# Cogwheel Swiss resort railway



## johndale (Dec 27, 2007)

Hi--after 17 years of running 320' around the yard including some 5' trestles out in the forest--I am giving in to my long suffering wife's plans to use her cogwheel locomotive, I can exit my track and build a straight up straight down backwards 10' to 12' short mountain railway, we have all the track and cogwheels and special fittings, all old LGB stuff. I have the LGB Gondola ready to install as well. 
I am thinking it will be a summer looking scenario up to a Mountain biking or hiking lodge and I am thinking to build it all up on trestles.
Any thoughts on basic design welcome. I still run the MTS system (wireless) and will wire in one extra voltage connection to hook up at the end of the track so it should be good. 
I am wondering about the link from straight and level at the bottom to a roughly 15% incline and a special joint there and also coming off to make a level station stop at the top. Have not heard of vertically curving track!!! 
Also a vague notion of a turntable at the very top to come back down forwards.
So at this stage still vague planning but any thoughts welcome. We have just completed a complete overhaul of the old Orange Bridge Railroad, here in Nelson BC, cleaned all track thoroughly and repainted all buildings and rewired all connections adding paste and then extra spot rail joiners where needed.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

The LGB 00559 provides some tips for rack operation:


> Rack Railway Tips
> • To avoid abrupt transitions, use several short straight track sections, like 10150 sections, at the beginning and the end of a steep section. Slightly bend each joint vertically to create a smooth transition.
> • For overhead catenary operation on steep sections, use the 56300 tilting catenary mast. The masts should be spaced closer than on level track.
> • To avoid accidental uncoupling, 64462 coupler hooks are recom- mended for rolling stock used on rack sections. Also, "symmetrical" coupler hooks should be installed on both ends of all rolling stock.
> ...



There are no special vertical curved transition track sections by any G-Scale manufacturer, maybe you could try to bend some yourself but the transition has to be fairly gradual.
As far as a turntable is concerned - at the top to turn the loco around.
I can't think of any rack railroad where this is the case, for safety reasons, the rack loco is always at the downhill side of the train going up and coming down.
Maybe look at some videos to get a feel for the prototypical operation.


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## johndale (Dec 27, 2007)

Thx krs--yes good suggestions and I did come across them, I will have to check on the real cogwheel locos whether they push up all the carriages with the loco forwards or backwards and then come down looking normal, but the tip of being on the downhill side is very useful.


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## Manhart (Dec 27, 2007)

I visited the DFB (Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke) in Gletsch on the 4th of July 2020 and this pic shows the HG 3/4 No.9 with the train from Realp to Oberwald. The loco is pulling the train uphill and downhill in this configuration. It depends on the loco type and the operational concept of the railway, if the loco has to be on the downhill side all the time or not. MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn) has the loco always at the front of the train.


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## amich35 (Jul 2, 2010)

*Cogwheel*

I built a similar simply loop cogwheel this spring on a grade of about 15% as well. I used 10' curves and have about 22' of straights in between. Both my LGB steam cog and the electric cog have no trouble going up the grade. Each can pull 7 or 8 long passenger cars no problem. The problem is on the downhill where the cars want to ride up on each other and the locomotive and battery car. I'm using simple LGB hook and look and have clipped them to look like the LGB cog hooks. The problem is the loops want to ride over each other on the downhill. Folks have suggested going to body mounted Kadees to solve this but I haven't want to invest in that just for this secondary loop. Instead, I've used zip ties between cars and that works unless there's a derailment then it's more complicated getting everything back up and lined up. I've been ballasting more of the downhill grade to lower/even that out a bit and that has helped. So watch the down grade as much as the upgrade!

Mike


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

amich35 said:


> I built a similar simply loop cogwheel this spring on a grade of about 15% as well. I used 10' curves and have about 22' of straights in between. Both my LGB steam cog and the electric cog have no trouble going up the grade. Each can pull 7 or 8 long passenger cars no problem. The problem is on the downhill where the cars want to ride up on each other and the locomotive and battery car. I'm using simple LGB hook and look and have clipped them to look like the LGB cog hooks. The problem is the loops want to ride over each other on the downhill. Folks have suggested going to body mounted Kadees to solve this but I haven't want to invest in that just for this secondary loop. Instead, I've used zip ties between cars and that works unless there's a derailment then it's more complicated getting everything back up and lined up. I've been ballasting more of the downhill grade to lower/even that out a bit and that has helped. So watch the down grade as much as the upgrade!
> 
> Mike



You need a brake on the caboose/last car when going downhill. Something (e.g., solonoid activated) could drag on the wheels/track activated by a magnet/reed switch at the top of the hill. Perhaps even just a "gravity activated" lever/weight system.


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## DeanoFloridaKeys (8 mo ago)

Hi,
Do you know the max slope you can use with a cog system?
Thank You,
Dean


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