Road-Rail Plant....a Digger Conversion!

[Gizzy]

I recently brought a blue/red digger at a Garden Railway exhibition in Brandon, for a fiver.
I think this was made by Bruder for some of the LGB Goods Sets. It was purchased for loading my hopper wagons, but I thought it would look great as one of those Road-Rail Plant vehicles you often see on track renewal possesions....

 

[Gizzy]

There is a yard in a village just a couple of miles away with several of these diggers, as well as dumper trucks, all fitted with rail wheels, and this was the inspiration for the conversion.

I'd brought some wheels of the wrong diameter for another project, so these have been used for the digger. Krizzy and I made a simple chassis using some 3mm and 5mm plasticard samples that a friend had given me, and this has been incorporated into the chassis of the doner vehicle.

A quick respray with Humbrol acrylic yellow has made the model look less toy like and more like what you see on the rails. Another coat of paint is needed to finish off the model, but for a few pounds, I've something which looks the part on my railway....

 

[Rhinochugger]

Attaboy - 'snice

All you've got to do now is battery power it

 

[Gizzy]

Attaboy - 'snice

All you've got to do now is battery power it

If I could get a G scale 'Black Beetle' Chuggy, I would have made it track powered.... :thinking:

 

[yb281]

Like it Giz, nice job.

 

[Gizzy]

Like it Giz, nice job.

Thanx Mel!

You still got that Merc truck? If you still don't want it, well, I have another pair of axles waiting.... :thinking:

 

[yb281]

Like it Giz, nice job.

Thanx Mel!

You still got that Merc truck? If you still don't want it, well, I have another pair of axles waiting.... :thinking:

Fraid not mate, it lives somewhere in the Colchester area now.

 

[Gizzy]

Like it Giz, nice job.

Thanx Mel!

You still got that Merc truck? If you still don't want it, well, I have another pair of axles waiting.... :thinking:

Fraid not mate, it lives somewhere in the Colchester area now.

No worries mate?

We're off to Sheringham next weekend (40s weekend on the NNR), so I'll see if Starlings Toys has another one....

 

[Chris]

Hi Gizzy

Here are a couple of pictures of a Harz metre gauge road railer earlier this year.

 

[Gizzy]

Hi Gizzy

Here are a couple of pictures of a Harz metre gauge road railer earlier this year.

Thanks Chris!

Looks like that one uses the road tyres to drive the rail wheels....

 

[coyote97]

for sure it does, Gizzy.

on Standard gauge the tires are directly on the rails and the railwheels are just guiding.
But on narrow gauge, you would have to propell the thing on the ties....so thats a clever solution!

Greetings

Frank

 

[pugwash]

It's too clean! The model, not the real one. Get the mucky paints out, spray, spray, spray....:clown:
What full moon?

Meanwhile, back in reality (or this just perceived reality? Go and watch Inception) I have a spare LGB short shank motor, if you find a way of fitting it I'll send it to you. Can't wait to see it doing express speeds down the straights...nphone:

 

[Gizzy]

for sure it does, Gizzy.

on Standard gauge the tires are directly on the rails and the railwheels are just guiding.
But on narrow gauge, you would have to propell the thing on the ties....so thats a clever solution!

Greetings

Frank

On some of the ones I've seen operating here in the UK Frank, I believe the rail wheels are driven by a separate hydraulic motor. On others, the road wheels are clear of the rails and they rotate in the opposite direction to the rail wheels.

I drove past the yard near to where I live today, and I made a note of the name of the company there. I've just googled them and found a website, with movies of the vehicles they have for hire. Some of the plant has caterpillar tracks, which I would have thought would damage the rails. Watching the videos on the website confirmes this.


http://www.hydrex.co.uk/site/rail/movies/moviesone.htm
I have another pair of axles, so my next plant vehicle will probably be a Unimog lorry....