Homemade Double Bogie Wagon Part Two - The bit in the middle 

He's already beating capital development on american freight railways

@@deathclawow : llolololololololol it's funny because it's true

@@deathclawow I think that you had better subscribe to Trains magazine for a year or two to learn the reality of your comment. The freight railroads have good access to capital for projects, it's the passenger and commuter railroads that have the problems of accessing money for capital expenditure.

@@markfryer9880 Although "they," meaning people who wear suits, have access to lots of capital, "they" don't seem to make good decisions on how to spend it to support people who wear reflective yellow and orange... or their customers, too.

@@markfryer9880 and an example to disprove you on a second point (whether or not it's indicative of all municipal transportation agenencies) the MBTA just finished 5 years of trackwork on the Orange subway line in 30 days, and sent 30 F40PHs to Boise for rebuilds, and let's not forget the Green Line Extension, Beverly and Natick Center stations... or Worcester, the new platform at Ruggles... They're getting things done fore sure. The reason it takes so long is union labor.

Good to see even large channels like you appreciate Tim's ingenuity.

Thank you!

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 Oh by the way i had a thought. What about rope tows for the heavier rolling stock? Seems much cheaper and easier than a locomotive short term. Have a thick rope that loops around with a piece you can couple to the front of the carriage where the pull bar goes.

Yes something sprung that the legs simply click into

@@ralpha679 or an even simplier design is having a hole drilled in the tracks and a bar behind each pair of wheels meaning 3 bars will hold them all in place or they could be inbetween the legs depending how he wanted to go about it since both would be just as good since theres no steep hills or extreme curves.

Indeed ... a more modest version of Le Shuttle's side-loading vehicle ramp system should do the trick.

Thanks, Robert. I had been considering going from double to single rail for this wagon, but your idea is good too. But lots of trips...

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 I fully understand. You are on the working end of things. Pleasant engineering. I am fully enjoying your journey.

It should also make bogie repairs easier as well. It might be a good idea to make a third bogie as a spare incase of a break down.

Excellent! Interesting tracks too..

Yep - that could work too.

I'm thinking about that too - so many choices!

Thank you!

Thanks, Jerry. I'm already older than that! I must find out more about the mincing/pumping of slurry and how expensive that might be to set up

Guess you could also pre-drill holes if you had to start a cut in the middle of a sheet. Some people put a sharpie as offset tool on their plasma cutter to mark lines they want to bend along, and you could also use it to mark a hole the machine knows the coordinates of.

Thanks, David. As you know, it's not always possible to start on the edge, but I do try. And yes I have both a paper dryer and a refrigerator dryer

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 would it be possible to take the tip off and keep it in a dry box until you are ready to use it? Or maybe just put a plastic bag around it with some desiccant packs?

@@jdgindustries2734 the problem is not the tip getting moist, it is the moisture in the compressed air getting converted into plasma and forced through the tip...

@@jdgindustries2734 The problem is caused by moisture in the compressed air itself. It can form a droplet in the swirl section of the nozzle, disrupting the air flow. The plasma torch works by creating an arc between the electrode (inside the torch nozzle) and the work piece. The nozzle, which has a conical form internally, has air introduced through tangential holes near the widest part of the cone and these spiral down the cone and out through the hole in the nozzle. In doing so they constrict the arc tightly raising the temperature in the arc high enough to form the very hot plasma. The air also prevents the plasma from touching the nozzle. Any disruption of the air flow from a blocked radial hole or a badly shaped nozzle hole prevents the plasma from being constricted properly leaving to poor cutting and more damage to the nozzle. Tim has said that he's got suitable air drying in place so the rest is just the first of plasma cutting. We used to reckon on about 20 pence every time you started a new cut. Air plasma isn't the cheapest cutting technology out there but it works well and the initial costs aren't too horrendous.

Hoppers would need to be very high to tip into a wheelbarrow though

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 Not necessarily. The concept I was thinking would be an open top hopper with a sliding gate or two at the bottom to load the wheelbarrows. Whether to unload directly (requiring room to place a wheelbarrow under the gate) or have some form of mechanism to move the discharged load would be the next project.

Yes, well, you could be right, Elisabeth. That's the way we've done ot for many years, but perhaps this way will work too

I'll need around 100 wheelbarrow loads this year - so around 800 bucketfuls?

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 Damn! But perhaps the large kind used to mix concrete in (20 l), from the home center, will fit the bill? They're still somewhat easy to carry, cheap, and sturdier, too. Those wheelbarrows strike me as rather unwieldy and I find the high center of gravity on the railcar problematic. So easy to tip over.

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 P.S. How about a trebuchet. Skip the railroad and deliver the muck by air freight. Some of that good Irish whiskey might help with the calibration of the proper aim. Now there's a video that would go viral 🤣

@@folkerwulff wohoo ! a muck trebuchet !!!! OHHHH YEAHHH

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 so basically you need to build the flat car to hold eight fishboxes for every wheelbarrow. But the boxes are easier to load and will be more stable, and you'd only need one or two barrows instead of four or six.

Of course - I always learn something from your posts, Colin. I just hope you don't get any new members who don't understand your ethos

depending on the length of the modular wheel barrow frame, and the location of the muck box lifting pin, it could also be used to lift the boxes onto and off of the rail cart with lots of leverage.