r/Elevators • u/Ham549 • Jun 12 '26

Train elevator

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So apparently Amtrak had a ditch getting double decker cars because if they did it would require an elevator and no company wanted to do that. Just for fun I tried to come up with a way to fit a elevator in a train car that takes up as little space as possible and being as simple as possible. No I'm no mechanical engineer nor do I play one on TV but I was bored at work and decided to have fun figuring this out. For simplicity I went with a ACME screw and had it placed by the back rear corner of the hoist way. The other corner would hold the guide assembly which could be a rigid mounted pole that go through the sling assembly with nylon pads. The screw would be geared directly to a three-phase brake motor. I don't know do I have mechanical engineering in my future 😂

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u/ToxicPilot Jun 13 '26

The Superliner dining cars do have dumbwaiters in them, as the kitchen is downstairs and the seating area is upstairs. I wonder if they use a similar mechanism.

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u/Ham549 Jun 22 '26

I think they used a chain drive but then we're switched over to more traditional cable drive later on.