people mover

Kent Petersen

Well-known Member
Hi guys we need to build a people mover for our jamboree would like to find plans for one we want to put on four wheeled wagon would like to have steps in back four safty please email if you can help Thank you Kent
 
Sounds like you're in need of a Yoder toter. There's some experts on those around here.
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Most the people that ride on those don't sue anyway. I bet you can grab the edge of the endgate as you climb up.

Next people will want them handicap accessible! :cry:
 
I don"t have any pics, however Ihave seen them built out of the frame of an Apache Creep Feeder for cattle. They have two wheels close together up front, like the narrow front on a tractor and the two rear ones out wide. The narrow front allows you to build steps/stairs on them to make it more accessable. I pulled one with my B farmall and it needed more ballast, since when I tried to stop it would push the locked up wheels and leave 2 black marks on the pavement. Not a big deal since you just planned your stops better and kept the speed down.
 
Put the steps on the side toward the front so you can keep an eye on those getting off or on. Less likely for some one to get run over. You can't see them in the back.
 
I & I has a Donahoe trailer that they put bus seats in and bows with a tarp cover. The front triangle has steps and a rail with flooring. The tandem axles ride pretty good until you get out into the field and the bus seats are thin. It turns tight and you can back it easy. I have trouble at Rantoul with the old runways reinforcing wire sticking up in the chipped concrete. Seem to have a flat often. With my 730S with 30" tires, the steps are low to the ground. People with walking problems or wheel chairs get along well with it.

You could take an old bale wagon and make an escalator out of the pick up part. The unloading would be a little severe when you raised it up, everybody would be getting off at the same place and time! HA!
 
I was the people mover guy at our local threshing show for many years, got away from it and now I got my arm twisted to get back into it for this year's show.

I've built three horse or tractor drawn trolleys and I was kind of involved with building a people mover a few years ago though someone else engineered and built that one, and did a really good job, by the way. The things you need to consider is the age of your crowd and how much they will be carrying along with them. Young parents have strollers that need to be stowed away or carried on the people mover. Old folks can't do steps well and they need good railings on both sides of the entrance to steady themselves when getting on. One side entrance is good because the driver only has one entrance to keep track of. Left or right side entrance is your choice. Think about which way is easier for the driver to twist around to look back with the foot on the clutch. Driver fatigue can lead to an accident when a driver isn't accustomed to doing this. Rear entrance is also good because it's pretty hard to run over someone who falls out the back. If you have a rear entrance you have more opportunity to make steps that go way down close to the ground. It's pretty hard to stick steps out the side.

We've never had anyone get hurt since I've been involved and we have 10,000-13,000 people at our show every year. One big important factor is the driver. Is he/she alert? I've had mostly very good drivers but I've had a few who thought they were the king of the show and had pedestrians running for their lives. You don't want that.

If the tractor has a cab the rear window needs to be open at all times. A quiet cab with the rear window open and the radio OFF is actually a little better in the fact that the driver can hear the people on the people mover better than he can with an open tractor. Pull the fuse on that tractor radio. Once again, that rear window needs to be OPEN!

If you put it on a running gear, chose a nimble one that responds well. Sometimes you get caught between close isles of parked cars and the easier the people mover is to maneuver, the less chance of putting a long gash in the side of a car. There's nothing more fiersome than a woman who has had her car dented! Westendorf 6 ton or 8 ton gears work well. They weave a little more at speed but they're nimble. You shouldn't be pulling people faster than 6 MPH anyway. Radial car tires will not stand the weight. Spend the money for implement tires. Passengers get real excited when a tires blows out under them. Have a spare tire and jack somewhere handy at the show in case you do have a flat.

If you weld steel railings to your people mover take into account the flexing and twisting of the people mover, especially if you have overhead framework for a canopy. You'll be surprised how much creaking light weight overhead framework will do.

For awhile I bolted school bus seats to Donahue implement trailers. One was 28? feet and the other was 32 feet. They would haul a lot of people out of the parking lot and they could empty in 20 seconds flat. Downfall was the huge size and no fenders over the wheels. They rode smooth but the people sitting in back were whipped up and down a bit because of the long overhang.

I put hydraulic brakes on four Westendorf 6 ton gears with 5 hole rims for the horse people. You get the rear brakes off an old Ford 1/2 ton pickup from, lessee, the seventies or older I believe, weld a little square plate on the rear wagon spindle to bolt the backing plate to, ream the drum center out to four inches diameter and bolt everything together. Rig up a master cylinder with a hand lever up front and you are equipped with brakes. I could go on-and-on. Good luck with the project. It brings back a lot of memories as I type this. Jim
 
(quoted from post at 14:25:41 05/04/13) The one in the pic needs hand rails on those steps. Think "Liability".

Don't let the ambulance chasing lawyers run your life.
 
That outfit is no good, way too high up. You need to start out with a gear that the bolsters are low as about straight with the hubs then the sills as normal but put the cross pieces underneeth the sills and put the floor on them that are not more than 18" off the ground the sills should be the height of a seat and have the seats even with the tops of the sills. And a 2' high back rest. You need only one hinged steep that will raise if hits the ground that way but make sure it is a sollid non slip steep so that canes and crutches can safly use it. No expanded mesh for that cane tip to get cought in. And for those people that need the transportation they cannot get on a wagon that it as heigh as the one pictured. And that would also help the young families with small kids and a stroller. Put the steps on the back and with a closed gate whenever it is moving and always have a rider on the back to give comands and handle that gate. That way no body trying to get on or off a moving unit. Good idea would be a speaker system for the gate operator to be able to talk to the tractor operator as a lot of the tractors are too noisy to be able to be heard over and a lot of times the drivers are older with hearing problems so help them as much as possible and with that you will get more people to help with the driving. And therefore be safer.
 
We have several Apache trolleys at work for plot tours, and yes, you can get them ADA compliant with wheel chair lifts.

Apache also RENTS them out. solves storage and maintenance issues.
You can also get horse drawn ones.
For the safety police it couldn't get any better, Apache would be liable for design/compliance and you would only be liable for the towing.
http://www.apachetrolleys.com/
 

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