Re: Legs and walk thru bridge

I'm with Ricky. Stable corners with sturdy legs will make for a better setup experience and a more stable layout -- which will reduce longitudinal and lateral forces on the Walk Thru Module.

The linear modules with hinges work great. We've solved that one. But, the corners clearly need help.

Two pairs of STURDY leg sets attached in a stable, sturdy manner on each corner module augmented by additional individual legs in pockets might be the ticket. Sturdy like the pictures above. Hinges on the leg sets would be nice if the geometry of the corners will allow. But only if hinges result in acceptably stable modules. We only have 4 to 8 corners in a layout. Two members can attach sturdy leg set pairs, insert the pocket legs and stand the modules up pretty fast.

Ease of setup needs to be considered, too. During setup I've seen members repeatedly struggle with the corners while inserting the spindly legs and then in standing the whole wobbly thing up. The downside of a trashed corner during setup is scary and I've seen some near misses.

Bill

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 8:13 PM, rick <rbd1949@aol.com> wrote:

I sent these pics out before but thought they worth looking at again.

Look at the size of wood they use on their hinged legs. Notice they have horizontal bracing on all their legs. Those two differences in the legs probably gives their layout much more rigidity than ours currently has.

I am NOT in favor of the 45 deg. corners and yard throat modules being converted to hinged legs unless something similar is done. I think part of the problem is also that the 90 deg corners do not have substantial enough legs and that the points that no longer have legs are also a factor in why the walk thru module has too much play in it now.

Ricky

Work continues on the hill top train station and the platform down at track level

Wiring is almost complete on the two new yard modules. This weekend we connected the "jones plugs" which are used to conect the jumpers between modules. Rick is our Jones Plug experet.

Fritz and Frank are working on the switch control pannel for the cross over moduel. The original control pannel was lost a while back, and how it was lost is a story for another post, and maybe a book!

There was a question about about the dimensions of our lift up section in the responses to last week's pictures.

- The module over all length is 4 feet
- The module is 2ft wide at its widest point
- The module is 3 3/4 inche high (1X4)
- The bridge itself is 16 inches wide
- The lift section bridge is 36 inches long
- The area of the lift up section where the control house is located is 7 inches long.
- There is a 12 inch section connecting the back of the bridge module to the next module.
- The midule is made of oak, it is heavy, but will stand up to the stress of set up, tear down and storage.

Here are some pictures. I know numbers listed above do not make much sense without a drawing. I will try and make one in PDF form and post it later.

Thanks for looking, and have a good week

Richard Gonzales

In order to put on this show:

There is a little work that goes on just about every Saturday morning when the Casey Jones High Railers meet:

Wiring the new yard modules

Work on the platform for the hill top train station continues