Jump to content
 

Nelevator in OO


Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

I thought that, and I'm only 32!

 

You can sink a Nelevator into the baseboard FWIW, ok if you're using the bottom-most through roads there'll be a lot of it "proud" of the board, but if you default to the top tracks then it'll virtually all be sunk.

 

They're not Paternoster style, just move up/down, you can move the front and back independently too, all done on push buttons. They are quite neat. I can see the appeal in N. In OO I'd have thought they'd be monstrous, unless you only store short trains.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
16 minutes ago, njee20 said:

I thought that, and I'm only 32!

 

You can sink a Nelevator into the baseboard FWIW, ok if you're using the bottom-most through roads there'll be a lot of it "proud" of the board, but if you default to the top tracks then it'll virtually all be sunk.

 

They're not Paternoster style, just move up/down, you can move the front and back independently too, all done on push buttons. They are quite neat. I can see the appeal in N. In OO I'd have thought they'd be monstrous, unless you only store short trains.

Yes.

I've seen the N one working but having to bring up 12 (?) trains to get at the bottom one doesn't appeal to me!

Link to post
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Bring back Meccano - A No 9 set,some 2" x 1" and a bit of imagination should build one !!!!

 

 

I know somebody who built essentially the same thing out of Meccano and Masonite 40 years ago. It only had 4 tracks, you had to drive it up and down manually and it wasn't fast (deliberately slow to ensure good track alignment) but it worked flawlessly. Later there were experiments controlling it with a Vic 20 but sadly it had to be dismantled for a house move. The same mechanism was reused for a semi-automated traverser.

 

Cheers

David

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
9 hours ago, njee20 said:

Not sure how you’d ever get away from that with any sort of lift. If the train’s at the other end it’ll be a bit of a faff...

A huge great stack of trains/tracks above the layout to get at the bottom one?

Not for me. Any sort of rotation is better than that.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
3 minutes ago, Marcus-Jay said:

6 trains on each side. So you would only need to move one side to get to the bottom, and both sides move independently.

I'm sure the one I saw was a taller stack than 6?

Looking at their video it was 10 for N

perspex-cover.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, Marcus-Jay said:

 

Apologies, I was thinking of the OO version, I stand corrected re the N gauge

The original post is about the OO version however, but I've only seen a "N" one.

 

It's a neat idea if you have the space, without it dominating the layout, which would be my problem

I don't have a fiddle yard as such, all the layout is on show.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The Nelevator concept seems great for N and for 00 branch lines, but that home made one looks like the sort of inspiration I need!

To me the Nelevator needs to be against a wall, behind the back scene , not stuck out like a sore thumb towering above a portable layout.

The home made one Ron Ron Ron mentioned looks very useful though I do wonder if the concept is better in 00 as a lift between levels rather than as a storage system, an alternative to a spiral rather than an alternative to a mass of storage loops.  That would reduce the load on the lift mech by about 75%.    You could even have the top layer only dropping in to position to complete the continuous run and not going below while the main lift deck dropped a long way, a foot maybe  so trains could still run for 75% of the time the lift was rising or falling.   However that Paternoster as in the lift looks really good, if it could be made to work with the tracks stacked vertically rather than the great barrel shaped contraptions the Germans seem to love. What actual use is it?  I guess you could stick it in the garden outside the shed but the trains would still have to back in or out.  Bit like a Mercedes Maybach, or Rolls Royce Phantom car, an osentatious show of wealth and not as useful as something costing 5% of the price.

Elevator 1.png

Edited by DavidCBroad
Link to post
Share on other sites

The one I ordered, a 3ft one, was intended to be the fiddle for my ex-exhibition layout; the idea was that the loco would run through onto a short board beyond, uncouple (Kadees) and push the stock back onto the elevator; the loco then being lifted off, turned if necessary, and placed on the board the layout side of the elevator from which it could then when required back down onto a rake of stock in the elevator.  That latter board being removable as it goes across the rooms window. In the absence of the elevator I have not been able to run anything to any extent on the layout and have now filled in the top of the framework  I built to support the elevator with five fiddle yard tracks laid on it while a couple of 13 drawer storage cabinets have just arrived to act as stock storage under it. 

Edited by Butler Henderson
Link to post
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Andymsa said:

I would say the concept is more for display than for layout storage per-say 

I wouldn't say so - otherwise it would be a single rotating set of 20 tracks rather than two racks of 10 - one set of which would be at the back.

 

It is an expensive solution to the question "how can I get maximum use out of a minimal fiddleyard space?"  

 

Clearly the inventor did it out of necessity and ended up with something he could sell, but maybe he is a good inventor rather than a good project manager.  It's one thing to invent something when you have all the time in the world, it is another to create an efficient scalable process to build more of said item and make a profit.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I wouldn't say so - otherwise it would be a single rotating set of 20 tracks rather than two racks of 10 - one set of which would be at the back.

 

It is an expensive solution to the question "how can I get maximum use out of a minimal fiddleyard space?"  

 

Clearly the inventor did it out of necessity and ended up with something he could sell, but maybe he is a good inventor rather than a good project manager.  It's one thing to invent something when you have all the time in the world, it is another to create an efficient scalable process to build more of said item and make a profit.

It's not a unique idea either so you can't corner the market with patent protection either.

Anyone else could build and market a similar device as long as it doen't slavishly copy it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I wouldn't say so - otherwise it would be a single rotating set of 20 tracks rather than two racks of 10 - one set of which would be at the back.

 

 

I made the statement due to its height abouve the layout. A storage yard should be out of sight as such, but to add it to an existing layout would be difficult, this was the problem I had. But to build it into a new layout would be ideal. I have seen many types of these systems and all are very exspensive and per £ cost outlay to space saving I don't think it's worth it. Additionally I would suspect over time these systems could become problematic. Even the train safe one has been reliably informed been removed from there web site. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I ordered mine in JANUARY 2016............................................  Now taken Court action as even the formal letter for refund did NOT work !!!!!!!  Awaiting result ????

Edited by JWRStation
Poor English ??
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 19/12/2019 at 08:12, gordon s said:

I thought Nelevator was a paternoster system.....or maybe I’ve misunderstood.

 

Reminds me when I was a rep in electronics and went to one of the large electronics companies (Racal or GEC Marconi) which I think was in Hemel Hempstead?  As an 18 year old, I’d never seen one before and it was a little scary stepping into an open cavity wondering what would happen if you didn’t get out and went over the top.

 

Anyone else remember paternoster lifts?

 

Health and Safety would have a field day now......

 

Edit: Seems they were all but phased out in 1974...

 

Not all of them. I remember using one at GEC Plessey Telecom around 1990 at their site in Beeston.

 

John P

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, jpendle said:

Not all of them. I remember using one at GEC Plessey Telecom around 1990 at their site in Beeston.

 

John P

Ericsson's that was. Still had Ericsson over the doorway If I remember correctly.

 

AFAIK Aston Uni still has their Paternoster but it has perspex screens covering the entrances (it is now turned off)

It was taken out of use due to lack of spares to keep it running.

EDIT

Sheffield Arts Tower still has a working Paternoster.

Edited by melmerby
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I have been trying for months to contact Nelevation via phone, email and even tried their 'sister' company Origin Product Design, no one answering their phones or email either.

 

I presume this is a dead product now and expect them to appear on Companies house closure notices soon.

 

With a complete lack of response I will have to go via Small Claims Court to try and get my £500 deposit back.

 

Such a shame as this was such a good idea for a product.

 

 

  • Friendly/supportive 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...