[CFF] Log cars for the Resita – the design phase

Hello,

after my short intermezzo with Hon30, I’m right back on the garden railroad, since the new season will start soon and my Resita needs some rolling stock. In the video of the Resita from last december, there are already some cars shown and in the following posts, I like to show you the details and how I made them.

From my first G-scale logging railroad, I still had two flatcars and a workshop car left, which should become a second live on my CFF line behind the Resita.

When I build these cars many years ago, I used LGB tipper car frames, the one with oval shape. While I was waiting of the parts to build the Resita, I collected several of these frames at eBay as a start for new rolling stock, built-in the same manner. But finally, I switched my ideas to more realistic and detailed rolling stock, as my Resita started to become a more detailed model as well.

From my skeleton-logcar-rebuild, I still had several 26mm diam. all-metal wheelsets left, which would fit well under some Romanian style logging disconnects. So I started some designing on the PC. By shortening the frames and adding new couplers and journal boxes, the frames can be rebuilt into nice logging trucks. Not 100% accurate, but very plausible and at least strong and sturdy for rough use on a garden railroad.

First of all, I designed a new coupler. This is basically a smaller version of the standard LGB-loop, combined with a link&pin buffer above. It’s especially designed to fit the oval-frame-chassis and just drop into the original coupler pocket. The hook and spring are also LGB parts. The buffer above the loop hides most of it and the result is nice looking and 100% LGB compatible coupler, which is great for use on the garden railroad.

Next I spend some attention to the frames. I cut off the original bearings and shortened the frame at one end for approx. 11mm. The new journal boxes are 3D-printed as well as the couplers are. I use a drilling jig (3D-print) to bore the holes for the new journal boxes, which came in pairs. By adding brass plates, the frame segments are screwed together and become very strong again.

And here we have the “pre-production” version of the log cars to come. You can see the difference between the original frame and the rebuilded one below. The planks will be cut from real wood and the handrail and brake spindle are added from brass and steel.

Maybe it would be easier to build whole new cars, but as I already have many of the oval-frames and couplers on stock, I’ll keep on this method/type. Overall, I plan to build 24-28 single trucks, which will be used in pairs, not only for disconnect log cars, also as trucks for flat or box cars.

Next week, I’ll tell you more about the mass production.

Gerd