Train IN the Tree

Trent Nunnelee Nov 10, 2019

  1. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    I will get a picture.... yes coupler....I kind of make up my own vocabulary, lol. It got broke because my kid was trying to reconnect it after it became "un-coupled?", I want to say unhitched (in Arkansas where I am from, that means divorced.) Long story short, she ended up dropping it and it broke when it hit the floor. Strangely the candy was fine.... note to self, don't eat that candy. I would love to find something that pretty much permanently coupled the cars.
     
  2. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Unimates.
     
  3. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    Here are the couplers I have. Notice the one the right is broken.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    A few solutions:

    If sticking to prototype isnt that big of a concern...take a truck off a 'spare' car and install it.

    If it DOES matter....contact Kato and see if they have a replacemenet truck.

    If Kato doesnt have one...contact MT and see what they have one in the way of a replacement truck.

    If all else fails...put that car at the end of the train...the missing coupler wont be that noticeable. ...unless you are running a caboose. Then ya get to go thru my list and try again...:p
     
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  5. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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  6. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    Mtntrainman I do have some other cars that I am not using, guess I will rob one of them... just wasn't sure if there was something better out there. I thought about putting it on the end, but this car is very heavy and when I had it on the back previously it kept flipping over... So will rob another car.
     
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  7. catfan

    catfan TrainBoard Member

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    PM me your mailing address please. I will send you some trucks and couplers. Lets make sure we can all see this masterpiece running on Christmas morning.
     
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  8. tracktoo

    tracktoo TrainBoard Member

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    Beautiful! How creative! One lucky kid! (y)
     
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  9. catfan

    catfan TrainBoard Member

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    Hang on.. Help is on it's way.
     
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  10. catfan

    catfan TrainBoard Member

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    Hang on.. Help is on it's way.
     
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  11. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    Shout out to Catfan!!!! He has saved Christmas!! I will post some more pics of my newly axled train on here next week!!! Merry Christmas everyone! Especially Catfan.
     
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  12. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Go Catfan! Go Catfan! Go Catfan! (y)(y)(y)(y)(y)(y)
     
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  13. gcav17

    gcav17 TrainBoard Member

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    I am really impressed! Awesome job and it definitely inspires! I can only imagine how many little ones will stare at it blankly!
    Merry Christmas !

    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
     
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  14. gcav17

    gcav17 TrainBoard Member

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    Two questions. How many hours do you think it took you to build this?
    And second. How do you plan to store it? Or will you leave it out all year?

    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
     
  15. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    gcav17,
    1. I honestly have no idea, it was alot more that I could have ever imaged. I can tell you I started this project in October of 2018 and literally finished it the day before Thanksgiving 2019. (I had set a goal to finish it FOR Thanksgiving.) I was NOT a slam dunk. The weekend before Thanksgiving I built the ramp coming up from the ground because the original was so steep the train derailed on the last curve of ground level. So that was alot of rushed hours that weekend.
    2. The main reason this took so long was because I knew the tree would have to be "taken down" and "put back up." I had thought about this for years and read any article I could find about Bill Henning's Christmas tree and the troubles he had. With my limited experience with trains I came up some theories. So I decided to build it in the same style as fake trees are built. The center Helix is the "pole" of an artificial tree. It cannot be broken down. All the board that makup the center Helix are screwed and glued. Then I made 4 planks that screw to the Helix using furniture bolts so they can be removed and stored. There are shelves that I can remove that brace the planks but also have custom pieces on them to help brace the downward spiral. I don't 100% know how I am going to store it yet. I am thinking I will build some custom pallet or box to hold everything. We will see.
     
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  16. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    For those of you that were curious. I finally have the tree stored and here is what it looks like. The bottom holds the shelves and limbs. The second box holds the downhill curves (they are all cut in half moons). Then there is the center helix all still in one piece (not breaking that down.... ever!) Then a rack that sits on top that holds the 4 wings that holds everything. The the base is bolted to the side of everything! Everything is on swivel wheels so I can roll it into storage.
     

    Attached Files:

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  17. Trent Nunnelee

    Trent Nunnelee TrainBoard Member

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    Hello everyone, I am getting ready to put the train tree back up, with some improvements. One of the improvements I really want to make is get a better engine(s). With the massive tight helix, what engine would you recommend? I was told the wheel layout on the train matters but I am not sure what wheel layout I should look for. I am open to all recommendations.
     
  18. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    For steam a three axle design will take tighter curvature. For diesel those with the two axle truck.
     
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  19. CSX Robert

    CSX Robert TrainBoard Member

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    Oh man, I missed this thread when it first came around. I have a train I put on my tree every year, but it is just a loop on the tree, not incorporated into it like that. That's really cool.

    I know it's a little late to be pointing this out, but for future reference the length of one piece of 8.5 in radius track is about 169mm. The 216mm is the radius, to find the length you have to calculate the circumference of the circle (C=2πr=2x3.14159x216=1357) and divide by 8 (assuming 45° or 8 sections per circle - 1357/8=169.625mm). The grade is rise over run, so (60*25.4)/(224*169.625) = 1524/37996 = 0.040 = 4%. That's a pretty steep grade, even for a model railroad, but not unheard of. I've got some ideas on how I would have the train go up the outside and have a lesser grade, but still have the vertical seperation for the scenes; however, it looks like what you have works and turned out well.

    Are you wanting steam or diesel? For diesel, just about any 4 axle loco should work, except maybe a P42, they are pretty long for 4 axle locos. I actually have a loop with about a 7.5" curve, so it's a little tighter, and it has a couple of rough spots. I tested a P42 on it and it did derail, it might be ok on 8.5" Unitrack.

    For steam, it's a little harder to say. There are are so many more variables between leading and trailing trucks, driver size, tender attachment and spacing - you really need to test them to find out. I can say an Athearn 2-8-0 works quite well on the loop I mentioned above. You may think with it having eight drivers that it wouldn't, but the middle four drivers are blind (don't have flanges) which helps on tight curves.

    If you don't already know, there are several Christmas sets available, Kato, Micro-Trains, and Bachmann all have some. I keep going back and forth on getting one of them myself but always end up deciding I would rather spend the money on something else.
     
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  20. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Being in with all that foliage I believe I'll stay with my battery powered O gauge.
     
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