My 3DC locomotives in 3' NG

[ZapperJet]

Might you be interested in making a wide-flanged version of this loco? I've been thinking of starting a rather long term wood-road project to bring that sort of thing to TRS.

Just a thought.

Cheerio,
John

[thegrindre]

Do you mean a pole road? I was thinking of the same thing LOLOLOL I'm making plans as I write to make a complete pole road operation... Locos, rolling stock, route, everything. I'm going to make a one board logging module so anybody could 'attach' it to any existing layout.

I haven't done any track yet, but, if you are planning the same thing, why don't you start us off with track, dirty track with lots of wood chips and bark everywhere. The no ballast type of track.
We're gonna need a base to build all of the rolling stock to and test everything on. We need to start with track so we, and anybody else, can gage all our trucks/wheels properly.

[bdaneal]

In a complete reversal of standard practices, I shall ask a question:
Is there such a thing as a switch on a pole-road, and if so, how does it work?

[ZapperJet]

I assume it'd work like any switch. You take each pole and slide them over to the other track. Unless there some other way...

Cheerio,
John

[thegrindre]

I'm not really sure if there was any turnouts as we know 'em. Looking at some of the old black and whites, I'd guess if they needed one they could easily pull up the logs and re-route the track.
How about a speed limit? 5-7 mph max???

My plans were not to use any switches... I also have been considering not using the 'flex' track we have. Is that 'stiff' track a '06 only option?

[Trainzsam]

HMMM... a pole road, this could get intersting! As far as I know Rick's right, there were no switches on a pole road. All the photos I have ever seen show one locomotive and MAYBE two cars (usually one), disconnects of sorts. BTW, did you get my E-mail with the photos in it? I tried several times and finally packed em' all up in a compressed zipped folder, and then sent that.

Sam

[ZapperJet]

I'm sure it'd be possible to create an animated junction with relaying poles.

Just a note here, there are two kinds of wood roads. One is made with poles, or cut timber which is smoothed. The other is made with milled wood sections, in 2x4 style. I'm looking more on the lines of the milled wood for my own stock, in 3ft gauge of course. That's probably more on the lines of what a Class B Shay would run on, but there's always room for this Class A. The only difference is wide-flanged wheels or double-flanged wheels, or even cleated wheels.

Just a small taste of my own stuff:



The ghost loco

Cheerio,
John

[thegrindre]

Yes, Sam. Sent you a PM. Thanks.

I like the 'pole' because of the uniqueness of it. Not sure how it'll work in Trainz but a true log road would turn some heads, IMO. LOL
I'm not all that convinced that anything bigger then a class A would have rolled on these type roads. They were usually for 'tractors' and animal traffic. The weight would crush most woods.

I'm taking a little vacation so work on this model will slow down a little but here's where it stands so far;
Re-did the piping to be a little more realistic. Not sure they had galvanized pipes back then so, I'll probably have to adjust the pipe textures to suit. (Polys have gone up because of it.)
It now has a fully operational animated wood load. (Thanks, Norm.)
Sight glass installed but not finished.
And, a number of texture tweaks and other minor adjustments.
I'm working on real Shay sounds so the sounds will be a special addition of mine. (Sound work takes a lot of time to perfect.)




'Fire in the hold'. LOL







I'll start back working on it in a week or so...

Have fun!

Rick

[ZapperJet]

While your away then I'll do pole trackage and wood rail trackage. That way we can knock out 2 at a time.

Cheerio,
John

[thegrindre]

That's a good idea, John. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it.
3' ng is good. I like that. I wouldn't go any smaller then 30", though.

[stealthsteam]

This keeps looking better and better!

Brandon