Funicular goods railway - help!!

Funicular goods railway - help!!

Author
Discussion

Pheo

3,339 posts

202 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Could you make it water powered like the one at Lynton & lynmouth? biggrin

PS this thread is useless without pictures!

dickymint

24,342 posts

258 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Find it hard to believe an old rusty chain can't be nurtured back to life.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

186 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Best property feature ever!

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

116 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Sorry idiot question - how do I upload photos from an iPhone? Keeps telling me image size is too big yet I've selected forum fit.

Pheo

3,339 posts

202 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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I would upload them to flickr or similar then cross-post.

dickymint

24,342 posts

258 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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oliverhanmer said:
Sorry idiot question - how do I upload photos from an iPhone? Keeps telling me image size is too big yet I've selected forum fit.
Same problem here it's the 2MB size limit on PH. Download a free "resize" app from app store and use.


GreenDog

2,261 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Can anybody else detect a classic thread in the making smile

Unfortunately I'm unable to offer any practical advise but I'll be interested to see the outcome.

Du1point8

21,608 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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If the OP lives in the house I think they do, it was a shame that the Advert when it was for sale never showed the railway, they only mentioned it and the fact it was bust.

House was and is very cool, at the time I seriously wondered if I could drop my London centre flat and move out there, but the extra costs of not currently having a car and mostly the SD put me off moving...

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

116 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
quotequote all
https://flickr.com/photos/127288954@N08/sets/72157...

I hope this works. You might be starting to gather that I'm a bit useless at this type of thing. Here are some photos of the tracks and the various bits of machinery. The motor has been removed and tested - it doesn't work - but it was a standard single phase motor. The electric circuitry has also been disassembled as it was shorting the house every time it was turned on. The power source is fine it was all the electronics themselves that are buggered. I've also taken a photo of the chain and you will see it's rusted beyond repair - it's broken in places as well.

You can see from the photos how overgrown the tracks are and this is after I've cleared quite a bit away - we've only been in the house for four months. I reckon it's not worked for at least five years.

I hope the photos help (and upload!).


Simpo Two

85,426 posts

265 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Oh THAT sort of chain!

Mercury00

4,103 posts

156 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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What an interesting feature. Get the carriage made up to look like a miniature train smile

Pheo

3,339 posts

202 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Thats awesome - can we see more pictures of the house! I have some kinda idea that it'll be a victorian inventors house or something.

For fixing purposes, I guess the first thing to evaluate is whether the chain is really beyond use - by working out if its broken, or just very rusted. If not broken (looks like its just jumped off the cogs) then refurbishing that would be labour intensive, but probably cheaper...

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

239 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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That's just a glorified conveyor. Not said in a disrespectful way, but that's the sort of tech they use on an industrial conveyor.

Saddle bearings etc are off the shelf components and you should be able to pick up a s/h motor from ebay cheaply.

Clean everything up, sort the water ingress, grease it all till it moves freely and then connect the new motor.

Chances are it's failed because something in the drive line has seized. The electrics are the last thing to sort.

I wish I was closer, I'd love to reinstate that for you smile

ETA: You don't necessarily need to replace the whole chain, if some sections are serviceable and some aren't you can just join a new section in.

http://www.bearing-king.co.uk/simplex-roller-chain...


Edited by WinstonWolf on Tuesday 26th August 14:13

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

116 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Thanks for the comments. I will check out the motors on eBay and the chain link provided. I'm actually quite pleased it appears a simple mechanism so no offence taken at all. The simpler it is the cheaper it should be to fix. I'm sorry too WinstonWolf that you aren't nearby to help fix it! But if anyone is and would be willing to help it would be much appreciated.

On balance it looks like I should repair the existing system rather than go for a winch - which will be an interesting challenge and an opportunity to learn new skills - bit wary of electrics though so will leave that to the experts.

I'll post some photos of the house Pheo. It's not quite as you describe but it's pretty unusual not least given its situation on the side of a valley. But it's a full time job maintaining the gardens - I'm never stuck with things to do at the weekends that's for sure.

Thanks again for all the comments to date - I'm always open to other suggestions so do please continue to comment if possible.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

239 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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That's just an example to give you an idea on pricing depending on what size chain it is.

Soaking it in diesel can work wonders.

RichB

51,583 posts

284 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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I'm confused; the rails run 35m is that correct? so does the chain run from top to bottom? If so I assume the rails are perfectly straight? Be good to see some pictures of the whole set-up.

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

116 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
quotequote all
https://www.flickr.com/gp/127288954@N08/74w9p1

Here is a picture of the rail leading up to the brick shed that houses the pulley mechanism. It's 35 metres of straight track.

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

116 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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And yes the chain runs from top to bottom on each track so 70m of chain in total.

C Lee Farquar

4,068 posts

216 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Pretty cool OP smile

eliot

11,433 posts

254 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Get the chain