New 5" gauge riding car

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Tony Bird
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New 5" gauge riding car

Post by Tony Bird » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:22 am

Hi,

One of my 5" gauge locomotives was due for its annual pressure gauge and safety valve check last weekend and it was the first opportunity to try out my new 4 wheel riding car.
IMG_9501 LR.jpg
IMG_9501 LR.jpg (64.74 KiB) Viewed 4146 times
IMG_9500 LR.jpg
IMG_9500 LR.jpg (70.38 KiB) Viewed 4146 times
My bogie riding car was getting too heavy to transport and as the club was getting ride of its old bogie riding car's bogies I bought a pair and converted them to 4 wheel cars they each weigh less than half of the old riding car.

Regards Tony.

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tom_tom_go
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Re: New 5" gauge riding car

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:55 am

That's a great looking Maxitrak Dixie Tony (their factory is local to me).

I was going to view a Pearl a couple of weeks back but it had already sold.

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idlemarvel
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Re: New 5" gauge riding car

Post by idlemarvel » Tue Jul 16, 2019 2:31 pm

Nice. How do you find the 4 wheel driving truck for stability? If it came from a bogey it must have quite a short wheelbase.
EDIT: I see from the picture that you have reused the wheels not the bogey frame.
Dave Miller
currently building the 5" gauge Circle Line

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Tony Bird
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Re: New 5" gauge riding car

Post by Tony Bird » Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:44 am

Hi Dave,

Some years ago the Cardiff MS converted to continuous vacuum braking of it riding cars and bogies that couldn't easily be converted were sold to members and I bought a pair. These bogies were very robust and heavy having many years of life left in them.
002 IMG_7732 LR.jpg
002 IMG_7732 LR.jpg (65.12 KiB) Viewed 3993 times
As at that time our grandchildren were young and lived locally I made a bogie riding car.
001 IMG_7755 LR.jpg
001 IMG_7755 LR.jpg (74.57 KiB) Viewed 3993 times
The original CMES riding cars except for maintenance never left the tracks so wight wasn't an issue. Each bogie weighed 20 lbs so even though my riding car was short and had a light wooden body it was still heavy to move around. So I was considering making a lighter riding car from scratch. A friend who had also bought a set of bogies heard of my plans and as he said he was unlikely to use the ones he bought would I like them? And in fact he gave them to me. These bogies were made into two 4 wheel riding cars one of which I returned to my generous friend.

Only the side frames, axle boxes wheels with their axles were used. A what I think is called a three point suspension was used, the same as Dixie which has no springs: the driving axle being fixed the leading axle is pivoted at its centre. So with a total movement up and down of about 6 mm two riding cars were made.
004 IMG_7741 LR.jpg
004 IMG_7741 LR.jpg (49.97 KiB) Viewed 3993 times
And brakes were added.
007 IMG_7828 LR.jpg
007 IMG_7828 LR.jpg (50.89 KiB) Viewed 3993 times
Take care.

Tony.

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idlemarvel
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Re: New 5" gauge riding car

Post by idlemarvel » Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:05 pm

Thanks for the details Tony, very inventive.
Dave Miller
currently building the 5" gauge Circle Line

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