re transporting modulars I made an aluminum, four wheeled cart that allowed the curved sections to be mounted vertically/ The ends were nestled in appropriately canted Al angle. Each section had 3/4" x 3/4" 3/4" pieces of readily available nylon rod, cut, bored, and countersunk to accept 1/4-20 flat head screws, These "legs acted as spacers to keep one section from damaging the next section while stacked either horizontally or on edge for storage or transit. Two pieces of 'U' channel of appropriate width to accommodate the wheels of the cart were used to roll the whole shebang into the back of my old Dodge van. The rectangular steamup bay sections and any other straight sections were safely transported on top of the curved sections. On more than one occasion, the track was disassembled and loaded in the van in less than 40 minutes.At one steamup, my "help" was two ladies, both over retirement age, who helped me take the layout down and load it into the van in less than 40 minutes!! My most recent track was made with 1" x 1" x 1/8" aluminum square tube with Dibond for the surface. Believe it or not, the rail and ties are actually heavier than the frame and Dibond. Another item that seems to me to defy logical thinking is why so many portable tracks are made with double leg units, i.e a leg on each side of the section , opposite each other. If you think about it, you are making a closed circle, oval, or bean shaped structure that can not possible tip over. With the double legs, how many times have you accidentally stumbled over a leg foot or kicked a leg as you were racing around the track - trying to catch your run-a-way lockie? saves a lot of expense making half as many legs, also a lot less weight to lug around. keep your steam up! Walt ----- Original Message ----- From: "c_sonoma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 4:04 PM Subject: Re: [SSLiveSteam] Modular - transport
> > Gary: At least for live steam I think the key to success with a modular > layout is to leave the scenery off and have just track. ;-) > > In general it seems to me that every portable layout I've ever seen has > been > made out of wood. It's big, heavy and comes with all the difficulty of > storing moving and setup. The different one is Bob Star's portable but, > with all due respect to Bob and the crew that built it, and even more to > Bob > for transporting it, that amount of steel just doesn't seem all that > friendly either. > > Which is why Walt's aluminum design is so appealing to me. Of course, I'm > not the one who would be transporting it. And from a transportation > standpoint I suppose transport logistics are still logistics. > > Chris Scott > Sonoma, CA > > > | ------------------------------ > | > | Message: 3 > | Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:53:04 -0800 > | From: "Gary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > | Subject: [SSLiveSteam] Modular - transport > | To: "'Small-scale live steam discussions'" > | <[email protected]> > | Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > | Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > | > | Our EEGRS club had a modular track. Three major problems > | caused the club to > | sell the modules for a small amount: > | 1. Transporting the modules. EEGRS had a member who > | borrowed a flat > | bed truck and we tossed the modules on the truck. Obviously > | lots of damage > | to scenery and track occurred. > | 2. Storage took more space than anyone had in a garage. > | We found a > | barn then another barn to store the modules. Lots of clean > | up required to > | get bird and insect evidence off the modules for each show. > | 3. Aluminum track was installed to save money. That particular > | aluminum track oxidized so fast we had to clean hourly or > | more often during > | shows to keep trains running. Part of the problem was poor > | rail joiners and > | until I joined then used rubbing alcohol to clean rails, > | which built up an > | insulating layer. > | > | Salem's http://www.pcmrc.com/ club is using a large trailer > | to store and > | haul the modules. The O Scale group in Portland also uses a > | trailer for > | storage and transport. Their system includes rails inside > | the trailer that > | allow the modules to slide into position protecting rail and scenery. > | > | GHeoff wrote, "I would like to have a portable track one of > | these days, too, > | and the criteria there depends on one's means of transport, > | as much as one's > | construction and engineering abilities or one's ability to > | hire someone > | else's skills." > | > | ~ Gary - Steaming over Terror Trestle > | http://community.webshots.com/user/raltzenthor > | http://www.angelfire.com/or/trainguy/ > | > | > | > | ------------------------------ > | > | _______________________________________________ > | SSLiveSteam mailing list > | [email protected] > | http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam > | > | > | End of SSLiveSteam Digest, Vol 5, Issue 13 > | ****************************************** > | > > > _______________________________________________ > SSLiveSteam mailing list > Send messages: [email protected] > Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam > Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html > _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
