UK outline RailHead Treatment Train

D

Dave Hub

everyting
Hi All,

I've been ultra busy in work, most of the railway is looking like a scrapped Beeching Branch, and I have about 12 projects on the work bench (kitchen table). I finally got one finished (nearly) today.

I have been working on the idea of a Railhead Tretment train. They are usually only a rake of 2-3 wagons, used for jetwashing tracks, and applying gunk to the rails to improve adhesion. Can be seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taunton_66148_66116_railhead_treatment_train.jpg


The short prototype consist appealed to me. When I saw a guide to make one in 00 gauge I thought it looked easy if I could source the parts.

Some months later I had the beginnings of what was needed.
2x long Chassis, I used the chassis from NQD coaches that I had.
3x Hartland tanks, bought especially for the project as the size was perfect.
2x Plastruct checkerboard plate for the floor
1x evergreen corrugated sheet for the copboard shutters.
2 x 5mm hose borrowed from a science lab,
Laser prntable matt vinyl paper to make my own vinyl decals.

The list is not everyting but it did take some gathering. Those with an eye for cost will realise this did not end up being a cheap kitbash.
 
Re:UK outline RialHead Treatment Train

I dismantled the coaches made them into long flat cars, added end bulkheads, and bufferbeams.

Then I added the checkerboard floor, and added the tanks, Control and storage boxes were knocked up from plasticard.

detail added Laser decals made and hey presto we have two wagons inspired by a Networ rail RHTT.

Pics wil now follw.

Home made buffer beam, and vent detail seen here:
213085d749894d25905372812100a3cb.jpg

shutter door detail,
8f4a12582bd7442fb70f9ccd5d130a46.jpg

Back of control unit + handbrake detail
a298713064ed4c1090511759c7fae913.jpg

Back + tank
aef5447fb1c94bebb331d808627afa59.jpg
 
Re:UK outline RialHead Treatment Train

Ok took it outside into the jungle taht is currently my garden to show it with the Class 66 as it should be seen.

Height wise its a near perfet match for the 66, it is a little too wide but as I is bodged from other things its ok to me.
ec8b2865e704487f8ab0003f9717a9a9.jpg

I'm pleased with how the vinyl turned out from the laser printer, I have never tried it, and at 50p per sheet only time will tell if its a cheap alternative to transfers

04e27155b07541fa90d45eb7234a9903.jpg
48e03ea5f23a400d8b7e1c75a0c034ae.jpg
871a72c9b8b047fa9c3dd4dfc0ae026e.jpg
1219ab17fa3e46f79eebf7324d1b895e.jpg
b05221be65e84f94b68808eaa094ed02.jpg
9121a04ae53e4a98afda12ba3d1c771d.jpg

You can see checkerboard floor well on the close up.
 
Re:UK outline RialHead Treatment Train

Nice one Dave! :thumbup:
 
Re:UK outline RialHead Treatment Train

I agree it is far too clean for a treatment train, a nice weathering of brown may be called for.

38 the HLW chassis's are in a safe place awaitng some more project time, they have a plan, it just depends when the A team get around to utilising them.
 
Re:UK outline RialHead Treatment Train

Fantastic looking models Dave :thumbup:
 
Nice conversion. Most of the loco hauled RHTT trains consist of one wagon with three tanks and one wagon with a tank at each end and a control unit in the middle. The picture you posted must be an early prototype based on the MPV RHTT as I have never seen one like that around here. All 5 tanks are piped together so that each tank emptys at the same rate. The RHTT sprays ordinary water at high pressure at speeds up to 60mph. The sand and glue "gunk" Sandite trains were abandoned years ago as it created other problems and had to be applied below 20mph. If a RHTT train comes to a stand, the water must be switched off as the high pressure can cause damage in a concentrated area. The spray is controlled by a temporary worker on a 10 week contract using a hand held radio control unit.
 
Wow thanks for all the info, I never knew all that, I have just seen them about and thought they looked a little different. Nice to have some flesh on it.
vasim said:
Nice conversion. Most of the loco hauled RHTT trains consist of one wagon with three tanks and one wagon with a tank at each end and a control unit in the middle. The picture you posted must be an early prototype based on the MPV RHTT as I have never seen one like that around here. All 5 tanks are piped together so that each tank emptys at the same rate. The RHTT sprays ordinary water at high pressure at speeds up to 60mph. The sand and glue "gunk" Sandite trains were abandoned years ago as it created other problems and had to be applied below 20mph. If a RHTT train comes to a stand, the water must be switched off as the high pressure can cause damage in a concentrated area. The spray is controlled by a temporary worker on a 10 week contract using a hand held radio control unit.
Click to expand...
 
I wonder if it would be possible to lightly pressurise one of the tanks (perhaps with a small 12 volt compressor in one of the module boxes) to enable a light spray mist to issue underneath. That would be a nice feature.

It would be a shame to weather them with track dirt seeing as you have got the shade of blue more or less spot on.
 
Now that sounds great but a little too technical for me. As for the blue, it was more luck than judgement, spotted a nice peugeot blue that looked right and hey presto not a bad match.
vasim said:
I wonder if it would be possible to lightly pressurise one of the tanks (perhaps with a small 12 volt compressor in one of the module boxes) to enable a light spray mist to issue underneath. That would be a nice feature.

It would be a shame to weather them with track dirt seeing as you have got the shade of blue more or less spot on.
Click to expand...
 
Nice conversion. Most of the loco hauled RHTT trains consist of one wagon with three tanks and one wagon with a tank at each end and a control unit in the middle. The picture you posted must be an early prototype based on the MPV RHTT as I have never seen one like that around here. All 5 tanks are piped together so that each tank emptys at the same rate. The RHTT sprays ordinary water at high pressure at speeds up to 60mph. The sand and glue "gunk" Sandite trains were abandoned years ago as it created other problems and had to be applied below 20mph. If a RHTT train comes to a stand, the water must be switched off as the high pressure can cause damage in a concentrated area. The spray is controlled by a temporary worker on a 10 week contract using a hand held radio control unit.
Click to expand...

To add to my previous post, the Sandite application has actually made a return this year after a three year absence, and your scratch-build is a dual purpose Sandite and Water Spray train.
The wagons themselves are intermodals (container flats) and the RHTT uses two of these wagons with interchangeable 20ft modules, usually 5 water tank modules and a pump / generator as described in earlier post. This year the Sandite is being used on selected routes but it isn't a great success. First water is sprayed at 1,500 psi from the first set of jets then Sandite is dribbled from the rear nozzles onto the wet rail. More gunk gets deposited on the underframe of the rear loco than the track when it runs over the application at 60mph (previous Sandite applications were deposited at 15 to 20 mph. When changing ends, the application is reversed so that the Sandite again gets dropped behind the water jets.
On the dual purpose train there are only three water tanks which means that they need replenishing at least once a circuit. The large box cubicles each end house the Sandite hoppers while the other boxes are generators and control cubicles.
Prior to the RHTT and MPV application vehicles, Sandite was spread with specially adapted class 37's, so you wouldn't know it was a special vehicle, just a light engine. The Sandite hopper was in the old boiler compartment and was dropped at 15 to 20 mph by gravity and squeeze roller. The Sandite's weight would be enough to apply but there were three rollers on a cam squeezing a rubber tube at the bottom of the hopper and pushing it out of the nozzles like toothpaste as well as stopping the flow when required. The rubber tube would eventually split, filling up the engine room with gunk and so these were changed frequently to prevent any problems.
 
Nice one Dave....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom