# Pendlenton Cassette



## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here's how to make one. I did mine really fast, so it doesnt look like something I'd put in a magazine, but I think it's good enough that some of us here could make use of these little contraptions.

To start, I used a piece of oak, 1/2"H x 4"W x 3'L and two pieces of aluminum angle stock, 1/16" thick and 3' long. These can be substituted for whatever you have on hand or available at the local hardware store, but I'm only showing you how I did mine with the materials listed above.

For my first one, I cut 6" off the end of the board and the angle stock. This is the transition piece on the layout, from track to cassette. The rest of this cassette is now 30", plenty long for a small train to fit. I lined up the stock to one side of the board and clamped it on. Then using a micrometer (or ruler, preferably with small incremements) I measured the wheel spacing on a common cattle car. I then lined up the other angle stock with the wheel spacing on the inside edges. You can also use a peice of track, but I found the ruler was quicker. Cut the width of the board to the outside of the angle stock.










For the next part I drilled pilot holes inthe angle stock, then clamped the stock to one side of the board and screwed it down.



















Then using my wheel spacing, I clamped the other angle stock to the other side and screwed it down.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

With the cassette done, I repeated the same thing for the 6" transition piece. I then took a 9" straight piece and cut it in half. I did this because the EZ track I use has the big snap pieces at each end and those would get in the way. By cutting it in half I get a flat surface to butt against the transition piece.

Surprisingly enough, the transition and the EZ track are almost identical in height, but I shimmed the track up a tad to smooth it out some. To make sure the pieces dont move (and mess up the alignment) I screwed the track and transition down with two screws each.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Now I dont have this entirely finished, but I'll show you how its supposed to work (in theory).

The cassette lines up with the transition. Using metal clamps (I dont have any right now), they both line up the cassette and pass the current through to the angle stock of the cassette.

I really didnt put forth much effort to file and sand everything, but just holding the cassette by hand I was able to roll this cattle car from the track to the cassette quite easily. Because of where my transition is, I'll need to construct a removeable brace that the cassette can rest on while moving trains on/off.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I'll try to finish this up this weekend and maybe shoot some footage of it in action, but really it is as simply as it looks. The purpose for the Pendlenton Cassette is to offer a means of adding or removing trains from the active layout where room for a staging area is not available or simply not wanted. Using a standard shelf bracket system, you can store an unlimited amount of trains to swap out for shows or operating sessions. 

If you have multiple levels but dont have room for a helix, the cassette works as a poor man's train elevator. Or if yoiu have a shelf layout and need to turn trains, but dont have room or want a turntable, just run the train onto the cassette, lift and turn, then drive off facing the other direction. The cassette can be as long or as short as you want it to be based on the size of the train and its purpose. In short, the Pendlenton Cassette has many, many uses, but uses very few materials and is very simple to construct.

Oh, and sorry for the huge pics, but I was too lazy to sixe them down tonight.


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Very interesting! Please post a vid if you get a chance. I am curious???????


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Get yourself a small copper tube & coupler screw and mount a coupler on top of it and you can lock one end of those cars into the cassette.

On my new layout I'm going to be doing something similar, but my cassettes will look like RR river barges. and be able to hold ~12 cars.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Since I'm planning on using these for storage, that would be a great idea, but for those who are using them to transport trains from one part of the layout to another or turning the trains, it wouldnt allow them to drive off the other side. The article that I copied this from showed a piece of firm foam wedged into one end to prevent the train from running or rolling off the end. Soft enough to not break the couplers, but rigid enough to stay in place. I think padding foam like what you'd use in a gun case or equipment case would work just fine.

But I like the coupler idea. :thumbsup: I'll have to see what I can build that would clamp onto the side rails so it can be removed if needed.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

very good idea. i like.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

sstlaure said:


> Get yourself a small copper tube & coupler screw and mount a coupler on top of it and you can lock one end of those cars into the cassette.


Ok I did it. But I used two sizes, one inside the other so that the couplers are 100% removeable at each end.

At first I drilled one hole, it was too big so I drilled a second and it was too small. So I widened out the first and came up with the idea of larger diameter tube to sleeve the hole the coupler fits into. Worked awesome.



















Here is the coupler attached to the top of the tube with a draft box and machine screw. I used th height of this setup to determine the depth of the hole I drilled in the cassette.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Just a couple more pics. Here is one shot of the assembled coupler set in place. I made two, one for each end.










With the cattle car hooked up.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

That's a good idea to keep the trains from falling out. If you have a caboose, I guess you need one with a coupler on the back as well.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Scott mentioned it, so he gets the credit. But it really does help to keep the cars from rolling around while movint the cassette.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Here's what I made to prevent the cars or locos from rolling off the end of the transition. Just a round plastic rod piece I had left over from a building cut down to span the track width.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Very cool cabledawg. I can't really take the credit either. I can't remember where I saw it, but it was used on model river barges that were used in the same manner. (That's what I'm going to do on my layout. 3 tracks with 4 car capacity each.)


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> That's a good idea to keep the trains from falling out. If you have a caboose, I guess you need one with a coupler on the back as well.


Actually you can just spin the coupler around sideways if you dont have a coupler on a car/loco or the wrong type. I have a few cars left with horn hooks, so I just spin the coupler so the hooks dont damage the knuckle. :thumbsup:


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