Railroads carry a multitude of loads, from passengers, livestock, and a variety of other goods. I decided to build a high-power transformer and the car designed to carry it—the Schnabel car. The Schnabel car is designed to carry heavy or oversized loads.
The construction of this car involves two friends and 3-D printing. One hobbyist provided me with the .stl files to print the power transformer. A second friend knowledgeable about 3-D design was kind enough to draw and print all parts of the car.
The car measures 1.1 meters long (about 43.3”) and includes Bachmann metal wheels and PIKO America trucks. The design is based on an HO scale MTH Schnabel car.
One of the main challenges was to make sure the car which, will have a high center of gravity, will stay upright despite several pivot points. After several tests using a wooden mock-up, we decided to add ball bearings in several locations on the pivots.
The car does not sway and remains stable on gauge-1 track. My railroad has R1 (600mm radius) curves and our design works well. Fortunately, the LGB switch machines are low enough that the car cradle (the area where the transformer fits) can pass over them without any trouble.
The car is made of four parts–two small cars, one at each end carrying brake system components. (The prototype car would certainly need high efficiency power brakes!) I added lead weights underneath these pieces.
The two middle pieces support the load and are fitted with 2, 2-axle trucks each. Each piece has a main chassis linking the two trucks and supporting the main pivot.
Watch a video of the car running on my indoor railroad here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvHALuvpAJM
Watch a video of the detailed construction process here
