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WRIGHT RAIL WORKS
Our opening line of products is focusing on a very popular but often
overlooked railroad, the East Broad Top. Initially, we are
concentrating on the freight cars of the EBT in 7 ½" and 7 ¼" gauges.
Our
standard product line of 2
½" scale freight cars is designed from the ground up to be fully
functional, prototypical, and reasonably priced with options scaling
to fit most budgets and skills.
TRUCKS
The centerpiece of
our opening lineup is the "Vulcan" truck.
The prototype truck is a
set of steel castings. To keep our prices affordable and our trucks
strong and the sturdy foundation for our cars (weighing in at just
over 40 lbs each), we cast our trucks in ductile iron. Axles are of
alloy steel and wheels are mild steel.
Our truck castings are
finely detailed with much of the same lettering and markings, taking
only minor license to identify the trucks as of our design. If
interested, we can also supply the trucks with Sumpter Valley Railroad
(based in Oregon) markings on the side frames, as the SVRR also used
this style of truck on some of their equipment. Standard design of our
trucks calls for two sets of nested springs per side frame to give
plenty of strength for standard freight service. If greater carrying
capacity is needed, we can furnish stiffer springs at no additional
cost.
Brakes are of the
conventional design of cast iron shoes forced against the wheels by
rods and levers actuated by a single piston. Our current style for
brakes are of the common straight-air type: increasing air pressure in
the trainline increases the braking force at the wheels. We are
developing a triple valve that will give a prototypical braking style
along with appropriate valves. Once this development is complete, all
cars with our brakes will be setup to utilize either straight air or
the more prototypical air-reduction brakes and be able to switch back
and forth as needed.
ROLLING STOCK
The 3 bay, low side or
high hopper is likely one of the most readily identifiable cars from
the East Broad Top and was the heart of their business. Many modern
steam tourist narrow gauge railroads all across the United States have
acquired these cars, including the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR,
Huckleberry Railroad, White Pass & Yukon, Hesston Steam Museum, and
the New Jersey Museum of Transportation, to name a few. We have
faithfully reproduced the car in
2
½" scale, duplicating most of the detail with exception of the rivets.
The above two photos
also show our EBT 3 bay, low side hopper coupled to a partially
complete EBT flatcar. At the time of the photo, it is carrying an
extra truck and minus a deck.
Another hallmark of
our design is that all of our
2
½" scale equipment comes standard with dual height coupler pockets,
allowing for both a scale coupler height of 26 inches and interchange
with the IBLS standard coupler height. To change the height of the
coupler, simply remove the pin holding the coupler, insert it into the
other pocket, and reinstall the pin. The coupler pin is furnished with
a cotter pin to keep it from working out on its own.
The present line of
cars that we offer is:
Hoppers:
- 2 bay, 5ft long,
Low Side, all steel construction
- 3 bay, 6ft long,
Center Dump, all steel construction
- 4 bay, 6ft long,
Center Dump, all steel construction
Flat cars:
- 7ft long, all steel
frame, weatherproof decking
Box cars:
- 6 ½ ft long, all
steel construction
Tank cars:
- 7ft long, all steel
frame, weatherproof decking
- Specialized version
of flatcar with welded steel tank
- Vented tank holds
liquid but not rated for pressure
Cabooses:
- 5 ½ ft long, steel
center beam
In the works for 2011
is the East Broad Top Gas-Electric "Doodlebug".
PATTERNS,
PATTERNMAKING, AND CASTINGS
If you have something
in mind that you want to build and can't find castings, let us know.
We do custom pattern making and CNC milling. If we think the idea fits
with our business model, we may decide to make it a standard product
and will give you a reasonable discount on the first run of castings
for suggesting it to us. |
