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Has anyone printed the A/C units for the Rocket Booster Train?  I was watching a video or two, and noticed the first couple of booster sections on the train had large A/C units on the booster cars.  These look like a cool addition to the booster train.  Naturally, they'd need that little Carrier logo on them.   I did wonder why all the boosters didn't have that provision, maybe something special about the booster sections in the A/C equipped modules?

Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N1Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N2

I'm surprised that this wasn't an option with the booster car set, there's even slots to mount them on the cars!  You might have to dispense with the brake wheel, but I see the prototype doesn't have those anyway.

Rocket Booster AC Mounting

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  • Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N1
  • Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N2
  • Rocket Booster AC Mounting
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Its diesel powered, you can see the tank in the shadows of the frame.

If you look on shapeways with the term "reefer unit" or similar terms, many of these things are on there.  If its the wrong scale, message the shop owner and ask if they can re-scale it. Most of them are amenable to doing so, as its just a % size change when you create the stl.

The frame is probably something you'd have to build, or someone would have to print the frame and reefer as a unit, but that file might be harder to find.

Informed speculation:

The two cars with HVAC units are probably  the two forward segments, one per booster, which have the igniters and some associated avionics installed. I guess that somebody probably decided that it would be better to keep the SLS version nice and comfy.

The Lionel booster set (and the MTH version I have) model the Space Shuttle SRBs and transport. That had four motor segments for one booster packed with solid propellant (forward, forward center, aft center, and aft) plus a car with the nose and aft skirt. I don't believe they usually sent the nose/skirt back and forth to Utah, so a typical Shuttle train had eight cars with just the motor segments. And the forward segment cars did NOT have HVAC units.

The Space Launch System (SLS) version of the SRB has an added fifth motor segment ("center center") so an SLS booster train will typically have ten booster cars  (with two having extra amenities). And a "prototypically correct" SLS booster train would have a couple more center segments under the covers.

John

@jwtex posted:
The Space Launch System (SLS) version of the SRB has an added fifth motor segment ("center center") so an SLS booster train will typically have ten booster cars  (with two having extra amenities). And a "prototypically correct" SLS booster train would have a couple more center segments under the covers.

I looked at videos of several booster trains, and I don't know what the "center segments" refers to.  The deviation from the Lionel Rocket Booster train was no passenger car on any of them.  However they all had 10  to 12 booster cars and a total of 11 buffer cars, the lead car has the clearance bars on it.  Some of them had all the buffer cars at the end, not really doing any "buffering".

This one's odd as it has the ten booster sections, but the buffer cars were all bunched at the end of the train!

Here's one with twelve booster sections.  The climate control was on the 2nd and 3rd booster sections.

Another odd one, this one has eleven booster sections, no climate control, and all the buffer cars are on the rear again.

This one has twelve booster sections.

My MTH set has a box labeled "front segment", two labeled "center segment", and one "aft segment". That's what the Shuttle SRB motor segments (the ones filled with solid propellant) were called. The SLS SRBs have an added center segment (imaginatively called "center center") so there are ten motor segments in a full SLS stack or train. But I guess the train goes with what ever the manifest says.

The buffer cars are placed between booster cars with LOADED segments for multiple reasons like minimizing risk of damaging multiple segments in a derailment or reducing loading on bridges, but empty cars or cars with expended/cleaned segments (basically big but relatively lightweight tubes) don't require the buffers interspersed. So any train heading back to Utah could be put together in any order that's easiest to switch.

Also, note that in the train with twelve booster cars there are two that are different - the red ones with twelve axles rather than eight. One of the videos mentions that those were test cars for carrying booster segments for a different rocket.

Has anyone printed the A/C units for the Rocket Booster Train?  I was watching a video or two, and noticed the first couple of booster sections on the train had large A/C units on the booster cars.  These look like a cool addition to the booster train.  Naturally, they'd need that little Carrier logo on them.   I did wonder why all the boosters didn't have that provision, maybe something special about the booster sections in the A/C equipped modules?

Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N1Rocket Booster Train AC Unit N2

I'm surprised that this wasn't an option with the booster car set, there's even slots to mount them on the cars!  You might have to dispense with the brake wheel, but I see the prototype doesn't have those anyway.

Rocket Booster AC Mounting

John, you photos (all of them) are fantastic……thank you

Guys, I'm not going to blow smoke up  your rocket booster, I know nothing about these particular hvac units.  My first job was in hvac (15 years) straight out of school.  More than likely the black piping is flexible duct providing both supply and return air. In my opinion the duct work would be critical on a model to give purpose to the hvac unit. Thanks for posting John, very interesting topic.

@Weener Dog posted:

Guys, I'm not going to blow smoke up  your rocket booster, I know nothing about these particular hvac units.  My first job was in hvac (15 years) straight out of school.  More than likely the black piping is flexible duct providing both supply and return air. In my opinion the duct work would be critical on a model to give purpose to the hvac unit. Thanks for posting John, very interesting topic.

Clearly the black pipes were for the air handler, and indeed they would certainly be crucial in the real world!

My understanding is that only two of the flatcars had the HVAC units installed because those two flat cars carried the aft segments of the rocket, i.e., the segments with booster nozzles. NASA had increased the size of the nozzles for the new SLS boosters and utilized new materials in their design and the new materials were more sensitive to temperature changes during transit than previous versions.

Since the transport was planned for the middle of summer, installation of HVAC units was needed. UP designed the racks and Carrier produced the units.

Someone mentioned "buffer" cars. Because of the extreme weight of the shipment, placement of the flatcars in the consist was critical and, in order to distribute the weight evenly, "buffer" cars were placed in between each of the flatcars carrying the booster rocket motor segments.  Each "buffer" car was filled with 50,000 pounds of concrete to improve handling of the entire consist.

One other interesting point - the rocket motor flatcars were covered with "clamshell" covers for protection during the shipment. The clamshells, themselves, were outfitted with various instruments and sensors to detect and record g-forces during the trip. Now, if only Lionel had made a working prototypical version of those !

Rockets by Rail: A Stellar Achievement

I guess I can dispense with the passenger car at the end of the train, it's not there on the prototype train.  Anyone need a 21" passenger car?

Supposedly there was a team of technical experts who monitored the cars and booster segments as they made the seven-day trip to Florida. I wonder if the passenger car was an add-on to the consist for the team to travel in.

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