Garden Railway Forum

Sorry, only just caught up with this thread.

I concur with what has already been said. Personally, like Peter, I would go for rechargeables preferably with in-situ charging. However, if you're not at ease with that then the alternative would be to get a battery box for the required number of cells and wire that in. Then you can remove the batteries for charging and/or use non rechargeables.

Rik

Cheers Rik - yes I think I'm going for the rechargeable ones inside permanently - I think that a number of suppliers do a wiring loom with most of the soldering done - I just connect up the motor/battery wires to it along the lines Peter and Jim have outlined. At this stage I'm not opting for RC on this one as it'll be used less than the others that do have RC

I did something similar with the two battery ones I built a while ago - my challenge with this one was dismantling the existing 1960's set up for C batteries - armed with all your responses, I'm confident enough to give it a go - and I have my safety net of Tom 40 mins away!

I'll see if I can do my shopping this weekend so I can have a go next weekend

Mark

I just want you to come and play trains really

You know you can come and play trains when you want!

markoteal wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:40 pm Cheers Rik - yes I think I'm going for the rechargeable ones inside permanently - I think that a number of suppliers do a wiring loom with most of the soldering done - I just connect up the motor/battery wires to it along the lines Peter and Jim have outlined. At this stage I'm not opting for RC on this one as it'll be used less than the others that do have RC
Mark

Sounds like a good plan. You can always add r/c at a later date. She is a lovely looking loco, though you might find the motor and mech is a bit underpowered.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:59 pm Sounds like a good plan. You can always add r/c at a later date. She is a lovely looking loco, though you might find the motor and mech is a bit underpowered.

Yes - I think it will used on light duties - shunting kindling trains at the wood yard and the occasional enthusiasts goods van rides

Hi - a quick update

I took the plunge and stripped all the electrics out - didn't take long when I got stuck in
I've decided for now for a simple wiring job whilst I get the thing balanced and decide on its usual rosters - so one switch and a battery box - I have a loom on standby when I move to re-charge-ables. To be honest, it would probably run at a scale speed with just one AAA - more work required!
Now with a driver added
And finally out on test - I'm not showing close up pics yet as I have some detailing to do as well as some weathering - the loco runs ok but rocks and rolls along the track - I need to get busy with some targeting weighting under the chassis and the body
Watch this space

It's a good looking loco and fits in well with your railway.

The driver looks very intent, listening for any strange sounds from his new loco.
Grant.

That looks spot on Mark.
It is nice to see a Big Big conversion using the steam outline engine rather than the Ruston. I must dig out my box of Big Big Scrap and see what I can do.

Thanks guys - yes its coming along nicely

LNR wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:56 pm The driver looks very intent, listening for any strange sounds from his new loco.
Grant.

Grant -LOL - I think he's wondering why it is rocking back and forward like a rocking horse - he's hanging on for dear life!

Malcolm the driver (all my drivers share the same initial as the loco - which will be 'Meteor' (hoping it doesn't crash off the track and hit the ground at great speed!) is at the front of the queue to help get the weighting right on the loco next weekend to see if we can smooth things out a bit!

A great thread to follow and gives alot of food for thought,
and just goes to show how a little thought and skill can produce a
lovely little loco.

Cheers Peter

More test runs today with more weight - getting adhesion right but still rocking along - need to be more strategic with the weight additions - will keep you posted

Ok -been adding weight but my (well the locos) taller body seems to be causing some issues -

Tests this weekend

With body:-



Without:-



There are some weights (tyre weights) adhered under the chassis and inside the body - my view is that i need one or two on the far side the counter balance the driver and then a lot more at the front (like a house brick in weight!) as the nose tends to be rising - when it runs chassis only, its not as bad but the bigger body seems to exaggerate things.

Does anyone have any tips about how to best go about balancing locos - I have seen something recently but can't think where? (my age catching up with me)

markoteal wrote: ↑Tue Mar 13, 2018 11:50 am Does anyone have any tips about how to best go about balancing locos - I have seen something recently but can't think where? (my age catching up with me)

Hi. I bought a roll of lead flashing a few years ago and use that to weight all my locos. I cut pieces off the roll as needed and shove tailor made pieces into every available nook and cranny.

Regarding balancing the weights - a couple of ways I do it. I put one set of drivers on a set of kitchen scales and the other set of drivers on a pile of books to bring them up to the same height. Note down the weight shown on the scales for those drivers and then reverse the loco so the other set of drivers is on the scales and note down that weight. The idea is to get the weights to be more or less equal.

The other way to do it is to balance the loco on a pencil (or fat felt tip depending on the clearances) midway between the drivers. The idea is to adjust the weights until it just about balances.

I don't have any rule of thumb regarding the overall weight of my locos - it just depends on how much lead I can cram in.

Rik
PS - Just weighed a selection of my locos and they vary from 1.75 - 2.5kg (apart from the Simplex which weighs in at 0.7kg)

Actually, looking at the videos, I'm not sure that weight is the issue. The chassis itself does seem to roll about a lot as if one or more of the wheels is out of alignment. Is the quartering out at all?

Or maybe the back to backs are too narrow - it looks like the wheels are falling down between the rails from time to time. It was interesting that the rolling seemed to iron out when she wnet through the pointwork.

Rik

Cheers Rik - lots of good ideas there - I'll have to get busy this weekend - good news is that SWMBO is away this weekend so her digital kitchen scales may develop a new specialism (loco weigh-bridge)

ge_rik wrote: ↑Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:34 pm Actually, looking at the videos, I'm not sure that weight is the issue. The chassis itself does seem to roll about a lot as if one or more of the wheels is out of alignment. Is the quartering out at all?

Or maybe the back to backs are too narrow - it looks like the wheels are falling down between the rails from time to time. It was interesting that the rolling seemed to iron out when she wnet through the pointwork.

Rik

Yes - I did notice it evened out at certain points - I'll check those back to backs, not checked those - the quartering looks ok as I had the rods off to paint them and checked they were lined up when I put them back on but I will check again

Mark, I must say that, as Rik's first thought, my immediate thought was Quartering.
It's difficult to tell at the speed it goes though! Any chance of slowing it down and posting another vid?
Another thought would be that one(or more) wheels is not square on the axle.

Cheers for the feedback Phillip - yes, it does rattle along and thats just on one AAA battery - the other in the battery box is a dud one to make the circuit. I think the fast speed doesn't help - I may have to loan a deltang to this loco from one of the diesels till I sort this issue out or wire in one of my 'one way' esc's to slow things down.

What i may do is do a slow mo version of some of the footage I have and zoom in a bit more

I'll add checking the wheels being square on the axis to the investigation list - thanks for flagging that