Bamboo trains in Cambodia

[cteno4]

Very interesting Cambodian home brew rr

 

 

Jeff

[Mr Frosty]

Got to give them some serious Brownie Points for ingenuity.

Looks like they would be great fun to ride too.

[Guest Closed Account 1]

Probably can retro fit a car disc brake inboard on the driven axle. Or just the caliper to grab the wheel flanges.

 

There are a lot of Mitsubishi/Tiger/Diatsu type mini trucks, over there that could serve as cheap used parts sources.

 

How quickly can you stop revolving metal with wood?

 

I like the simplicity of the dual belt drive and engine combo.

 

I'd still have to add cup holders.

[billk]

Yes, they are ingenious and fun. I have posted some pictures in the gallery I took in 2002 around Battambang when I got to ride on one. However, you don't want to be in a hurry and you really need to make sure someone else is taking care of lifting the train on and off the tracks, especially if loaded with goods. As it's all single track and there is no control over the trains, a lot of time and effort can get spent on "shunting" round other trains.

[cteno4]

thats the beauty of this as i doubt they ever really need to stop fast at the speeds they are going and the wood lever works just fine. if they did have a fast break i expect most of the passengers would go flying off the train!

 

i think they are trying to keep things as simple as possible. the wheel sets probably never break or ware out and are pretty simple and robust. engine is the only complex part at all and that just lifts off so you can switch it out. i love the fact they have gone to the simplest solutions for the whole design (including just lifting it up to reverse it!). belts go on forever if low rpm and not super tight, i was always amazed at the older farm equipment on my grandmother's farm that used belt drives like this and some of the belts were like 30+

 

i had a gravity go car i built when i was a kid. i made some caliper brakes like that on the rear wheels. they never did work well for the few times we needed to break fast they were pretty sucky and they kept breaking and wearing out. finally i went to the cambodian model. simple lever in the center of the cart that hit the street. put a hunk of car tire over the dragging part. gave better braking in the real emergency situations than the fancy brakes and they were really amazingly subtle in its application for being such a crude design!

 

im wondering if these guys have some sort of a drag stick on the ground for when they do need to stop faster.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Bill,

 

thanks, very cool pictures. ugh yes i could see with one piled high with wood like that it would be nasty to lift! but it appears that human power is in abundance! probably more of a culture as well to everyone pitching in when you need something done like this! probably makes the rides more interesting, sort of the old get out and push the bus thing!

 

beats riding the rural busses in cambodia and vietnam, those (as im sure you experienced) can be hair raising and passing one upside down, flattened in a ditch did not make the rest of the rides go smoother!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Mr Frosty]

I am guessing an old car tyre of the front would probably make a good buffer/bumper for absorbing the energy from low speed collisions. It would also conform to the low tech & low cost ethos.

[billk]

Jeff,  You are right! Unfortunately health and safety is an unknown phrase in Cambodian transport so generally whatever is slowest is the best bet!

[cteno4]

as long as your slow transportation on the side of the roadway or on it!

 

its nice to see all the trains seem relatively slow so the bamboo cars can get off the tracks.

 

i do love the absolute simplicity.

 

jeff

[BurningLava]

That was very cool and also it must be fun. The best thing is that it’s portable which you can’t get from anywhere.