Engine Stand

Fixed Height

2 inch steel channel

Jeff Smith wrote the following on the "Live Diesel" Yahoo Group, April 2013:

I built my engine stand out of 2 inch channel. I made it so that two cars can be placed on the lower rack side by side, or one in the center below the engine. I made it 8 feet long to showcase our steam engine. I used 2 inch x 10 inch boards on each side on the top to make a work shelf when working on the engine. It makes a nice display rack, but if I did it over, I would make it so the tender would be under the steam engine and it would only be about 4.5 feet long. It takes up a lot of room in my garage. I would also make the vertical posts straight up and use 3/8 inch gusset plates on the corners so it would not rock.

I added the angled channel pieces after I built the rack because I didn't like the flex. After I added those then I added the boards. I would also use tubing the next time because I saw a stand with rollers in the tubing and the steam engine could run while on the stand.

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Long Stand

Doug Blodgett submitted the following:

My stand is about 24" longer than the engine w/o tender for a total of 94" so I could roll it a bit on the stand as needed. It was about waist high before I cut it down but you should build to suit your own preferences. It's all done in 1 1/2 x 3 channel with a web thickness of 3/16". The legs were cut at an angle to match the rail portions so the rails sit flat on the leg ends. Makes for easy welding and pretty much guarantees no broken joints from a poor weld. If I were to do anything different it would be to use larger diameter wheels. Mine were steel wheels about 3 inches in dia. Also, all wheels pivot. That was handy in tight spots but better control is had with two fixed casters and two pivoting ones. My tender stand has two and two and it's really better.

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Variable Height

See Lift

Roller Stand

Bill Van Brocklin

Pat Fahey wrote:

A couple days ago up on the Chaski website, someone was asking about Locomotive Roller Test Stands. I replied back to the post and send photos of the locomotive test stand that was built by Bill Van Brocklin.

The stand is about 4 feet long, it weighs maybe 5 lbs, built of aluminum, with rollers that can be adjusted for different types of locomotive wheel arrangements. The stand was built for locomotives in 3/4" inch scale only.

As far as I know, Billy never wrote up an article on the stand, but I could be wrong?

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  Bill Van Brocklin's Roller Test Stand for 3/4 inch scale locomotives. Photo by Pat Fahey, April 2018.

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Rotating Stand

Chuck Hackett shared his design for a rotating stand on Chaski.org.

• Device to Rotate Rail Cars (PDF)

Multi-track

Rich Businger listed this 6-track rolling locomotive/railcar transfer table for sale in December 2023. Dimensions in inches: 84 x 54 x 32

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Lowboy Transfer

The following photos were posted on eBay.com October 1, 2023.

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Transfer Cart

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  Transfer cart. Photo by Chris Brew.

External Links

• Chuck Hackett's Engine Stand (scissor lift style)
• Neidrauer's Engine Stand (fixed height)
• Dave Levy's Engine Stand (fixed height, see photos with engine stand)
• "Transporter", Nelson Riedel
• "Shay Transporter & Test Fixtures", Nelson Riedel (scissor lift)
• "Scissor Lift Table", Discover Live Steam
• "Scissor table revisited", Chaski.org
• "My Engine Stand", Gecko Belt & Sandy Flats Railroad
• "Heavy Duty Engine Stand", Chaski.org
• "Engine Stand", Chaski.org
• "Engine lift on sale...", Chaski.org
• "Locomotive Stands", Chaski.org
• "Engine rotisserie stand", Chaski.org
• "Comments on train unloading facilities", Chaski.org
• "Vertical Freight Car Storage", Island Pond Railroad