You should really consider the idea of recording audiobooks. Even though I am French, I would really enjoy listening to an audio book told by you, with your gentleness, manner of speaking and your accent.
Many have mentioned this to our dear Tim - maybe one day, he will surprise us and get an important well-paying voice part in a blockbuster movie, or something!
The great thing about your railway (needs a name), is that it's neither a display, or a toy, or any sort of heritage. It is simply industrial - therefore, nothing is 'wrong'. Everything is designed especially for your purposes, regardless of whether it is 'prototypical' to other railways. In fact - yours is an example of a working 'prototypical' railway - no different - practically - to, say, the now disappearing Bord na Mona peat railways. Ballast wagons usually have wooden sides, 1 or 2 planks high, which you make absolutely mountainous with ballast. The doors are usually on the sides of ballast wagons, as it's easier to push it under the sleepers from the side with a shovel, then from the top, (probably standing in the wagon with the shovel through the trapdoor!) Addendum to include later suggestion: make an iron hopper wagon, with a 'bucket' consisting of v-shaped end plates & sheet metal sides. This 'bucket' is free to tip, so, to empty, you simply push it on its pivot. Have a look at 2ft narrow gauge quarry railways for the general 'look' of such wagons.
Yes, thanks, I must get around to thinking about a ballast wagons properly one day, but it just occured to me that this would already work as it is. Having the stones between the rails isn't a bad thing, is it? And then raking it under the sleepers from there? Better than dropping them into the grass to one side, perhaps?
@@WayOutWestx2 Not necessarily, if you keep the wagon moving as you unload it you can have under-side hoppers, but at that point I would just stand in the wagon & pitch it onto the rails with a shovel. If you've got a standing wagon, unless you dig a pit below it, all you'll get is a wagon up to it's axleboxes in rock. At that point, it's more efficient to make a big pile on the line side & shovel it under the sleepers after shoving the empty (or, at least, partially lightened) wagon out of the way.
Does the trap door need to be the full width? You could have a slope down from outer quarter and trap doors only on the middle half. Look at the design of "coal hoppers" wagons.
I had the pleasure of briefly seeing what Tim has done when we visited Hairy Henry's recently and saying hello to Tim. Such a lovely couple, eccentric and brilliant designer, and the insightful and calming therapist. Brilliant people in a beautiful place. Love the videos and the progress, hard to believe how much you guys achieve.
Only since you asked for ideas, I don't know if they are common in your area, but there are large aluminum cages / pallets for transporting liquids in a plastic bladder. Some law makes it illegal to reuse these. They can be bought for less than scrap value. Many many people in my area use these for firewood storage, burn pits, and dunnage racks. The bladders are strong enough to act as a pitched roof if you cut them in half diagonally. Just a thought
Dear Tim - you could have the discharge doors on the outside of the wagon frames and have a ridged or sloped floor in the wagon. This could allow you to lower the centre of gravity of the wagon. Alternatively, have two bogies at either end, which would give you the same ability to move around, but a low centre of gravity
The most practical solution for you would probably be a dual bogie truck with the hopper low to the ground. If you want to build something really cool, a rotary dumper would be awesome to see.
It looks fantastic! The only way i can imagine doing it differently would be to do a center release hopper much like the American 2 and three bay hopper cars. Where the car essentially has a hopper that points material to a central point between the wheel sets. Then a door that hinges from the top is at a angle part of this and when opened the material flows in a single direction. That way gravity feeds the material out the bottom and puts less stress on the door since too the angles are absorbing some of the weight. Plus you only need 2 such angled do it reduces pressure on the walls.
I think this would be a perfect project to build up on later with a bigger Waggon with 2 boogies (I hope that's the right word) so basicly 4 axle standard railway Waggon. Then you could also make it lower but still at least double the size. Would be interesting to see in the future. But as always. A joy to watch
Well put! if each wagon was 8" long and 2 feet high they would still fit the dimensions of the mesh, plus there would be plenty of room between the bogies to install a trap door.
Oooh! You had me at ‘trap door’ 🤣 brilliant! It’s a handy thing and stuffed donkey didn’t seem too surprised at all…almost as though he were expecting the long drop! Another fab contraption to utilise along with the ‘chunkinator’ (not giving up on that one 😉) thanks for sharing. X
i dont think it is possible to make a such a reliable and simple wagon. frankly speaking the only thing i would add is a bead of weld around the rim where it meets the flange but, given the amount of use it will see on a set of rails, it really isn't necessary. thoroughly impressed with the design and execution.
From the person who is perennially mesmerized: I especially like the colour! I’m also glad to see the henbarrows are popular and to hear that the donkey agrees
Tim, it looks about the right size as I started my underground mining career in a 'track mine' and our 'flat cars' were similarily sized but with a 24" gauge. As for the 'screen' it is used in most North American mines for ground support in leu of posts and timber, it's installed by drilling holes into the rock and inserting threaded rebar which is used to hold the screen to the back (ceiling) and walls with square steel plates into place against the rock. The mines go through truck loads and truck loads monthly of that steel screen, anyways I'm always waiting for your next blog as what you do is what I really enjoy seeing, Thanks Tim!
Love your rail build series. I unload chips off a wagon & flat bed trucks by having a sliding plywood floor, open rear gate, fasten rope to plywood floor w rope other end tied to stationary anchor . I pull forward , Chips come off on top of moveable floor . I dump a 6 x 8 flat bed in seconds while in drivers seat, U could use a hand wench fastened to a ground anchor , make one end of your Rail Cart hingeable or removable, or swing up on top for unload. Just my thought.
Hi, Tim. Love your videos, probably u know but... a really easy way to cut "simple lap joints" is with a Circular Saw, u can do it with just 2 cuts. If u want, one with the miter saw and the other with the circular saw. Thanks for all your videos, much love from Argentina.
If you move the wheels to the ends of the cars then you only loose about 8 inches in door length. You'd only have to make a wedge on each end to facilitate flow. Gate latches where you have a bar going through the latching mechanism could help you to keep the doors closed.
I live in a logging area and so there are lots of wood chips moved about. Your wagon looks a bit like the trucks that carry the chips, so you are probably on the right track.
I like the colour and the retaining plates you've made. That plasma cutter is worth its weight in gold. The wagon looks very swish. I just wish the videos lasted longer :-(
You could use a slide out door instead of a trap door, so it won't get in the way. Although if there's too much weight on it it might get stuck, I don't know. Maybe not if it slides on metal plates
Maybe I missed it - but why have the trapdoors have to be in the middle? Do you plan on having a hole underneath the rails to dump the woodships in? If not - it would be easier to have the trapdoors to the sides of the wagon. It would not have to be this tall. (making it easier to fill up with woodships too)
Every European channel that I watch, creators all seem to own the same model of planer / thicknesser, I believe that's how you guys refer to it? It is such a brilliant machine. I can't for the life of me understand why there is no similar option in the US. A planer and a jointer are essentially the exact same tool, it drives me nuts that we have to have two huge machines here in the states when those combo machines make so much sense.
Curious about the trap doors. With that volume of wood chunks above, surely when opened, it will all drop and jam under the wagon. To put it another way, the flow can’t be controlled. Another thought, are the doors not in the way when trying to shovel/get at the wood chunks? I’m sure it will all become clear. If I could achieve 1% of what you do, I’d be a happy man.
You seem to be planning a dedicated dumping station, so I'm left wondering. Are you planning the dumping station at a rail end, or as a through station? If it is a rail end, then you could hook the end of the rail to catch the first axle on the cart. A block and tackle overhead would enable you to tip the whole cart over past the end of the rail. No need for trap doors or dump gates on the carts. If you're planning the dumping station as a through station, then could you hinge your trap doors over the axles? Any extra chutes needed to guide the load could be built into the dump station, and having the hinges over the axles (or integrated into the axles) would help them clear the wheels.
Perhaps you could standardize and make a fleet of flatbeds with removable sides? It's a solution that worked for many smaller lines, although you may be different. Excellent video! I love watching your adventures!
Nice. I wonder if you've taken a look at hopper cars and center flow hoppers? They're certainly much more complex than what you've done, but I think they offer an interesting solution to the doors at the bottom. They also slant the sides of the car above to facilitate the flow of the load.
Would a "skip" type of system be worth a try Tim, less fun I know. Separate "rolling" from storage would be more economical, a scissor action lift of a few inches would allow choking under the bed and the the removal and reuse of the rolling bed. Cheers.
Maybe instead of the trapdoors, you could make a slot in the side of the wagons and slide the floors out to unload the wood chips? That way the wheels could be closer to the floor of the wagon and it could even be wider without worrying about hitting the axels. Not sure if drag would become an issue if the car is loaded, maybe it would be to heavy to pull the floors out with all the weight on top.
These videos are incredible! I love them! If you ever build a locomotive, , it would be cool to see something like a blown up mamod. Anyway, great video,can't wait till the next!
Hi Tim, it looks like the thicknessing bed on your Kity needs a scrub with wire wool & waxing (make sure it's a silicone free wax like Butchers Block). That's why it's not feeding your timber all the way through under its own power.
Try two 45 degree angled boards along base, leaving a space between for a pull out drawer type trapdoor to let out chips. Much lower truck plus you would have control over flow of wood chips
If you move the axles closer to the ends you could make the doors drop from the ends instead of the sides. That would better avoid the axles and maybe the extra height problem. The latch could be a t-shaped fork in each side that you pull out on to release.
Alternatively you could have the doors mounted from the center so it dumps out the ends, and build a shield onto the side of the cart to keep it from spilling everywhere. That would also help keep it out of the wheels.
Tim, If you release one end first, make sure your centers of gravity don't flip the whole wagon backwards as you release the front half of the wagon!! - Be safe my friend.
I would add a hinge to one of the long mesh sides about 1/2 way down so you don't have to lift stuff too high as you fill it (at least until your up to the hinge). I have a bad back, I don't want you to get one too ;-)
You might want to consider using bogies (we call them railcar trucks across the pond) to get you more space for trapdoors in the middle. You can just buy lazy Susan bearings online for cheap that might be able to handle enough weight but you could also make such a bogie pivot bearing with two disks cut on the plasma cutter and some cheap skateboard bearings. The skateboard bearings could be mounted on some threaded (or unthreaded) rod running from the pivot bearing center to between the two disks where the skateboard bearings would go. Sort of like the turntable you built for the 15" railway but with skateboard bearings instead of steel balls. Each bogie could be built like a small frame version of your existing carts but with said pivot bearing in the middle supporting a larger hopper frame with the trap doors. The end walls of the main hopper could be slanted from above the bogies to where the trapdoor is accessible to get more volume. The trapdoor could be mounted at 45° instead of flat and swing to a vertical position to drop. Some locking pins could be released using bike brake cable (with springs so the cable is always under tension, placed outside the tube carrying the bike cable and pressing against a small washer or the like). Make sure to grease those though, might take some force to open.
With the bogies would the trapdoor have to be attached to the sides? It could be attached to the ends instead and that would shield the bogies from the wood chips too
I was more thinking on the underside between the bogies. By putting them at a 45° angle they can be at 90° from each other, which lets the latch be between the trapdoors rather than to the frame.
I love watching you build stuff. Just free form flow. Not shore how many cages you are planning but There alot of work and cost sitting under the wagon not doing much most of the time. Can you make a box for the chips that is transfered to a holding frame and the carage drops downs and roles out to pick the next cage up. Kind of a mini mesh iso container.
No just a small bottle jack integrated into the cart as the box is wider than the cart slightly lift the box slide some blocks in drop the jakes and role out re lay your tack under the next siding area and drive more boxes in. Like a palet truck on tracks
Maybe not your style but what about using plastic food pallets; the types loaves of supermarket bread are delivered on. About 6” tall and 3’ x3’. They would stack like a food dehydrator and allow greater airflow, don’t rot and can be stably stacked quite strong and tall. They wouldn’t hold the volume as your current metal cage but may be more efficient (Except for for loading and unloading) ? Just an idea. Looks great!
great build. personally i would of made a bogie wagon. on the inside of the sides have angled bits that would let the wood chips slide to the centre and be released from the doors. i am happy to design and advise on this as i have a bit of railway knowledge
Dear Way out West couple, especially inventor Tim this time. 👍👌👏 Simply fantastic again and as always (video and work). You asked for it, so please kindly allow me some suggestions: Why not having simple sliding doors (or even one sliding door) instead of the trap doors? No mechanisms needed (no hinges, steel pipe for releasing ). With sliding doors (made out of sheet metal) the height of the railway mesh waggon respectively wood chip dumper could also be reduced a lot. I will try to explain my ideas via email later. Maybe I have to do this in German because my English isn't good enough. I certainly hope, that Sandra will translate. Thanks in advance. As always Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health to all of you.
Other than using a middle ridge as a triange which lowers the space you have, you could always make a center dump wagon that can dump to one side or the other and use it as a ballast or dirt wagon
With all the weight on it I think it would make it extremely difficult to slide. Quick release hooks are ideal, but it's designing that release mech that's hard as you want to release all 4(?) at once to reduce strain
@@CaptainKrimson sure, but it's still way less convenient to rehook the horse to a sliding panel than it is to throw a lever or bang out the support poles as he has it currently.
@@TheErador So something like the locking bar on the tail gate of a dump truck maybe? Love your inventive solutions to all the challenges. And yes time to name the railway. Maybe 'Eeyore'
Perhaps a simple flat-floor for your wood-chip wagon which can just be pulled out horizontally from the front or back of the wagon; a sort of blade thing?
Have you considered having the trap doors hinge in the middle to drop the chips on either side of the rail instead of in the center of it? An opening on each side instead of a single one in the middle.
Excellent as usual. Have you thought of making the tops removable? That way you would only need one wagon and multiple tops rather than multiple wagons?
I was thinking for the opening in the bottom use a slide. Maybe on bearings to one hold the wheight and two you could control the amount of flow. Look at semi trailer dumps they use for corn or beans
I love the little details to the otherwise utilitarian brackets, which have no other purpose than to be pleasing to the eye. Where do you learn to write the programs for your CNC machine?
Tim, why do you want doors in the bottom? Won't the wood chunks foul the tracks, or are they dropping down into some sort of bunker? If you made the cage with it's own base, you could tip it over sideways and empty it out, making chunk piles beside the tracks.
While seeing you draw the wagon shapes out I couldn't resist thinking about pallet collars. 2.5x5.5ft could be 80x120mm with a little bit of imagination. Or if you want to keep the size as it is you could probably make your own collapsible collars from boards and hinges. They would not be very good for drying wood inside of but for ballast it might be useful?
@@WayOutWestx2 I'm assuming "them" is the load? I would go for a sliding hatch under the wagon as some have suggested. Maybe with some of your axle pipes and bearing block assemblies bolted to the underside of the wagon frame to help it roll out from under all the weight of the load. Whatever you do please keep making videos about it, I love the garden railway series :)
About the tapered wheels (not asking for them but just an FYI), the tighter the curve, the taper angle has to be greater/more conical or make the tread wider with the same angle, either way, you're essentially trying to increase the difference between the maximum and minimum diameter of the treads in one way or another. As the wagon begins to peer in the direction of the track, let's say it peers right, the right wheel gets forced outwards and the inner part of the right wheel's tread has a greater diameter than the left wheel's outer tread, forcing the right wheel to move a greater distance than the left (as they are connected together) and forcing the wagon to move left, recentering the wagon.
Call it a bogey. Why not use louvred doors on the base, either a few lengthways or a lot widthways. Either way, you can have a mechanism to control opening them all from one place. In fact, you only need to consider the locking mechanism, because the weight of the load will open them all fully once any locking pin is removed. Also I think you should have some uprights in the four corners to support the mesh when loaded. Keep up the good work Tim!
I reckon it would add a lot of complexity, but a side dumping cart like some mining carts might actually work better, and permit lower center of gravity. . .although, I guess with how light the cart is, that there might be a balancing issue.
For the wood chunck wagon I would just make the wagon angle from front to back and build the lower part the trap door. This way the chuncks will flow out the front or back of the wagon. This would be simple to remove them by unhooking the wagon from the train and then rolling forward and the door is pivioted like a dog door and the contents flow ou the back. The weight of the wood chunks when wet is going to be pretty heavy. One ton to half a ton for the wagon size. One way to tell is to weigh one of those crates you have already chunked up.
Ok so I read some comments. So the plan is to send the dry chunks under the rail to where they will be turned in to charcoal. So having the chunks drop out the rear would be ideal. This way the load can slide out the door can be pretty large this way and the angle does not have to be huge maybe 1 foot or 1/3 meter height difference. You could test this with some bits and bobs of wood and some of those chunks you have. Having the angle like this will also allow you to center the weight much lower than you have right now. Which will not make the cart top heavy. Let me know what you think. I can not see any bad about this design. The open part in the rails will be via a trap door as well and a platform made around the area where you intend to drop the load in to. This way any bits and bobs that fall off can be pushed in to the box. Also if weight tippage is something that might happen then make it a upside down V with trap doors front and back. This would work very well too may be? The same could be done for the trap door in the bottom with a V and trap door like that like this O V O The O are the wheels and the V is the trap door or maybe like this o V o Either way got to run!
You're right, William, but you'd still need to clear the wheels, so altough the bottom edge would be lower, the top of the slope would need to be very high - so wasted space underneath. But I'll have another think..
I wonder if a dump truck style wagon that tips out the back would be better. You could actuate the lift with one of those cheap car Jack's that come free with cars. Turn it with a drill or impact wrench.
Every man needs a working railway in the garden! Would those mesh sides need some reinforcement half way up, to stop them bowing out when full of woodchip?
You'd probably get more in if the sides started bowing out - it happened all the time with solid steel coal wagons on standard gauge railways, but no-one ever thought to repair them until they got irreparably deformed!
@WayOutWestx2 >>> This just popped into my head while watching this video. It may be no better than what you designed -- and by now you probably do not need it -- but I thought I would mention it anyway. Could you mount the trap door hinges to that center fore-and-aft support bar? Then you could have a separate release latch for each door. In other words the doors would hinge from the centerline of the cart, not the outer frame.
I'm wondering if opening the trap doors to the center may be making this more complicated than it needs to be? If you instead create a central support going horizontal across the frame, you can mount your hinges to this and then have your trap doors slope to the front and back of the wagon. This way they can fall more easily without interference from the wheels or axles. What's more, if you mount your hinges at the top of the support and have it close to the bottom of the frame, it will create a sloped floor that should make everything flow easier, like a chute. That would also make your latching mechanism fairly easy to deal with.
