TPO Working Royal Mail pick up system
This build can be made completely "legally" in red, me being me wanted it in maroon though, so the bricks are covered in maroon vinyl!
I've wanted to make one of these mechanically opperational for years, but have never succeeded due to problem after problem, I was to a point of giving up with this one also, but I managed to get it working nicely now, eventually!
I didnt want PF, or electronics to operate this as I preffer a "back to basics" approach, plus its cheaper and lighter!
I've toyed around with the ideas of the old Hornby version, which has mechanical levers protruding from the underframe to opperate the swing out "mail catcher". 9v points, cross-overs and also level crossings would all activate this type of mech, so I looked at a simpler idea, whilst not ideal visually, of having a simple side lever to make it work. The plan was to have this low, maybe platform height, so the lineside activating build could be hidden and the carriage sideways tilt is reduced upon them meeting. I had it to a point of it working, then tested many steam engines that I have and none of the pistons / valve gear cleared the mech so it had to be moved higher up the carriage. This in itself caused further problems of both the post and carriage tilting away from each other when meeting, thus it not working correctly.
Redesigning the line side actuating post has now got it working almost perfectly. I say almost, as if this is run on full power, it usually breaks something or throws the hanging bag skywards. Full power setting can be used if the engine has 5+ carriages behind it. Generally if being run with one engine and 1 carriage most speed settings up to the last but one will operate this succesfully on every pass.
The 1x3 technic beam on the carriage roof, can either be removed or turned 90 degress to disable the operation.
Based on this proto:
www.flickr.com/photos/alan69/4172021016/
TPO Working Royal Mail pick up system
This build can be made completely "legally" in red, me being me wanted it in maroon though, so the bricks are covered in maroon vinyl!
I've wanted to make one of these mechanically opperational for years, but have never succeeded due to problem after problem, I was to a point of giving up with this one also, but I managed to get it working nicely now, eventually!
I didnt want PF, or electronics to operate this as I preffer a "back to basics" approach, plus its cheaper and lighter!
I've toyed around with the ideas of the old Hornby version, which has mechanical levers protruding from the underframe to opperate the swing out "mail catcher". 9v points, cross-overs and also level crossings would all activate this type of mech, so I looked at a simpler idea, whilst not ideal visually, of having a simple side lever to make it work. The plan was to have this low, maybe platform height, so the lineside activating build could be hidden and the carriage sideways tilt is reduced upon them meeting. I had it to a point of it working, then tested many steam engines that I have and none of the pistons / valve gear cleared the mech so it had to be moved higher up the carriage. This in itself caused further problems of both the post and carriage tilting away from each other when meeting, thus it not working correctly.
Redesigning the line side actuating post has now got it working almost perfectly. I say almost, as if this is run on full power, it usually breaks something or throws the hanging bag skywards. Full power setting can be used if the engine has 5+ carriages behind it. Generally if being run with one engine and 1 carriage most speed settings up to the last but one will operate this succesfully on every pass.
The 1x3 technic beam on the carriage roof, can either be removed or turned 90 degress to disable the operation.
Based on this proto:
www.flickr.com/photos/alan69/4172021016/