# Rack Railways



## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Eric recently posted pictures of his mountain division. The grades are still manageable with rod locos, but if the grades get steeper, a rack is needed. 
There are basically two different systems:
1. Pure rack railways. The loco powers the cog gear and the adhesion wheels are only used to carry the weight. These locos can of course only run on a line with a rack, limiting their use for a garden railway. Examples are the Mount Washington Cog Railway or the Snowdon Mounbtain Railway in GB.
2. Mixed railways. The locos can run on tracks with and without rack. This type seems to be more versatile for a garden rack railway. Examples are the Achensee Bahn in Austria or the Furka Bahn in Switzerland. Locos for this type of operation also fell into 2 categories:
a) Locos with 2 separate sets of cylinders/valve gear for each kind of traction: adhesion and rack. The Furka locos and a beautifully restored German standard gauge loco (97 501) are examples of this design.
b) One set of cylinders for both adhesion and rack. These locos were usually geared and had the cog wheel powered by connecting rods. This type of loco was used on short industrial lines, as rack and adhesion were only in sync when the wheel diameter was identical to the pitch diameter of the cog wheel. In mainline locos the tires would wear fairly fast and the wheels would begin to slip. However, I think this type of loco is ideal for a garden railway: It is not much more complicated than a normal loco and it is geared for slower running and more pulling power. Attached is the drawing of a small industrial loco, built by Riggenbach in Switzerland in 1876! It was used on an obscure little mining line in Wasseralfingen/Germany and meter gauge. If someone thinks about building such an engine, I can supply more drawings. Here a sampler:



Regards


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Thanks for bringing the subject up. I have an obsession with rack (cog) railways and some day would love to build a line for one. I even have a yard with appropriate grades.

To my knowledge, there have been 2 production live steam rack models. Some years ago MDT Schweer produced a pot boiler version of an Achenseebahn locomotive, which looks remarkably similar to your drawing except everything above the frame is angled to keep the water in the boiler more level with the boiler while on the grade. Probably a dozen or more years ago I wrote a letter to them asking about getting one but never received a reply. I have read they were very limited production. On a, I believe German, website I have seen where one was converted from a pot burner to a internally fired gas burner. As you stated, these are more versitle because they can run on adhesion tracks as well as on the rack.

The other model is the Regner Rigibahn No. 7, a pure rack locomotive that was due out this summer. As soon as I heard about its production I tried contacting both Regner, through their email address and their on-line form, as well as the US distributer and never got a reply from any of them. I can only assume the demand was so great that the production batch sold out within a couple of weeks of announcement.

My ultimate goal would be a model of a Mt. Washington Cog Railway locomotive, which would either have to be scratch built or commissioned. Currently I have neither the time nor finances for either option so that will have to wait.

A more realistic option I have considered is a Ruby bash of something along the lines of a Baldwin Cog locomotive along the lives of this: www.gearedsteam.com/baldwin/cog/ima...lero_1.jpg


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)




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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Pic above didn't let me add text:

This is a 3:1 geared Ruby,if you modify the gearing you could easy make a rack loco out of it,i would down gear it to 5:1 with the small Cylinders and go with 3:1 with the larger cylinders! The 3:1 Ruby pulls quite a load but when you add on the incline 5:1 would be better!

Manfred


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Manfred, Belpaire,
Kit bashing a Ruby seems to be a good idea, however I would discard the chassis and make one from scratch. It seems there were no combined adhesion/rack locos in the US? Pure rack locos are in my mind somehow "boring", as they can only run up and down an incline, while the mixed ones can run over the whole layout. By the way, here is a picture of a magnificent German rack/adhesion loco:



This loco was built in 1923, retired in 1962, rescued in the 80s and has been meticulously restored during the last 26years(!). They just tested her on steam (without the rack cylinders yet) a couple of weeks ago and hope to restore the original line (Honau - Lichtenstein near Reutlingen,Germany).
Regards


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Manfred,
I believe I saw photos of that geared Ruby years ago, impressive and unique. One stumbling block I run into as I mentally build a Ruby bash cog locomotive is the cog wheel itself. I do have a small lathe/mill set up but the small amount of research I have done on making gears gets complicated very quickly. I haven't been able to find a source for metal cog wheels that match the LGB track.

Henner,
A new frame was my though if doing something based on a Ruby.

I understand your though on the advantages of a combined Rack/Adhesion locomotive for its versatility but they complex very quickly, like the locomotive in your last post. That's quite the restoration, especially rebuilding the line. There is some real dedication there.

To me, I like the simplicity of the pure rack designs plus the grades they can ascend are pretty impressive. If the locomotive doesn't need to be on the downhill side, then why bother?









Roger


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Henner, with the 2 sets of cylinders, I suppose that avoids the problem of "syncrhonizing" the rack gear with the drivers. Do they just "open the valves" on the cylinders to the drivers when using the rack system? 

Very interesting loco. 

Greg


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Roger,
it becomes complex if you select a prototype with separate cylinders for rack/adhesion. The little industrial loco I showed only needs a set of side rods between the rack jack-shaft and the driving wheels. I don't think this adds too much complexity







.
Greg,
they normally used compounding when running on the rack part of the line. There was a complicated valve which could operate the cog cylinders in different ways. Astonishingly adhesion contributed still more than 50% to the traction. The grade was "only" 10% but they pushed normal unmodified freight/passenger cars up the incline. During the last years of operation they left the adhesion loco at the front of the train and pushed with the rack loco as the rest of the line was fairly flat. Going downhill the rack loco was at the front, securing the train. The entry/exit sections were pretty interesting (still used in Switzerland today): The first 10' of the rack were placed on springs and the pitch of the rack varied slightly. So if the gear accidentally rode up on the rack, the rack could flex down and the varied pitch ensured synchronization after 2..3'.
Regards


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Very interesting, if you come across some links on this, I'd love to read them. 

Greg


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/viewtopic.php?t=10951

Here are some pics from the german forum,Otter's rack loco building approach! 

Manfred


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg,
here a link to the rack railway:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%BCrttemberg_Hz 
Manfred,
I am following up on Ottmars loco. He also works on a very innovative internal combustion system, avoiding the "chain saw" sound.
Regards


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## 7466 (Apr 23, 2009)

I'm interested i meeting some live steam railroaders and saw your Vetern's Day Open House. I support the Crewe RR Musuem in Crewe, VA and we're considering an outdoor layout - either at the museum on on my farm. Any chance of a connnection where a couple of us could visit and just look at what's involed. Have a great Thanksgiving! 

Bests 

Ron Timma 
HiddeDepot Farm Bed and Breakfast 
23745 St. James Rd 
Jetersville, VA 23083 
804-561-3664


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By fcrailway1 on 17 Nov 2012 07:29 PM 
I'm interested i meeting some live steam railroaders and saw your Veteran's Day Open House. I support the Crewe RR Museum in Crewe, VA and we're considering an outdoor layout - either at the museum on on my farm. Any chance of a connection where a couple of us could visit and just look at what's involved. Have a great Thanksgiving! 

Bests 

Ron Timma 
HiddeDepot Farm Bed and Breakfast 
23745 St. James Rd 
Jetersville, VA 23083 
804-561-3664 Are you sure you replied to the correct thread? This one is about rack railways and I live in CA....
Regards


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

I was poking around the Buntbahn site and found pictures of this scratch built beauty.




















Which were found on a thread for a meticulously made Achenseebahn layout. http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/pr...mp;start=0

Roger


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