N scale coal loader

[DKS]

we should also add real water to the streams ..

Ouch...

Here's Rick's unloader: Not a valid vimeo URL

[mrnhn]

I don't know who made it but in the 1970's there was a kit made  like Rick's car dumper. Does any one still make the modern rotary dumper

[DKS]

I don't know who made it but in the 1970's there was a kit made  like Rick's car dumper. Does any one still make the modern rotary dumper

That was, in fact, made by Rick, under the name State Street Models. Long, long out of production.

[mrnhn]

[That was, in fact, made by Rick, under the name State Street Models. Long, long out of production.

Know wonder they look a like

[jimmo]

Rick's rotary unloader is pretty realistic. What blows the illusion (for me) is the speed of the cars moving down the incline. It kinda reminds me of the ol' Lionel action.

[DKS]

What blows the illusion (for me) is the speed of the cars moving down the incline. It kinda reminds me of the ol' Lionel action.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to beat physics. Same issue faces those who build operating hump yards. Doesn't seem to bother them, though.

[bbussey]

That was, in fact, made by Rick, under the name State Street Models. Long, long out of production.

The model railroad club in Englewood NJ had one of these operating on an inset module of the layout that could be removed for exhibitions at shows.  We used a slow speed motor that cycled around 360 degrees and performed the dump and reset via a pulley connection.  The coal "loaded" into a barge that had holes in between the piles of coal with a plastic receptacle underneath.  At the end of the ramp was a turnout with fixed points where the cars would roll through it to a slight incline, then roll back through the turnout to the holding yard adjacent to the coal dumper.  It used to fascinate people for hours at the shows, and it was used as part of the monthly operating sessions at the club.  I think the guy who built the module and automated the dumper ended up with it when the club disbanded.

[wm3798]

You can only run your live loads in trains that have to climb a curving 4% grade with mid-train and rear helpers.  Then you can declare it a victory...

Lee

[GaryHinshaw]

Yeah, it's kind of hard to beat physics. Same issue faces those who build operating hump yards. Doesn't seem to bother them, though.

Gravity works in special ways.  If you neglect friction, which is a decent approximation for freely rolling wheels, a prototype car and a model car will roll down a given grade with the same actual acceleration, in m/sec^2.  So the N scale model accelerates 160 times faster in scale meters per sec^2!

[peteski]

Gravity works in special ways.  If you neglect friction, which is a decent approximation for freely rolling wheels, a prototype car and a model car will roll down a given grade with the same actual acceleration, in m/sec^2.  So the N scale model accelerates 160 times faster in scale meters per sec^2!

Aha!  So, if we were to use 160:1 fast clock during the operating session, we would end up with a realistic simulation of the 1:1 scale trains!

That reminds me of the original Star Trek episode where the beings on a planet were living in a fast world. The Enterprise crew only heard faint bee-like buzzing (that is until they found a way to speed themselves up to match the speed of those beings).