# Tram Project.



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Remember all those great Pictures Mr Blackburn showed us of the copper Mine?

I am thinking of a mine of some short in Carters Canyon.

I am thinking of a tram to haul ore from a yet unnamed mountain over the tunnels.

I need to find some very small grooved wheels about the size of a HO freight wheel.

These will ride on a cable between towers.

Anyone got a source for small grooved wheels?


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Sounds like a great project!
Perhaps you could use the metal grooved wheels that are part of 'double blocks' (for wooden model sailing boats)? I believe the groove is V shaped.


BillingBoats for example produce them in 10mm and 13 mm diameter (BF-1001 and BF-1003, see also the BillingBoats website) but there are other firms that make model boat kits and make riggings and model boat parts (like; Corel, Amati, Mantua, Artesania Latina, Mamoli, Constructo, Bluejacket, Dumas).

I believe the BillingBoats blocks are sold per 10 pieces.










Paul

PS: keep us posted on the tram project!!!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I've been installing a RigiDuo on the T&LBRR. As opposed to the way I've always seen other do this (_Stairway To Heaven_), my RigiDuo will be functional carrying people out to the island. On their trip, they parallel the long trestle passing over the lake and waterfalls.

I got two really nice, stainless steel, two-grooved, machined pullies from Electronic Goldmine for $5 each. While this is too big for the wheels you have in mind (~2.45" diameter), these are good at the ends for the capstans. I make other pullies out of surplus plastic railroad wheels.

BTW, my tram is getting close to completion. All key components have been completed and tested, the electronics are complete, the main foundation is now in place, as well as the tower on the "receiving" end that is concreted in-place. Only the struture to sit over the guts and protect them from the weather and a "landing" at the receiving tower are left to complete.










Stainless Two-Groove Pulley


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Yikes Paul and Tod

That is just about what I am lookikng for.

Groove is the probably the wrong word.

They are going to ride on calble So the wheel needs to be a round groove.

There is term for that and I can not think of it.

I will need to look for a Vendor in the USA for that block assembly

Any more sources?

JJ


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 30 Jan 2011 10:40 AM 
Remember all those great Pictures Mr Blackburn showed us of the copper Mine?

I am thinking of a mine of some short in Carters Canyon.

I am thinking of a tram to haul ore from a yet unnamed mountain over the tunnels.

I need to find some very small grooved wheels about the size of a HO freight wheel.

These will ride on a cable between towers.

Anyone got a source for small grooved wheels? 

Can't help you there, but how about a couple of historic images? Kennecott used a double-line, dual-wheel Bleitchert tram:
  This is the typical Bleitchert ore bucket set-up:   The aerial tram at Bonanza Mine, 4,000 feet and 4 miles from the lower Kennecott tram terminal: 
  *Click on any image for an even larger one.[/i]*


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Thanks Ron I saved those pictures for future reverance. 

I wast thinking of coming down the mountian on the rock face the back up the mountian through Carters Canyon I think it will look kewl to have trains passing under the tram gondollas. 

I am pondering how to make a drive unit for the trams. One that the buckets can pass through.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 31 Jan 2011 04:06 PM 
Thanks Ron I saved those pictures for future reverance. 

I wast thinking of coming down the mountian on the rock face the back up the mountian through Carters Canyon I think it will look kewl to have trains passing under the tram gondollas. 

I am pondering how to make a drive unit for the trams. One that the buckets can pass through. We have all seen the tram that LGB used to sell. Someone probably has one who can take pictures of how THEY did theirs as a model tram. 










In real life, the trams were unhooked at the end of each straight line of travel, run down an overhead rail, then re-hooked to the next tram. For instance, in the case of the Bonanza aerial tram at Kennecott, that was actually two trams. There was the feed end, the angle station section and the discharge terminal. Each had overhead rails to move the tram buckets to so they could alter their course. This had to be done manually. 


And, of course I have the pictures . . .


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 31 Jan 2011 04:06 PM 
Thanks Ron I saved those pictures for future reverance. 

I wast thinking of coming down the mountian on the rock face the back up the mountian through Carters Canyon I think it will look kewl to have trains passing under the tram gondollas. 

I am pondering how to make a drive unit for the trams. One that the buckets can pass through. "*Future reverence*." I just caught that !


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

I no sooner speak and it appears in the NEXT thread: *T&LB Now Offers . . . *


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Extreme Geek sells cable car systems, solar powered, for $15 

I modified mine to carry freight. Bought 2 of them and plan to convert 1 to battery to run in shade. They auto reverse too 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI8eMKbiOEs 

This was a test in heavy wind tied between 2 fruit trees in my yard


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ron 
I was re visiting this thread and just noticed those buckets were not very big. There is a guy riding in one. ( I didn't noticed that when I first looked) In order to get a significant amount transported they had to make a lot of trips. I wonder if they worked 24/7.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

JJ, 
They appear to be leaving a stamp mill or smelter and would be concentrates. Too heavy to be bigger and worth enough to be profitable. 
Depending on the weather, I'd venture 24/7 

John


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

I have a bunch of ore tram photos here, including detail close ups: 

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Aerial_Trams.html 

These were in Pioche, NV and are typical of aerial ore trams I've seen at other sites in CA and NV. The buckets are not very big, maybe the size of a wheel barrow. (Actually pretty close to the size of the one that guy is riding in the photo someone posted previously.)


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Also remember the iron wire of that time wasn't as strong as modern steel wires. The weight of the cable was also factored into the load. Running in a circle, loads down helped carry the empties up. Too much weight going down could strain the system and might cause a runaway speed. 
Balance grasshopper, balance. 

John


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 05 Feb 2011 09:11 AM 
Ron 
I was re visiting this thread and just noticed those buckets were not very big. There is a guy riding in one. ( I didn't noticed that when I first looked) In order to get a significant amount transported they had to make a lot of trips. I wonder if they worked 24/7. 


The tram buckets, if I recall, held roughly 800 pounds of ore. Because of the richness of it, a small bucket carried a LOT of weight ! The spun cable was 1 1/4 inch. It had a glass-like texture to it. The buckets were routinely spaced about 1200 feet apart to allow the man on the receiving end time to unhook one bucket, rehook another and then grab the next, which were coming at him at about 5 miles per hour. There were two lines hitting the back of the mill sometimes only tended by one man. These were the Jumbo and Bonanza aerial tram lines. There were two 10-hour shifts, seven days a week. The mill needed four hours of down time for repairs and set-up. 


The Kennecott mill in interior Alaska was designed to process up to 1200 tons of ore daily, but optimal performance was closer to 800 tons, so that was how they ran it. 



Interesting thing. I have just resumed working on my illustrated on-line novel and am adding a LOT of images. I spent all afternoon setting up for four chapters I will be placing back on line after an absence of several years. By circumstance, I am in the chapters where the aerial trams are featured. I have been re-scanning tons of images in higher resolution than before. I am currently working on Chapter 28 of 60.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ, Ron et al;

You may find the following of interest.

Aerial Tramways - Trenton Iron Works Co. (U.S. licensed Bleichert mfg.) *c. 1909*[/b]


And another (c. 1914)

Amer. Steel & Wire Co. (Trenton-Bleichert System of Aerial Tramways)[/b] 

And yet another (c. 1903)

Bleichert System of Wire Rope Tramways - Trenton Iron Co.[/b]


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By SteveC on 06 Feb 2011 06:40 AM 
JJ, Ron et al;

You may find the following of interest.

Aerial Tramways - Trenton Iron Works Co. (U.S. licensed Bleichert mfg.) *c. 1909*[/b]


And another (c. 1914)

Amer. Steel & Wire Co. (Trenton-Bleichert System of Aerial Tramways)[/b] 

And yet another (c. 1903)

Bleichert System of Wire Rope Tramways - Trenton Iron Co.[/b] 

Steve!!!!!!!!









I found the two top books on Amazon .com and bought them. And was able to down load a PDF file of the third.

These will be not only a great help but I am sure great reading.

Thanks Verry Much 

JJ


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

John

Nothing wrong with buying a hard copy of a book, just so long as you were aware that you could have also downloaded a PDF copy of the first two books also.

All you need to do is...
[*] Click the title of the document (i.e. located in the upper left of the window)
[*] In the case of the first link, this will take you to the Open Library web page.
[*] In the case of the second link, this will take you to the Internet Archive web page.
[/list][*] In either of the above cases when you arrive at the respective web page.
[*] Locate the PDF file link.
[*] In the case of the Open Library web page, the link is located on the right side of the page.
[*] In the case of the Internet Archive web page, the link is located on the left side of the web page. However, there are two PDF file choices, the one that you want is the plain PDF and not the B/W PDF.
[/list][/list] 
Sorry that I didn't make the PDF download ability in all cases clear.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ,

Are trying to build a tram similar to the one at the Palm Springs Desert Railroad?


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Gary Armitstead on 06 Feb 2011 12:49 PM 
JJ,

Are trying to build a tram similar to the one at the Palm Springs Desert Railroad?


I don't think I have seen the Palm Springs Desert Rail Rrod Tram. 

Do you have a link to it?

What I am thining of is a Ore hauling tram. 

JJ


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By SteveC on 06 Feb 2011 09:22 AM 
John

Nothing wrong with buying a hard copy of a book, just so long as you were aware that you could have also downloaded a PDF copy of the first two books also.

All you need to do is...
[*] Click the title of the document (i.e. located in the upper left of the window)
[*] In the case of the first link, this will take you to the Open Library web page.
[*] In the case of the second link, this will take you to the Internet Archive web page.
[/list][*] In either of the above cases when you arrive at the respective web page.
[*] Locate the PDF file link.
[*] In the case of the Open Library web page, the link is located on the right side of the page.
[*] In the case of the Internet Archive web page, the link is located on the left side of the web page. However, there are two PDF file choices, the one that you want is the plain PDF and not the B/W PDF.
[/list][/list] 
Sorry that I didn't make the PDF download ability in all cases clear.










OOOPPPPSSS.

I did not realize that I could do that.

Well I will have to nice referance boos for my library.









JJ


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ,

I thought there was one on that layout back when the Southern California Mob met you there the first time in 2002 or 2003. I'll have to look through my photos of that time. Maybe Howard Sheldon has some photos.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Gary Armitstead on 06 Feb 2011 01:31 PM 
JJ,

I thought there was one on that layout back when the Southern California Mob met you there the first time in 2002 or 2003. I'll have to look through my photos of that time. Maybe Howard Sheldon has some photos.











That was THE LIVING DESERT MUSEUM AND ZOO. Stan C and I had stopped by last november and they had removed the tram from the layout.

JJ


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

OK.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

We had such a good time at the outing years ago.


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