Hi Guys
Apologies I'm looking for some more help please and thanks I can't seem to find a inspection pit suitable for 009 locomotives the issue is the N gauge one is not deep enough and the 00/HO one is the wrong track width so does anyone here know of a product code for one suitable for 009 models
Thanks
Alan
Uhh, well, I think your best option is to deepen the N gauge version.
Or go for a scratchbuild version, whereby you can adapt the pit as 009 is mostly shorter.
Are inspection pits on UK 2-foot or 2'6" lines completely within the rails? It seems very narrow to me - wouldn't be room to do anything much. I thought the pit was normally wider than the gauge with the rails crossing on beams (or that just an Australian, or modern, thing?)
Quote from: duttonbay on March 12, 2023, 05:51
Are inspection pits on UK 2-foot or 2'6" lines completely within the rails? It seems very narrow to me - wouldn't be room to do anything much. I thought the pit was normally wider than the gauge with the rails crossing on beams (or that just an Australian, or modern, thing?)
Hi
That's actually a question I don't have the answer 2 I presumed every shed that did maintenance had a pit sounds like I might get away without one now
Thanks
Alan
I know it is not the same thing at all, but I've seen a photo of something as grand as an NG ash pit (I understand it is often just a case of shovelling ash off the ballast and that might be clinker anyway).
The ash pit was accessible from the side. I'm guessing the ash was shovelled or raked onto the hardstanding beside the track to be loaded into a wheel barrow. In the photo the gap between the track and lower level was not a lot. Not even enough to push a wheelbarrow underneath which I imagine would be a convenient way of catching the ash.
Perhaps something similar could be done? Maybe take a length of rigid Setrack and cut the sleepers away along a locomotive length section of it. Perhaps beef up the remaining webbing with some Plasticard strip, even a bit of I beam, and set the lot over a suitably sized and brick-lined or concrete effect pit?
Quote from: duttonbay on March 12, 2023, 05:51
Are inspection pits on UK 2-foot or 2'6" lines completely within the rails? It seems very narrow to me - wouldn't be room to do anything much. I thought the pit was normally wider than the gauge with the rails crossing on beams (or that just an Australian, or modern, thing?)
Certainly the one at Statfold is wider then the rails - from memory it's at least standard gauge width, maybe wider, with 2' and 2'6' gauges laid on RSJs spanning the length of the pit.
As to construction of a model version...
If it were me I'd be looking at making the pit wider than the gauge, using Will's brick sheets (thicker than Slaters so harder to cut, but a more robust result). For the rails I'd suggest stripping some of Peco flexitrack (an ideal use for those offcuts unless you can get rail to match) soldered to long bits of the copper-clad strip beloved of point builders (I've got some sold by the Broad Gauge Society for making GWR 'Baulk Road) and gauged to suit. For a small pit (for industrial locos) the timber joists may be enough if the copper-clad is thick enough, possibly with a brick pier (Will's sheet again) 1/2 way along each joist to support the weight.
For something a bit more substantial or if you copper clad is a bit thin as a trick for girder bridges I've araldited the rail/copper clad assembly to the top of a styrene girder to represent the RSJ. For a wooden joist just use plain strip, or even real wood if the grain is fine enough (an old firework rocket stick, perhaps?). The other thought if you can get them would be to use brass girders and solder the rails direct to the top, maybe with some cosmetic rail fixings from cut up Peco sleepers. either way some form of extra support for the rails may be needed, either brick piers again or vertical girders, regularly spaced along the length.
Soldering the rail may seem a bit of over engineering, but I recall a layout that had been built in a garage with an inspection pit that appeared one year at Warley. At the start of the day the inspection pit - made using Peco track with the sleepers cut out in the middle - was 9mm gauge, but by midday had narrowed to about 7 mm in the middle! With the layout coming up to a warmer then the usual ambient temperature it was built under (eventually - Hall 5 takes a while to heat up relying on several hundred human bodies for warmth!) the rails has all expanded. The weak point was the pit and that was what the rails expanded into (well, across).
They did repair it on the evening of the 1st day, but it was not an easy job to cut and shut the rails in situ...
I used the N gauge one, cut the bottom off carefully and glued on some U section plastic I had to make it deeper. Then glued the piece I had cut off with the drains on in the bottom. Then made new steps at each end.
The pit outside Boston Lodge is only the width between the rails.
http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/fr/bl15.jpg
I have a hard covered book by Hugh Hughes from 1976 copyright by Bradford Barton titled Steam in India. There are 3 intresting photos of narrow gauge inspection pits or "wheel drop pit" . The two that I like are from the 2 foot Gwalior State Railway of 1969 photographed by P.J Bawcut where the pit is long enough to allow coaches or locos to stand side by side and work carried out underneath. The pit is about 5 feet deep with no support under the rails, the strength appears to comes from the 4 supporting walls . In the pit are additional rails upon which sits a movable jack to remove wheels. How it all works I don't know. The second photo shows a pit (perhaps it's the same one) with concrete walls and no support under the rails with 2 men in it working under a loco.
I wonder how they removed water from these pits during the monsoons. Unfortunately I can't post these photos as they are copyright protected. Pity!
Robin.
(https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/334676945_173999898750123_4098642378554080795_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=6inCSqcvwlAAX_1rNG2&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AfByJ6mQYBILUdl1nBirtyAJYgQpG9aOwZgFwm5cTQwZIQ&oe=6414D1DA)
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (2 foot gauge), Darjeeling station. January 2019.
This is a photo labelled as Boston Lodge. I am planning something similar using a length of set track glued to a section of plasticard (araldite), cut out the middle bit and make the sides from more plasticard.
I need to remove the existing flexitrack and engine shed then cut the recess through 9mm ply before fitting it.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Finsidemotion.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F04%2FIMG_0859-1200-1024x683.jpg&hash=fbac29009f870cc392a3d725ed6e5b41233f03e3)
I work at a minature railway site, 7 1/4" gauge site. We have a pit in our purpose built brick workshop/shed. The rails are supported on steel girders and we can stand up under heavy steam or petrol locos. Narrow gauge locos, as has been said, are much wider than the tracks, so readily accessible for servicing and repair within and outside of the rails Depending on how long each of your stud of locos are, the pit only needs to be long enough to access all of the underside, plus sufficient room for one or two people to climb down a ladder to get in and work. Our pit is almost square, with hinged steel plates each side to cover the pit when not in use, also a separate steel plate is laid between the rails to remove any trip hazard. The time period of your model may precede the Health and Safety Executive we have to comply with today, so the covering of the pit may not be an essential detail. Happy modelling.
Tod
That sounds very much like this, but here done on a much grander scale (and showing some model trains too.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC-dmKHiCnY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC-dmKHiCnY)