. I have no need for a layout name but if the layout's RU-vid presence grows (when I get more time one day in the future) I suppose I will need to give it a name. Maybe I'll just combine the two yard names, or the two town names in the area - Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder.
