Loads and loads

 With the end in sight, it was time to turn my attention to the last working feature. The loading of the skips. This was the one that I had the least concerns about. I’ve worked on so many layouts where I have loaded wagons and had so many problems and successes with the process that I had a pretty good idea what I was going to do. The basic idea was outlined in this post on my Cuddle blog. 

My plan was to have a chute appear from offstage and the sand (or whatever) would be tipped from the chute, into the hopper and then into the skip. Much thought has also been given to using a farm toy conveyor belt to transport the material. But as the conveyors I have found are overscale and will need some kind of converting, this chute idea will have to do for the moment.

The first task was to work out the shape of the chute to allow it to swing into and out of view.

First mock up of the chute.

For me, the only way to do this is cut away at pieces of card or add bits until what I want to happen, happens. It can definitely induce frustration when it doesn’t work as planned but I’m no engineer. I’m sure and engineer would be able to calculate the angle of swing of the chute and its size in a CAD program and very likely  produce something in a 3D printer. Alas, I have to work with my hands to get things to function. Most rewarding when it goes as planned. My first mock up seen above worked pretty well, and I decided I could go ahead with it with minimal modifications. 

The card version was reworked in styrene. The pictures below should give you an idea how it works.

The bucket carries enough material to 1/3 fill the skip, so the action has to be repeated for viewers

The angle of slope of the chute was steep enough that all the material in the bucket at the top was tipped into the skip bucket. I felt pretty pleased when that first load was tipped into the skip I can tell you.

Definitely a feel good occurrence

The chute was dressed with rusty corrugated styrene to make it less conspicuous

That’s it really. Job’s a good ‘un. The cord that raises and lowers the chute is just pinned out of the way when not needed.

Perhaps some will find the appearance of the chute from upon high jarring. But I think that will be overcome when people see the wagons being filled auto-magically. It also suggests that the action spreads beyond the confines of this blue grey box.

There’s a little fine tuning to be done, mainly to stop the overspill. I think a baffle inside the hopper would help direct the material into the skip, as well. Some kind of guide line to help operators position the skip directly under the hopper. That will come with practice.

Honestly, that’s it. For now anyway. 

I can spend the the time between now and it’s first showing at Randolph Railroad Days October 20th and 21st practicing operation. This is a situation I’ve never been in before. I have a layout ready three weeks before a show. I always used to pull all nighters in the week before a ships getting ready. This feels most odd.