Train Blueprints / Dimensions Needed

I need to find blueprints for trains, especially ones that might have measurements on them. Currently, I have a blueprint for a B&M floorless train, but I don't have any dimensions for it. Or does anyone know where I might obtain B&M floorless train dimensions from? I know that I've seen more train blueprints on the web, but I can't locate any right now.

Or any detailed ride layout blueprints might come in handy. The only one I have right now is for HyperSonic. Hopefully I can find what I need before Monday. Thanks alot.

If you have a "blueprint" without dimensions, what you have is a drawing, not a blueprint.

Furthermore, why would you possibly need them? That's valued intellectual property, and not stuff that just floats around.

Let me clarify. I need blueprints with visible dimensions. I need them for school, for technical drawing. Any help would be appreciated.

Why don't you try contacting the companies of your interest?

It would be wiser, and easier if you did. Chances are, you would have to get permission from these companies to use their drawings. (I doubt companies will actually give you their blueprints, like Jeff said, that is valuable, and most likely confidential property). But I guess using drawings would be acceptable.

Better yet why not just contact any of the parks that operate floorless coasters & see if they can give you the vehicle dimensions? *** Edited 11/16/2003 6:18:21 PM UTC by BATWING FAN SFA***

Try this link...http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=4&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=194&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=coaster&OS=coaster&RS=coaster There is a lot of goodness that comes from patents.

Since you already have drawings that are to scale, you could assume a distance for part of the train. Say a seat would be 20-24" wide for example, then use that to derive the other dimensions for the rest of the vehicles. Since it's for a technical drawing class, actual and precise dimensions probably aren't critical.

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J. said:
Since it's for a technical drawing class, actual and precise dimensions probably aren't critical.

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Yeah, thats an oxymoron sentence if I ever saw one. It is essential to have exact dimensions for mechanical drawings. If your using any sort of scale relavent to the actual train that is. If your not using any scale, then what is the point of doing a mechanical drawing, just draw the train free-hand. That's the point of mechanical drawing.

Dante, 4th year architecture and design student. *** Edited 11/16/2003 7:31:19 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

You will find some technical drawings of Schwarzkopf's vehicles here:

http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/achterbahnen-detail-wagen-GF.htm

I meant that the teacher would not mark him for having the wrong dimensions. I would assume that in the class, drawing technique and scale are more important than having true to life dimensions. If this was a drawing going to a company for fabrication then the actual dimensions would be critical. I mean is it really important for a class exercise if seat is 24" vs. 30"? Probably not, just as long as the proportions and scale are correct.

Jason, a senior architectural engineering student.

A blueline drawing isn't exactly confidential, but it is copyrighted. Under fair use policies, I would say he could use a copyrighted drawing of a roller coaster for educational purposes. Obtaining that drawing is the hard part, but contacting the actual companies would be your best bet. I gave a student a few bluelines of a school I was working on during an internship. He was doing a report on architectural drawing so he called us up.

Seth Oakley
Recent Archtiecture graduate (still looking for a job)(I went to U of Cincinnati...#3 school in the country...still no job)

PTC 3-bench trains with 4 cars are 36' long.

I believe SFOG's Ninja trains (7 car consists) are 39'10" long.

*** Edited 11/17/2003 2:59:41 AM UTC by General Public***

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J. said:
I would assume that in the class, drawing technique and scale are more important than having true to life dimensions. just as long as the proportions and scale are correct.

Jason, a senior architectural engineering student.

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But if your drawing anything to scale, you need the real dimensions of what your drawing, if you want an accurate drawing that is. What is this? A high school project or a college project? If its high school I wouldn't be so concerned with accuracy. If they give dimensions for the trains on *genius* Schwartzkopf's *genius* site, that would be a good reference. I haven't checked out the site so I wouldn't know.

Dante, a senior also ;) *** Edited 11/17/2003 4:59:28 AM UTC by DorneyDante***

He said he had a drawing of a train. I assume that would be to scale. If he takes a part of the drawing, like a seat, and assumes a dimension of 24", he can find the scale of the drawing. Then the rest of the dimensions can be derived from that scale. So the drawing would be correct, except that the dimensions could be based on dimensions that are not "mirrored" in the real world. My argument is that whether the dimensions are actually true-to-life, real world correct or derived off of an assumption, they would not cause a major problem for this school project, as they would all be scaled down or up based on the actual correctness of the original assumption.

I don't think his high school teacher will even notice the difference if he bases his dimensions off the drawings. I am guessing high school because of the year he was born. A good place to start is with the track dimensions and work up from there...

If this teacher told you that you HAVE to have the original blueprints, well then have him go try looking for them (and paying for them.) Most places don't give them out because they don't want people to copy their ideas and possibly make money off of them. They belong to them and they don't have to give them out if they don't want to.

Sometimes you can find blueprints on ebay and there are some websites that offer them. The rock and rollercoaster is an easy one to find.

Okay, thanks for the help. Since I can't get the exact dimensions, I'm just getting them as close as possible based on what I know. Also, this is a project for AutoCAD, so I can adjust the scale later if I need to.

Does anyone know the exact width of B&M floorless track? If I had that, then everything else would come together. Anyone?

Thanks again.