Author Topic: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR  (Read 6886 times)

Maker of Things

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Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« on: October 13, 2013, 08:43:38 PM »
I am making a turntable.

Not some piddly thing for playing 70's vinyl through an 5W per channel amp but something a little bigger for the West Lancs Light Railway.

I have currently only got as far as cleaning up some bits of RSJ sourced from a sewage works.

This project could take a little time though working only the occasional Thursday night as a volunteer.

Someone else has been making the hole in the ground the turntable will go into.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2013, 02:13:31 AM by Maker of Things »
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nikki

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2013, 11:09:10 PM »
That certainly doesn't look very piddly!

So, um, how light is a light railway?

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2013, 06:23:59 PM »
That certainly doesn't look very piddly!

So, um, how light is a light railway?

2 foot gauge.
Official WLLR website.
Bootleg WLLR website.

Photo of Arch on Montalban when she was firing at the summer gala.
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2013, 06:32:40 PM »
Here is a photo of Joffre, French WW1 veteran, seen from behind one of the workshop lathes.
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

nikki

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2013, 08:59:27 PM »
That all sounds rather fun! :)
Good luck with the build!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2013, 01:57:33 AM »
Another evening spent at the West Lancs Light Railway.

I finally had a look at the 'plans' for the turntable.  Not so much plans as a cutting list.  That's ok, I can cut!
I didn't do any work on the turntable this evening though, we decided that it would be better if the steel was to be shunted inside the workshop where I can work under cover to prepare them.  That will happen after the weekend's Halloween train event on Sunday.

So I finished off the task of cutting the old cab off the Hudswell Clarke diesel loco.
It originally looked like this but with the sheet metal removed.


Now it looks a bit bare.  ;D

Hopefully I will be involved in building the replacement cab. :)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2013, 02:14:50 AM by Maker of Things »
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2013, 02:08:24 AM »
Having cut the cab off I was looking for the next task I could get done.

We carried the door post for the new engine shed, a 12' RSJ, over from the far side of the railway so I could weld on some plates for the door hinges to be attached.  There were only slight H&S issues that we ignored as two of us carried the RSJ, in the dark, across 6 railway tracks, with one of us walking backwards. :-X   I had the heavy end while the other chap walked backwards.

The steel plates were cut ready so I only had to grind bevels on the ends of the plates and on the RSJ so they could be welded.  It didn't take long to do, most of the time was spent grinding to get the plates to fit.

There needs to be matching plates on the other side of the RSJ but at 11pm it was a bit late to be grinding more plates.That will be a job for next Thursday night.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2013, 02:18:09 AM by Maker of Things »
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2013, 02:12:50 AM »
To end the night at 11.30 I did a little sign writing.  I was asked if I could sign write, which I can and have done but this was more basic then I was expecting.  Permanent marker on a plastic sheet.  ::)

It is enough to advertise the Halloween event on Sunday.
Given more notice I could have painted a proper sign but for a one off event it probably wouldn't be worth it as the details change every year.
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Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2013, 01:25:43 AM »
The door post for the engine shed went up today.  I had finished welding the hinge plates onto it last week.

I have a photo of one of the welds but forgot to get a photo of the post being put up, anyway, it was dark.
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2013, 01:32:12 AM »
So for lack of 'stuff' to weld or grind I looked at preparing the wheels for the turntable.

The wheels are old double flange rail wagon wheels.  My first job was to press out the worn and corroded axles from them.  We thought about using a bit of heat but decided to just press them to see if they would move.  They were each placed on the press and a bit of round bar used to press out the axle. 

Three of the axles took 8-9 tons before they 'popped'.  The final axle took 15 tons.  Lucky the press is good for 50 tons!  ;D

If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2013, 01:45:27 AM »
The next stage was to load test the wheels to make sure they were strong enough.

Now I'm not convinced by the calculations.  I was told that one of the locos has an axle loading of 4 tons, on three axles, that makes 12 tons.  The turntable must weigh around 2 tons when it is finished.  That's 14 tons.

There are four turntable wheels.  I was instructed to test them to 2-3 tons as that would give a nice margin for safety.  At 3 tons that would give a tested load of 12 tons for the four wheels, evenly distributed. ???

I tested the wheels to 4-5 tons and they stood up to the test fine.  I didn't get a chance to challenge the maths as the chap instructing me left early.  Also I didn't want to test load any higher in case I broke all the wheels.  There may be stronger options, or more wheels, if needed.

Anyway, the test procedure is to place the wheel on a loose fit axle and, with a bit of steel in between the flanges, apply a load with the press to the wheel rim and through the axle.  The test needs to be repeated loading the rim at each wheel spoke and between each spoke so the whole of the rim has been loaded.

All the wheels survived.

I am tempted to suggest re testing the wheels again after I have descaled and cleaned the wheels next week, just to make sure and then question the test load and safety margin allowed for at that point.  I would be happier if the wheels were tested to around 7 tons, but that isn't my call.
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nikki

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Re: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2013, 05:00:18 PM »
That's a serious amount of push!
I don't like to think what would happen if one of the wheels did fail... :-/

Maker of Things

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Re: Making a turntable and other work at WLLR
« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2013, 11:23:50 PM »
Though I would find it fun recovering a derailed steaming loco from a hole in the ground I don't think the rest of the rail crew would be so impressed.

I would like a good 200% load test (100% safety margin) on each wheel, ideally based on 100% of full loco weight on one end of the turntable, two wheels, as the loco drives onto the turntable.
Say, 12 tons of loco, 2 ton of turntable, giving 14 tons at one end of the turntable track, with 100% safety margin gives 14 ton test load for 7 ton max service load per wheel.

I doubt they would allow me to load a wheel to 14 ton.

A realistic service load would probably be closer to 4 ton per wheel given how short the turntable is so testing to 7-8 ton would make me happy (happier).
If it ain't broke, you're not hitting it hard enough!