French unfinished ore cars and end of projects

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Ron Wallman

I built the ore car (already posted on the forum) whilst searching for a company that would sell me rivets for my DZ wagon. Another problem I have is getting oil bonded foundry sand. By the time I get it here it costs me roughly £2 a kilo in batches of 100kg. As the sand chars for about 3 mm, the layer round the casting is discarded. I reckon on throwing away as much weight of sand as I use aluminium alloy whether the casting is successful or not. I decided to try and recycle foundry sand.
The results were variable, inferior and I set fire to myself once. However the idea was to make pieces that were cast and looked it. In this respect I have found a way. During these experiments I needed something to cast so I used patterns I had made for the ore car. This resulted in a happy pile of little castings. In a similar way I had been slicing Ø80 steel bar into disks often when I arrived home from work. The idea was to burn off fury after a two hour public transport journey (four hours a day unless there were problems) by carrying out a menial task. Freshly retired, having a stock of disks and castings I thought of machining these up. All went well until I needed space to assemble the chassis with view of making the skip bodies, linkage and then completion. I found the DZ wagon in the way and the rivets had arrived. So I stopped to fit 306 rivets and get on with the DZ wagon.
So there are just ten wagons vying for a place and my time. I shall go quiet now as I need time to complete this lot and I have other projects that need finishing!
I have attached two views of the ore car chassis with modifications from experience gained from the first built. If I manage to complete all the wagons I will be able to marshal a train of twenty similar scale narrow gauge wagons and at last have something worth pulling.

I have designed little clamps that fit the rail so that a wheel makes a decent rap going over it. I have a mind to make several of these and fit them on the line close to the boundary when the neighbour’s brat daughter starts her pop music. I reckon taking the train round for a few hours should do the trick. Mind she has quietened down ever since my oldest built a base speaker two feet in diameter with frequency filter. This can send sound through the ground and be “heard” literally half a kilometre away if he opens up and the speaker placed favourably. It is nearly impossible to get a direction on it to work out where the noise is coming from. My son was after sound quality not volume. The noise nuisance effect is something we are very aware of and the brat discovered she could be drowned out!
When relaxing from machining, I go into our garden at this time of the year and play just six notes on a flute I have. I am told there is a cuckoo in the area but it has never been seen.' Twisted Evil

'

I probably will go quiet having shown all the finished and those projects I am prepared to admit are unfinished. We are approaching 21 June and the days start getting shorter also meaning that the rate things grow in the garden will slow up leaving me free to start machining again. I shall have to try and finish the ALCO in 2009.

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Ron

James · Fireman Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 98 Location: England

Hi Ron,
You certinally have a few of those wagons Shocked

They look very promising. Will your loco be able to haul of them Laughing

.

Your new loco looks promising-is it electricly powered?
I am looking forward to seeing them done-good luck- I bet there is a few man hours needed though Wink

Ron Wallman

The ALCO started when I found a tube in a scrap yard that was the right size for the smokebox. Then I made a chimney to see what it would look like and ever since then parts get made when I can buy metal. The driving and coupled wheels started out as 25 mm steel plate and the cylinder set solid blocks of cast iron. The frames are 1400 x 80 x 20 each.

Unfortunately it is practically impossible for me to get boiler insurance here so although the ALCO has all the steam passages I will probably fit it as a 1 ½ HP battery electric. There are problems with coal supply and the water here is notoriously hard. I estimate the ALCO will weigh nearly 200 kg when complete if ever and should be able to pull everything I have including the other locomotives backwards.

The meaning of Dark can mean hidden and Amber can mean electron in Greek therefore the name could be read as Hidden Electric. Did you guess it James?

Other options such as using compressed air from a diver’s cylinder brings problems of freezing the pistons and I calculated that even with small supplementary tanks in the panniers I would only have a range of 4.5 km. Gas firing only over comes the coal problem and I would still need paper work.

I am too busy to deal with the ALCO but plan to restart in 2009 when hopefully I will have finished the ten wagons on the bench.

The Forum’s “ Silly billy” might know which locomotive I have based this model on.

The rake of ore car chassis needs a force of 2 Newton to move them as all are sprung (home made springs) and have ball bearing axle boxes. The skips will not add a lot to this figure. Photographing was a problem as the wind kept blowing them away. There are 243 castings in the view with a possible 135 more to be cast if I can rationalise or maybe a few more.

The shot shows the coupling rods mounted on the axles to prove centring distance.

Click to see full size image
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Ron

5inchgaugetrains · Porter Joined: 21 Feb 2008 Posts: 19

Like James said-lovely wagons.

Your battery loco in build looks exciting-keep us updated on its progress.
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Paul

SillyBilly · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:43 pm Post subject:

I most certainly do. You've based it on my all time faviroute locomotive Cool

. Your work is truly stunning.
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Cheers,
William
Joys of Life Railway Revival
www.freewebs.com/joflrailway
www.freewebs.com/shrailway
www.freewebs.com/railmachinesltd
www.billsrailpics.fpic.co.uk

Ron Wallman

I am likely to go quiet for a bit on the forum as the season for workshop activities starts to open.

I have made castings to complete nine ore car skips and attached a photograph of most of them some still with their sprues attached. I thought others might like to see this seasons starting point.

Most of the castings are of standard sections because I find it cheaper to cast than buy at DIY centre prices and some sections are difficult to obtain. The bonus is a light wagon as aluminium alloy is roughly a third of the weight of steel.

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Ron

James · Fireman Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 98 Location: England

Looks good Ron! If you have a spare few minutes-keep us updated Laughing

Jim · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:46 am Post subject:

Well done Ron for another master class.
The great value of a site like this is for modellers, who may work far from clubs, to see just what can be achieved given care and attention to detail. The site is a window on the world of model engineering.
I've really enjoyed seeing your casting work and it has certainly encouraged me to look to having 'go' too.
Thanks again for sharing your fine workmanship.

Jim
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'If you're a friend of the captain you wipe your hands on the sails'

Ron Wallman

It is at solstice that I delight in the twin iron rings that I made in our hillside garden. The rings are 82 metres circumference and spaced exactly 127 mm apart and keep the neighbours a safe distance away. In the winter there is not much activity but marks a turning point in the seasons as the days get progressively longer for six months.

I have been extremely busy with other things and the ore cars have been waiting rather than worked on. In consequence there is very little to report.

I attach a shot taken on 10 October when I fitted the central ribs with their hinge blocks and end supports in position. There has been some progress but it does not look much. 63 castings have been worked on and added compared with previous shots.

I am hoping that I might be able to show a little more by the equinox.

I wish the season’s greetings to all those on the forum and visitors.

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Ron

SillyBilly · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:00 pm Post subject:

Very nice.

I was just reading over the ALCo stuff again and was thinking, aslong as you feel confident in your boiler and know it isn't going to blow up and only use it in your garden, it should be ok as insurance goes? You could even bring it to Britain, and ask one of the model engineering clubs to check it over for you. Failing that perhaps a driving truck containing an air compressor?

_________________
Cheers,
William
Joys of Life Railway Revival
www.freewebs.com/joflrailway
www.freewebs.com/shrailway
www.freewebs.com/railmachinesltd
www.billsrailpics.fpic.co.uk