# Moving a Steam Donkey



## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

A couple of years ago Eric, David and I (EDH) built 4 live steam donkeys. They have been sitting idle for a couple of years. Recently I took them out of the box and did some TLC on them. I found a flaw in the original design which caused friction losses. I modified them and for a test I tried to duplicate a scene from the 1900s, when donkeys were moved to a new cutting site by rail. Here is a short video:



Enjoy!


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

Great video, Henner! But i got a question -- if it took a second donkey to load the first onto a flatcar, how would they move the LAST donkey?

Just wonderin'..


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Gary,

a donkey could load/unload itself. The rigging would be slightly more complicated. I was just too lazy and I also wanted to show off both donkeys







.
Regards


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Great show Henner. You should the bring the donkeys to Sacramento next year and set up a slack line between two tables.


Bob


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Bob,

we showed off our donkeys 2006 in Sacramento and even gave a clinic. We have a diorama to demonstrate yarding/loading. May be new visitors to Sacramento would like to watch it in action. 2014?

http://www.panyo.com/nss2006/p5.htm

For some strange reason the link does not work, seems to have a hidden blank at the end, if I copy and paste it is OK, go figure.... 
Regards


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Henner, 
What are you using for cables? I have a project that is going to require the use of working cables, and I need a source if you have one. I know PSME has some cables in their catalog, but I've never seen one in person, or heard of anyone using them. 

Craig


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Deleted, double post


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Craig,

I use rigging cord for model ships from Amati (My now defunct hobby shop carried it). Real steel cable (even if very thin and stranded) is too stiff.

Regards


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the tidbit. The stuff PSME sells is stranded... I may have to get some different stuff just to play around with it.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Great video setup 
Dennis


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

That is really COOL!! I love seeing steam powered equipment that really does something.


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Last weekend we were at David's backyard for another donkey session. This time we had set up our diorama with the spar trees. As the yarding/loading operation is pretty delicate - 2 brakes, 2 friction clutches and a throttle have to be operated simultaneously, we decided to run them on compressed air. The throttle is built as a 3-way valve, so sitching between modes is not a problem. Here the clip:




Enjoy!


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Great work, looks very good. Thanks for posting 

Jerry


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Well done Henner! That is fun to see, must be more fun to do!


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry, Eric,

thanks for your comments. The second clip was filmed by David with me as an assistant. Yes, running the donkeys and trying different rigging schemes is challenging and a lot of fun. It makes you appreciate what the real loggers in the early part of the last century did. With some donkeys, wire rope, clevises, pulleys and a lot of ingenuity they could accomplish everything. 
Regards


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

Very impressive...... now thats steaming at its best!


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## livesteam53 (Jan 4, 2008)

Well done!


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## Loeksblues (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi Henner, 
Beautiful donkey & great video! Thanks for posting. 

Regards Loek. 

http://www.depuffendeschoorsteen.com/


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Guys,

thanks for the kind words!
Loek,
I posted the video links also in buntbahn (http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/viewforum.php?f=23 ) and someone replied with 2 WEB sites he recommended for further information about model donkeys. One of them was your WEB site, the other one the drawings of our donkeys...
Regards


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## Loeksblues (Dec 29, 2011)

Henner, thanks for the information. 
You inspires me to make a new donkey! 
Regards. 

Loek. 
Nostalgic American Logging Steam Engines.


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

2 weeks ago the BAGRS live steam crew was invited to the "Train Days" of the Los Altos history museum. We set up our logging module in addition to the new portable layout and it turned out to be quite a crowd pleaser. Visitors were very interested in the logging operations of the early 20th century: 









Due to the success of this show we decided to hook up the donkey diorama to the main BAGRS layout. So instead of running desperately in circles our logging locos have some switching to do. As we don't want to modify the tracks/add switches to the main layout we will use a temporary switch. This switch just clips on top of the existing track, climbs up a shallow ramp and leads the temporary track away from the main line:









and









Regards


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