Death Valley Monorail

[Chuck Doan]

Crappy cardboard construction and LOTS of photoshop texturing...who need to spend hundreds of hours on models!

That's a good thought on painting-I will look around some for ideas.

Actully, my bench is pretty clean just now!

[finescalerr]

Adequate nonetheless. -- Russ

[Scratchman]

Chuck nice job so far on the ore car. I like the way you can see most of the tractor. What kind of brakes did these ore cars have? Is the drive system a sprockets and chain type setup?

I like the saw mark. How do you control a constant speed when pushing the work piece? Also how fast is the sander going?

Gordon Birrell

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/77318580@N00/

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks Gordon. The only brake seems to be the rail shoe like the ones you did. This is a guess though, but there is a brake wheel sticking up right behind the drivers seat. The drive is supposedly a worm gear on each wheel driven by a drive shaft on the drivers left side. This setup may have also helped with braking. I am still hoping for some more info to show up.

The sander is speed controlled, probably 80 percent fast, whatever that is. I just push with as constant a speed as I can. A mini sawmill carrage would be nice! I think a mini table saw might be useable too to scuff the edges.

[Chuck Doan]

I haven't been able to do much lately, but I am almost done with the design of this crazy contraption.







I have been in touch with the Searles Valley museum near Trona Ca, and also Adrian Garner who wrote the Gazette articles. The museum is just down the road from where the monorail began its 30 mile journey into the hills. I have seen six new photos of these machines that have helped a lot. Thank you Margaret and Adrian! There are still some details to be worked out, but I think I am ready to start building.

I sent some test parts to Shapeways, but their advertised 10 day delivery is getting closer to a month and they are not too keen to tell me when I might actually get them. Not a good start, especially for my first order.  



 

[pwranta193]

Okay - whilst I am prepared to do some research and find out... being a little lazy this AM - can someone enlighten me as to the "why" of a monorail design (not yours, Chuck, but the original Wiley Coyote types)?  Was there that much to be save by not adding an extra iron rail (with the cross section view and all of the lateral stabilization, you'd need a team of carpenters, no?); did it adapt to sharper curves; or was it considered a chick magnet?  I know nothing about these - and unlike a ZahnRadBahn or the like, the problem this is solving isn't leaping out at me.

Standing by for that head slapping moment, and getting ready to do an after work google-fest :

Thanks gents for any illumination...

[Chuck Doan]

There has been a fair bit of speculation as to why they chose a monorail design. There was a narrow rocky canyon they had to traverse, but otherwise the route was pretty wide open. Supposedly it was to need less grading, but there was plenty done anyway (much still visible today). I agree that all the extra wood required seemed to negate the advantage of saving one rail. The curves had to be extra large to accommodate the long wheel based locos. Plus there were only two wheels to provide drive and braking force. Ultimately the weakness of the track structure helped contribute to the demise of the enterprise.

I have no idea if 20's flapper girlz found monorail tractors sexy, but it may well have been the deciding factor! I think the improbability of it is what is so interesting to me. (Plus a fondness for Fordsons myself  !)

[pwranta193]

Thanks Chuck - I'm feelin' better about this... While I'm not an engineer (nor do I play one on TV), the tiny little incandescent bulb in my head just wasn't coming on.  I had looked at it off and on, and kept wondering without doing any looking up yet - so much appreciated.  This looks like one of what we used to refer to in the military as a scheme from the "Good Idea Faerie"

Paul

[Malachi Constant]

I'm betting that he'll build working coiled-spring shock absorbers as shown in the cross-section, then hide them away inside never to be seen again!  Oh crap, just got knocked down by a bunch of flappers running to see what all the fuss is about ...

Cheers,
Dallas

[Chuck Doan]

Fortunately those sprung thingies are on the outside and got well oiled. Hmm, maybe I should put that another way...

[TRAINS1941]

Chuck

Your design work an explanations are worth the reading even if you didn't build it.

Thanks for all your time and effort to keep us up on how these things work.

Jerry

[Chuck Doan]

thanks Jerry!

Here is a link to an orientation drawing:

http://images114.fotki.com/v74/filewleS/a737a/7/777399/2992336/6052800937_471ba6e743_b.jpg

[lenelg]

Chuck,

No need to build ;^)  Your drawings are works of art on their own!

/Lennart Elg

[michael mott]

Chuck your drawings are a treat to look at and study, I know you have probably been asked this a great many times over the years but what program are you using for your drawing? I am looking forward to seeing the build.

Michael

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks Lennart! Michael, I am using Soldworks to create a 3D "model" of a model. The drawings are derived from the model and update automatically if I change anythingl. The next step would be to use a rendering program like Paul has done to make them photorealistic. I am not at that point yet. I would still rather make it in real-D.