Cultivator/Locomotive Contraption

[rupertw]

I am currently restoring our railway and I want it to become usable to stop it from falling into disrepair again and part of that involves building a more user friendly locomotive. I was thinking of building a full on diesel locomotive using an old Lister engine and wagon chassis, but I don't think that was realistically going to happen.

Anyway, I had just been working on the railway when I noticed this old Cultivator on the scrap heap. It struck me that it could be used as a pulling device which only works when it is attached to a wagon, much like those tractor type things you see attached to trailers abroad. So basically, if it is not attached to a wagon it will fall over, if that makes sense.

So basically the plan is to removing the spinning bits, lengthen the axle and put railway wheels on and attach a coupling to it. Here it is at the moment:



This probably makes no sense, and I will be very suprised if it actually works, but on the offchance that it does work, it will be a very simple solution.

[waveman1500]

It looks like it might be a bit weak depending on what you're going to pull with it! Only a couple of horsepower, very small torque output and all running through a poor overworked V-belt. I certainly wouldn't be expecting it to pull a load, it may manage one person on an empty wagon perhaps. Although with no weight to push the wheels down onto the rails I would've thought that it would just slip. I suppose you won't know until you try it!

[Davenger]

Waveman is right.
That's not man enough to pull anything.
Does it run?
There's got to be a reason it was on the scrap heap in the first place.
You want something bigger, like this
cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUTO-CULTO-VILLIERS-ENGINE-VGC-BUT-NEEDS-ATTN-/160514578054?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item255f6a1686
Or this
cgi.ebay.co.uk/Howard-350-Rotorvator-/160516051036?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item255f80905c

[rupertw]

The reason it went on the scrapheap was because part of the cultivating gear broke, it was in working condition otherwise. It is not going to be pulling much at all, but should be a means of making a wagon move under its own power. I have removed the cultivating rotor gear which should free up a bit of power. In regards to traction, I will put a seat almost directly above the wheels so there will be the weight of the driver pushing it down.
There will be quite a few problems, such as there being no reverse gear, but I think it should work to a degree. Its nothing serious and I thought it might be a bit of fun to do something which would otherwise just be heading to the scrapyard

[Davenger]

Replace horse with rotovator=instant win

[rupertw]

We do have a miniature shetland pony on our farm, so you might be on to something...

[jonw]

I think that as long as you get enough tractive weight, and correct gearing, the rotorvator is fine.

People need to remember that rolling reistances on rails is very low, so once somthing is moving, you don't need a huge engine. The steamer shown is probably less than 1 hose power. Also the speeds involves are low.

The problem you'll have is tractive weight. To pull a decent load you'll need a good amount of weight, but with no springs you will put a lot of shock stresses on the rails. Your body weight won't be enough. I'd modify a waggon bogie.

[lewist123]

It should have enough power to at least move a wagon assuming you get the gearing correct and enough weight over the driven wheels to put the power down.

Could you mount the engine to a wagon and run a belt or chain down to a pully or sproket welded onto one of the axles? That way you would have enough weight! Infact it might fit under the wagon so totally out of the way??

[Davenger]

I'm picturing a go kart with train wheels

[rupertw]

I am probably going to weld/rivet/glue flanges to the existing wheels and keep the rubber on them. The rubber should make a massive difference to the traction. I was digging around on the scrapheap and found a basically ready to fit coupling which is nice and heavy.
I could attach it properly to a wagon but it then all starts to get a bit serious. I'm basically doing this as a small project for when it is too dark or frozen to work on the railway.
We do have some spare chassis and a spare Lister engine which could be made into a proper locomotive but it would be a serious undertaking so I think I'll just stick with this for now!

[PhilA]

That'll work. It'll probably eat belts but I have a similar one here with a 2hp Kubota engine on and if it tips up it has enough go to pull you along the ground at a few mph and turn the soil over at the same time. It's hard to stall due to the gearing.

You'll probably find that if you engage it at low RPM to save burning the belt up and then control the speed with the throttle it'll work merrily all day long.

You might even find that if you put two sets of wheels on it- one on the low-speed axle and one on the tiller-blade axle you could tilt and tip it for two speeds, or depending on how much of a load you are carrying.

Get it going, weld a couple of rubber tyred wheels to the back of it and see if it'll push the train along. If it doesn't, invest more time in something else.

I say good luck with it!

--Phil

[Corbs]

I think it'll work, as said before the rolling resistance is very low on rails. That little contraption I posted in the other thread has a tiny motor but is capable of carrying 4+ people.
Like you say, the driver's weight will help a lot.