Falkirk Wheel Inspired train raiser traverser

[DCB]

I haven't seen anything like this for a model railway application so I hope its not copyright.

It had a severe problem with clearance on a plan I tweaked for a contributor and he then admitted he had an adjacent room he could use for a siding.

This set me thinking. If I used the siding for a head shunt I could have a fan of kick back sidings. If I ha a vertical traverser I could drop the train down to a fan of hidden sidings.  Now vertical traversers like the Nelevator are expensive so I looked for an alternative, and on TV there was the Falkirk wheel.

 

It set me thinking. A pair of extruded aluminium troughs 6 or 8 foot long to take train tracks, very robust, hanging from trunnions so they can revolve 360 degrees.

exactly the same distance from the pivot.  See drawing.  one train would counterbalance the other but a powerful electric motor should be able to revolve it.

Total 180 degree level change time should be around 3 seconds plus indexing whereas a Nelevator type must be nearer 30 sec.

 

Indexing the same as any other turntable. First plan was for 9" drop which was too little though the width was a very reasonable 12" max but the second at 18" drop seems much more do able.   The rotation is a much nicer action than slammed down or sideways compared to an traverser.  You could add extra tracks but that would be a Gatling gun look alike and lose the elegance and  narrowness of the device when parked.  Scaled up it could drop trains from an indoor layout to a ground level garden line. 

[Joseph_Pestell]

This could also be a useful idea for multi-level layouts instead of a helix.

[Zomboid]

There was someone on this forum building a large scale narrow gauge layout with a "rotisserie" FY. I think it was called "First Sunday in June" or something like that. Basically the same idea but with about 6 "gondolas".

 

Edit: here it is

Even though I have noticed the tags you've given this thread, someone actually has built one 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zomboid

[jonhall]

there is this available in Germany, but its a lot more sophisticated, and way more expensive!

 

 

[DCB]

I spent ages thinking up this crazy design only to find someone else has actually built it.   Oh well only another 364 days till the next April 1st.

[Matt C]

Are you going to fill the troughs with water ? So as per the Falkirk wheel even with different size vessels, the weight is balanced out 

[caradoc]

In Oxford in the 1960s, Boswells (soon to close, sadly, if not already gone) had a rotating display, with multiple shelves, of Triang trains. Mt Grandmother bought me a Pullman coach there, we chose 'Mary' as it is my Mum's name !

 

[DCB]

29 minutes ago, Mattc6911 said:

Are you going to fill the troughs with water ? So as per the Falkirk wheel even with different size vessels, the weight is balanced out 

I seriously considered it it but I thought the water would short out the tracks.

[Zomboid]

59 minutes ago, DavidCBroad said:

I spent ages thinking up this crazy design only to find someone else has actually built it.   Oh well only another 364 days till the next April 1st.

A very impressive feat of engineering it is too, but also completely barking and not something I'd expect to become commonplace in railway modelling.

[TonyMay]

16 minutes ago, DavidCBroad said:

I seriously considered it it but I thought the water would short out the tracks.

 

seemingly not:

 

emin

[DCB]

Damn. I wish I had known I would have designed an 8 X 4 X 4 combined layout and tropical fish tank.

[jacko]

Whenever we get visitors we take them along to look at the wheel. The thing that strikes me most is how difficult the trough end pivots must be to construct.  I also live in the hope that one day they'll jam or the end doors open accidentally.    

[Matt C]

2 hours ago, jacko said:

Whenever we get visitors we take them along to look at the wheel. The thing that strikes me most is how difficult the trough end pivots must be to construct.  I also live in the hope that one day they'll jam or the end doors open accidentally.    

 

 

The beauty of it is, the doors are kept shut by the water pressure in the tank. They can only open once the pressure is equalized by the water at the top and bottom ponds. As both tanks weigh the same (each boat displaces its own weight in water) it takes hardly any power to actually rotate the wheel

 

Blurry clever stuff 

 

             https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

[crackedmember]

These things still happen like in France 7 years ago, with one of their inclined planes

 

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/2013/07/05/breche-au-plan-incline-d-arzviller-le-canal-de-marne-au-rhin-ferme-282733.html

 

I also seem to recall an incident where a inland waterways maintenance team clearing rubbish, found an old chain pulled it and found a couple of small pieces of wood attached.  The other end was very securely attached to the canal side. They went to lunch and came back to found the canal draining away.  They had quite literally pulled the plug out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[figworthy]

4 hours ago, crackedmember said:

These things still happen like in France 7 years ago, with one of their inclined planes

 

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/2013/07/05/breche-au-plan-incline-d-arzviller-le-canal-de-marne-au-rhin-ferme-282733.html

 

I also seem to recall an incident where a inland waterways maintenance team clearing rubbish, found an old chain pulled it and found a couple of small pieces of wood attached.  The other end was very securely attached to the canal side. They went to lunch and came back to found the canal draining away.  They had quite literally pulled the plug out. 

 

 

 

This ?

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/40-years-since-workers-pulled-the-plug-in-chesterfield

 

Adrian

[Greengiant]

Just noticed this thread, it is our small group who have built one in 16mm scale. We are at the final assembly stage, but on hold at the moment while we have other projects on the go, I expect we will finish the RotaYard off sometime this year.

Here is a video of our first powered test run to prove the concept.

 

 

Martin

[Maltazer]

The real thing uses gears rather than gravity to keep everything the right way up. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel#/media/File:FalkirkRotate04.jpg

 

The whole assembly could get quite large with gears large enough to allow a train to pass through - maybe more space than just sticking a fiddleyard there in the first place!

 

 

[crackedmember]

The size of the gears is irrelevant.  All that is needed is that the track trays/troughs are synched to the rotation.

[Chimer]

On 01/04/2020 at 12:40, DavidCBroad said:

I spent ages thinking up this crazy design only to find someone else has actually built it.   Oh well only another 364 days till the next April 1st.

 

You didn't first introduce the hockey stick traverser on another 1st April did you? 

[DCB]

10 hours ago, Chimer said:

 

You didn't first introduce the hockey stick traverser on another 1st April did you? 

No that's one of my serious ideas, well at least it was intended to be.  Sometimes the line between genius and madness is a bit blurred.

[Flying Pig]

17 hours ago, crackedmember said:

The size of the gears is irrelevant.  All that is needed is that the track trays/troughs are synched to the rotation.

 

I think individual stepper motors are probably indicated.