Train setup for hauling yardwork?

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Accu157

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Jun 12, 2006
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Ok, well... not necessarily the most practical thing (hire people), but it sure would be cool! Anybody use one for bringing out new plants, transporting pulled weeds/mulch/etc? Besides being pretty neat, could something like this be practical? $3000 for about a 500ft track is more than acceptable (scale large enough to ride on). Nothing terribly fancy would be used (steam/scale models/etc.), just a cheap gasoline or diesel powered cart towing storage carts. Anybody done something like this? Our yard is just right for this. Having a way to haul things around more easily could turn the place into a greater paradise than it already is.
 
Yes, We used a 7 1/2 " gauge railroad to haul firewood to the house.
As far as being practical, :confused: It worked out rather well for us. It was a bit of a distance to the woods and we were able to bridge a few areas that would have been tough to get a wagon through.(stream and swamps)
During the winter snow was easily removed from the tracks by sliding a snow shovel along the rails.
The locomotive and car have been rebuilt several times.
The locomotive was originally an 0-4-0T, It was driven by a rewired 6 volt automobile starter motor with belt drive to one set of drivers and powered with a 6 volt automobile battery and a 2 position switch, forward and reverse.
Later the drive was upgraded to a 12 volt automobile starter motor with chain drive. A 12 volt deep cycle marine battery was used and power was routed through an H bridge of starter relays.
I later rebuilt it into a 4-4-2 with tender.
The car was originally a 2 bay hopper, when it was in need of serious repair, a 40' flat car was built and the trucks and couplers were swapped.
I later rebuilt the hopper as a 3 bay hopper.
 

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Is your line still active? If so, More Pics!

I always thought about doing something like that, but who (railroad nut) hasn't. My yard isn't big enough,...humm, or is it?
 
Russ is right the old line was in western Pa.
Some of the track may still be in the woods. I brought the locomotive and car to AZ with us. At the moment they are at my brothers machine shop at his place in Humboldt waiting another rebuild.
The plan is to lay some track there in Humboldt.
How big is your yard Zebob?
The last photo of the hopper was taken at my brother's place in Phoenix. (that car really gets around) He had some track laid in his back yard with 15' radius curves that the car went around, The Atlantic had a hard time on that radius though.
 
My yard is only about 40 x 75 ft. I could probably do an outside G gauge layout. It's not in sunny California, so I'd have to plan for the all season roadbed.
 
Hmm.... sounds encouraging! Can I take a guess as to the starter motor you used? :D A ford Longshaft starter motor? I've got a feeling it's the same thing we use in R/C sailplane winches. When starting from a deadstop, how was the acceleration? Those things are pretty rough on our planes... they can hit a couple kilowatts on launch. An electric motor setup seems much more promising, and simpler. We've got lots and lots of logs at our house... I'd say the longest stretch of straight rail would be about 200 feet in length... Great pictures Ray! Can we see more? It's really impressive!
 
You got that right as to the original starter motor,
It would spin the wheels at start if you didn't feather the throttle.
A motor and electrics from an electric scooter may be an easieer way to go. We didn't have things like that available back then.
I'll have to look around for some other photos.
I have some video that was converted from 8mm movie film of it in operation.
 

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That's pretty cool Ray! The picture with the cat is cute. "CatZilla rides the rails in search of another city to trash". sign1

My wife jokingly suggested something like this for our yard. Hmmm.
 
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