Homemade Ballast (Stone) Wagon For The Narrow Gauge Field Railway 

When british rail tipped stone like this they couldn't reclose the doors till the hopper was empty. This did at times bury the wagon if the train stopped while tipping. All good fun back in the day

This is great fun to watch this project progress. Looks like the new channel is picking up steam!

What i like the most about your videos is you show the things that didnt work it full detail so theres no need for others to waste time trying it.

A piece of flat bar positioned just in front of the rear wheels to ‘grade’ the gravel to the rail tracks height would be the obvious solution for excess gravel.. I love the content ✅

"Disappointingly simple" is often the best way to go. 😃

11:47

The stone size seems perfect. It doesn't all just flow out immediately, you have to shake it to get out. Control!

What you built is very much like the 100 ton capacity ballast hoppers used in the USA, only much smaller. These special hoppers dump ballast to either side of the track, too. Then a Jordan spreader, pushed by a locomotive, comes behind to shape the ballast profile. This is followed by a ballast tamper and other machinery as needed. A small army of specialized equipment is required to re-ballast main line track. But in your case, you are the one-man army!

That’s a great ballast wagon. I saw a video about a man who made a locomotive from an old rototiller. That’s great because someone else has done all the hard work of gearing down the engine.

You are so smart! I feel like im learning more about Engineering watching videos on your channel than when I went to University.

Maybe attach a motor with a Half circle on the end kind of like they do on dump trucks, should give you enough to shake the stones out. Maybe even a cordless drill might do it. I love it sir thank you. Make On

I was preparing to comment how smoothly it rolls over your PROPER point... and then it did a very good job on the silly point too. Shall we viewers start a pool on when your loco will be ready? I'm voting for June 2022.

Another quarter of an hour of railway fun. Thanks Tim. Looking at your ballast I wonder whether it’s the right grade. Let me explain, railway ballast holds the track in place and provides both springing and drainage. To do all this we at SNCF (and all other railways too) use regularly sized stones but more importantly they are never rounded and have relatively sharp edges, angles and corners. This is so they lock together and hold the sleepers better. When we need to renew ballast on our tracks it’s usually because over time the sharp edges wear down and the stones round off and no longer do their job.Just à thought.

I think your points will need the stones cleared out! But I just love the way you tackle any problem in such a pragmatic way. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again... You’re a very clever man. Thanks for so many interesting videos. Les in England!

Problem solving is by far the best skill set to have and you have it in spades

I look forward to each episode!'

Great progress, thanks for the update!

Impressive, I enjoy watching you figure things out through a bit of trial and error and tidbits of logic. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Tim. Hope you and Sandra are well. Just a suggestion regarding how you prevent a buildup on the tracks. Instead of the divider stopping the stone hitting the tracks, you could place a V shaped piece hanging vertically between each wheel and the chute (Four in total). Have the bottom of the piece almost but not quite touching the tracks. The V will push any ballast that falls on the tracks to the sides as you push the wagon along. It may also help with the bridging problem and avoid you having to create a complex agitating mechanism.

Intrestingly thats actually how the big rail operates and builds that type of hopper :)