# Johnson 16 wheeler



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)




----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Victor;

That is quite a contraption. It probably sounded like it was doing 100mph when it was barely crawling.

Thanks for the photos.

Best,
David Meashey


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Didn't want to post anything until I was sure the dang thing would even work, so the teaser pics above. Heres the meat and potatoes cooking away:









Chassis of basswood, pilot wheels from Bachmann Bug Maulers


















Wheel articulation, this WILL run on the 21" pizza!










This will be a non-powered pusher engine, with the motor in a trailing car pushing it around the pizza. this set-up allows me to build interesting engines that are not powere-able using conventional sources, more to come


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Well, this should be really interesting! I like how you got all those pilot wheels in there.


----------



## Crisolite (Jan 9, 2008)

I've always been intrigued by that beast. 

I can't wait to see your build.


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

pilot wheels from Bachmann Bug Maulers 
So that's why you've been looking for Big Hauler pilots! Looks great.


----------



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Vic, going where no man has ventured before him.


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Another shot of the Johnson 16 (you've seen this I'm sure),










The caption from the site (http://www.trainweb.org/nzgearedloc...n-p-1.html) points out that these are wooden rails. And those are wide wheels! I guess that's the point of all the wheels, load distribution?

Wonder how they "threw" the wooden switch... maybe literally throwing a board?!

Anyway, great project Vic, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

Cliff


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Vic, 
The prototype pics show a central gear transfer case between the trucks - a bit like a Climax ? Were all wheels driven, or just a few ?


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Not to butt in Pete, but here's a relevant paragraph from that trainweb site:

Designed as a replacement for horse teams, the axle loading of 1 tonne per axle was arrived at as being similar to that achieved on log buggies. The loco weighed in at 16.25 tons. A twin-cylinder vertical marine type engine was cab mounted and drove a longitudinal crankshaft that in turn drove an intermediate shaft via spur gears giving two speeds of ratios 1:1 and 1:2. The intermediate shaft then drove another set of spur gears down to the level of the line shaft. The lower, larger gear was 3ft 6in (1067 mm) in diameter. The line shaft was set just above the truck axles and a bevel gear pair drove from the line shaft to a stub shaft aligned across the truck. A pair of spur gears then transmitted power down to the axle. In all a total of 38 gears were in the transmission. The use of bevels on the stub shaft gave rise to high tooth stress and rapid wear. The wheels were carried on four trucks, the front two trucks being joined by a beam pivoted on the trucks and again at its mid-point where it was attached to the loco frame. The rear trucks were arranged the same. Top speed was about 5 mph (8km/h) and the average service life about 23 years. None exist today. The above image clearly shows the location of the twin cylinders and the reduction gears to the drive train. The loco worked at the Glenham Sawmilling Co. in 1910.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I would guess that those rather large wheel flanges were to keep the beast on the wooden rails.


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

In all a total of 38 gears were in the transmission 
With 8 axles, two spurs and two bevels = 32 gears and then 6 in the central gearbox - what a challenge that must have been to maintain (and to model!) I guess there were u-joints in the main shaft, but the bevels must have been able to move to let the trucks pivot? 

The mind boggles. . .


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Another small clue (http://www.trainweb.org/nzgearedlocomotives/price.html):

The 16-wheeler was a copy of several designs, the concept coming from the earlier Johnston 16-wheeler but using skew bevel gears based on the Climax A. 

So except for that, the Price power train designs (which Vic's already modeled, right Vic? Gorgeous model!) perhaps come into play. 

http://www.trainweb.org/nzgearedlocomotives/drawings/price_16w.jpg

Here's another large scale version of the Price 16 wheeler (article by David Fletcher, a member here on MLS):
http://4largescale.com/fletch/d30.htm 

Cliff


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Update pics coming this weekend, finished building the marine motor and reworked a Stainz boiler, currently painting stuff, and figuring out how to screw everything down.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

First round of pics

Marine motor build up, its based on Scientific Toys locomotive pistons glued together with other Plastruct and styrene parts:



















Painting begun, Grimy Black overall, dirty paint thinner stained wood deck










Currently working on the cab roof, I will be modeling this as an open cab. Its not going to be an exact prototype model, as there were no two built alike, and mine will be slightly "Americanized" to work within my pizza genre, but overall it will make for a fun addition.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Major work finished, cab built, details added, all thats left is the numbering.














































Marine motor and detailing




























Figures are temporary, I will replace them once I find better










I will add more junk and stuff as time goes on, but its ready for service on the pizza.


----------



## Lorna (Jun 10, 2008)

I have seen pictures of these before sort of a what I call a super Climax A. The ones from Price that always caught my eye were the sort of Climax B/Heisler hybrids.


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

I've so enjoyed watching the progress on this one, Vic.... It's super..... 
Love the "little" stuff that's been added... 
Great job... If you have added ditch lights? I hope they flash alternately....


----------



## Bob Baxter (Jan 3, 2008)

*Wheel change*

I discovered, thanks to one of our Brit members, that if you remove the plastic inserts in the Bachmann wheels you will create a wheel that has smaller more spindly spokes.










If you turn each wheel upside down and support the flanges with open vise jaws, you can tap the inserts out with a tiny screwdriver. This should make your model a bit more interesting.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Bob I will have to try that. It does look better


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Insets removed, that looks 100% better, thanks again Bob


----------



## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

That's better. Winner mod for the Bachmann wheels Bob. No more hub caps!

Andrew


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Excellent and inspirational work Vic!


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Great looking engine! I like how the wheels look now with the inserts removed.


----------



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

To whom it may concern, due to circumstances beyond my control (Vertical Scope screwing the pooch and deleting 80MB of my photo history three months ago with no resolution) This and all other threads of my 10+ years of activity on this site are now closed, if you are curious please look to my identical threads on LargeScaleCentral which in the coming months I will attempt to re-edit photos into from my personal archives once I have a new storage site up and running. It was fun while it lasted but the collective of monkeys now running this site now have soured my experience. Have a good day.


----------



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Sure sorry to see all of your photos disappear!! I haven't checked to see if mine have too. I know that I can no longer post to my web space and have to put my photos in the Gallery to add them to my posts.


----------

