Transporting 5 inch live steam loco

I have a 150kg lifting table bought new on Ebay about 5 years ago quite a bit cheaper than M/c Mart but still good quality. Ideal for moving w/shop machinery too.

I am also hoping to buy a 5" loco soon but my concern us how to hold it in place in the car (estate car in my case). What do others do - photos would be useful.

John

If you mean saloon as opposed to hatchback then it gets more difficult. I too am unable to get locos to the track as old age means I can't lift them any more. That's why I'm making a smaller one, bit of a race between finishing it and decrepitude. It's even more problematical in my case as there are 2 steps down from the only available door, and the drive is then on a 1 in 10 slope away. What I'm considering is a bit of track made from angle in the boot arranged across the car but with a pivot at one end. Then it can be swung out around a vertical pivot to line up with either a trolley at my end, or the unloading ramp at the club. I only then have to lift half the weight at worst. If I allow a bit of a hinge about an axis across the rails it will accommodate minor height issues. If the loco is fairly heavy it makes the back of the car go down as it is loaded in.

If you have a high sill at the back of the boot even this gets to be an issue. When you've sorted it let us know so I can copy.

Off the wall idea, you can get a sort of crane arrangement for lifting invali9d scooters into the boot. These fasten somehow into the boot, so should be fairly stable. If you go down this route make sure the slinging prevents the loco rotating about its long axis. crane Not sure how well it goes with a saloon tho, and I'll bet they are not cheap

John =

For transport, one way is to fit a length of simple track to a broad base-board. The rails could be square-section steel tube with radiussed edges but avoid sharp edges or angle-steels with an upright web.

Provide the board with suitably-placed eye-bolts and hold the loco to them with appropriate rope or tape slings, protecting thin plate-work and the paint with suitable padding. They are best arranged diagonally or at low compound angles to give lateral and longitudinal security as well as preventing over-turning.

Wooden, clip-on stop-blocks against the buffers wil add rigidity.

Old blankets or similar under the base board will give some insulation from road shocks.

Oh - and hide the loco while it's in the car.....

This is what I use. It is simple scissor frame pivoted onto the lower frame and upper frame at one one. The other ends have sealed bearings run along the upper and lower frames. A car scissor jack provides the movement to raise and lower the upper frame and is arrange to give around a 2:1 motion ratio. No fancy machining needed, cheap to build, does not take up a huge amount of room and the loco can live on it in the workshop or garage which at present my Super Simplex does. If you want some more detailed photos let me know.

Edited By Dave Smith 14 on 11/10/2021 18:52:30

Can't help re carrying in the car, I still need to buy a suitable car to move my 5" loco when it's finished. For lifting in the workshop I built myself a lifting hoist with a swinging jib to swing the model out and lower to the trolley. This setup didn't cost me much, the scaff fittings and tube were picked up off ebay for very little money, the swinging arm IIRC was about £50, and the hoist approx £40. Perhaps another £30 for chain and D shackles. The loco when finished will be approx 280lb, the hoist can lift twice that, the chain/shackles about 10 times that, and the jib about 400lbs at full stretch, more if at the halfway mark. I can swing the model around 180 too when needing to work on the other side. I also have a long mobil trolley for sitting the model on and moving around the workshop..

As you can see the loco is lifted by a sturdy steel beam and held from the same lifting points as per full size, D shackles on the front and large hooks grabbing the drag-box for the rear..

Pete

My loco is firmly fixed inside a sturdy ply transport box - full 6 sides it also hides it from view if necessary. Moving is then a case of how do you move any 150lb wooden crate, though don't get carried away. You may have emptied the side tanks but did you remember the lubricator was still full .

Ex warehouse hydraulic flat topped lifting table move locos, lathes, other strange things though the minimum height of 1ft meant I had to make the storage trolley higher.

Incidently what is the best car for a model engineer? I wish I had bought one of those van derived cars like Peugot Partner etc. Hoping they bring out a hybrid version of that style before my Fiesta wears out and the world goes impractically all electric.

I use a motorcycle lift, the type advertised as Motorcycle Hydraulic Scissor lift. It cost me about £110, (pre-brexit, things may have changed). I pump it up to the height of the workbench (which is effectively full extension), slide the transport box onto it, wheel the whole assembly out to the car, then lower it to my boot. I can then just lift it one side at a time into the boot. I chose a car with no lip on the boot for this reason, an XC40. At no point do I have to do any heavy lifting; I'm an amputee and carrying things can be quite difficult.

My transport case is marine ply with two lengths of railway track on it, when you lower the box over the top and clip it on, the buffers prevent it rolling back and forth. The main advantage of the transport case for me is not worrying if anything else in the boot is peeling off handrails and such.

I have never owned sedan cars, only station wagons. I see no disadvantage. When my old Camrey 1993 got rusty, I bought my brother’s Subaru Liberty wagon. However I discovered to my absolute horror that the rear seats don’t fold flat, as they always have done on wagons. Traditional wagons like Holdens and Falcons had longer chassis than the sedan equivalent and could fit heaps of stuff on a flat deck. None are made anymore, giving way to these so called SUVs which are no substitute at all.
I can get my Simplex in the Subaru alright, but not my Sprinkbok. I built a raised plywood deck for it but it is a poor solution. Club members have wagons, trailers, hatch backs, vans and SUVs. Not one lifts a loco out of a car boot.

Following others, I have built a detachable frame which 1) allows the loco to be securely fixed to it and 2) also allows it to be suspended for running on air etc.

And bought one (but its in the post at the moment ! ) of these trolleys for transport, shed to car / garden etc.

Thinking about a rail clamped to roof rack overhanging the back of the car so I could hoist loco and frame into the car ??

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 12/10/2021 06:40:39

The way I do it - it works for me.
Machine Mart, extended with plywood gives more area for working and easier access to car. Removable end-stop to prevent rolling off.

Use over-run rails to get up and under for quick jobs.

What would I do differently - buy a truck which went lower - going low is at least as important as going high!

Get on better without rails - easier to move loco around on the top.

Like I say, how I do it - not saying anyone else should - you get the drift. Pictures may work - if not, you'll have to imagine it!

My transport system... Single sturdy transport frame interconnecting with everything else.