Garden Railway Forum

i've acquired a meccano no.1 clockwork drive unit which i want to use as the basis of a small railbus on 32mm track.

I'm not sure of the best way to orientate the motor (vertical or flat).
This will obviously depend on the final drive arrangement - bevelled gears/worm drive etc.
Having never done this before i dont know whether to experiment with some IP gears which are cheap but appear to be designed for
battery power. Do i need some heavy duty metal cogs, chain drive?

I'd prefer to drive a single axle rather than a bogie to avoid the c/w mechanism having to swing about within the body, though that may not be a big problem.
I'm sure that someone among us has done this before and could offer some do's and don'ts.
Would be grateful for any advice.....

Hmm, mebbe i should've posted in help me! section.

The way it was intended to be used was vertically, but using it like that would mean no interior. Could you build a railcar with a separate engine compartment behind one of the cabs? Meccano gears would work best - quite possibly a straight gear drive with some reduction incorporated  and you can get gears fairly readily.

Thanks MDLR, yes i did think about a luggage/guards compartment at the back, containing the motor driving onto a single axle with a small bogie at the front. Maybe a sort of passenger/parcels combine.

There is a link in this section to various spring drive delights which hints that the meccano no1 motor needs a 2:1 reduction.

I'm assuming that if i bought a selection of meccano gears/worms/axle that they should at least be compatible, i.e the gears should fit the drive shaft etc.

The Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway had a railbus with two axles fixed under the carbody and a two wheel pony truck under the parafin motor.  The first two Donegal diesels - 7 and 8 - were that way too.  Take a look at some pics and see what you can nick in terms of design inspiration.  

ISTT that the GSR West Clare section Drewrys were effectively four wheelers with a pony truck at both ends - they could be driven from either end like the C&VBT example, and unlike the CDR cars.  They also could not haul the skin off a rice pud!

Peter in AZ

invicta280:63116 wrote:I'm assuming that if I bought a selection of Meccano gears/worms/axle that they should at least be compatible, i.e the gears should fit the drive shaft etc.

Most certainly - it might even pay you to go the whole hog and bore out a set of axle boxes and wheels to take a Meccano axle - that way, you'll be compatible all the way through.

invicta280:63106 wrote:i've acquired a meccano no.1 clockwork drive unit which i want to use as the basis of a small railbus on 32mm track.

The Wee Donegal had examples of most types of railcar over the years and there are photos of them on the preservation group website.

http://www.donegalrailway.com/railcars/

Railcars on some railways hauled small vans for luggage, parcels and light goods. It wouldn't be difficult to mount the clockwork motor into a box van body and just push a dummy railcar around. You could also fit a working sliding door, so there's no visible winding hole.

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks for the info guys. Some lovely machines there. The CDR railcars have always appealed to me.

Yes Graeme, the sliding door luggage van is a good wheeze. Could even store the key in it to save losing it!

This would be my ideal ( or something like it )........

http://youtu.be/NoKuRp6D0qs


....but would require the motor to be in flat orientation unless it was half passenger half parcels. Anyway i'll try some fiddling with various gears etc

It's interesting to listen to the "Trip On" video - there's a LOT of AEC bus in there!

Indeed, and it looks like the driver is giving it a 'wind'. Maybe its clockwork after all!

Its the iconic AEC grille and the quaint front end that appeals to me.

Note that its single axle at the back. I think it must be a prop shaft
from the forward mounted engine to the back axle. In other words a bus on rails

invicta280:63167 wrote: Its the iconic AEC grille and the quaint front end that appeals to me.

Note that its single axle at the back. I think it must be a prop shaft
from the forward mounted engine to the back axle. In other words a bus on rails

AEC based railcars ran in a couple of Aust systems. Underneath they were basically just a truck chassis fitted with flanged wheels, with the motor at the front driving the diff at the back via a prop shaft. Usually the gearbox was original with only one reverse gear, requiring some way of turning them at the end of the run.

The broad gauge VR built 20 odd using AEC Y type truck chassis in the early 1920's. These had a single front axle, as VR engineers considered a bogie would add to much weight. They also considered them for the 2'6" lines, but none were built.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ington.jpg


The 3'6" Queensland Railways built a large number in several series during the '20s and '30s using AEC truck chassis. All had much the same chassis arrangement, but increasingly larger and sophisticated bodywork, with higher power motors. In later years the petrol motors were replaced with various size Gardner diesels, which is probably what is still powering the preserved example in your video clip. A few survived into preservation.

Early QR ones had open bodywork and the engine forward of the driver.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j182/ ... nberra.jpg
http://www.heritagerailsa.org.au/Images/newscast08.jpg

The one used at Normanton seems to have a goods compartment at the back.

http://www.ozbob.com/grand/images/gulflander1.jpg

As time went on they fitted a bigger body with the motor beside the driver.

http://www.planbooktravel.com.au/travel ... ?isImage=1

The last ones built before the war were 'streamlined'.....

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4ABn5SlE7k0/T ... ander2.jpg

Regards,
Graeme

Ah! Great pics there Graeme.

You can see how they developed. The last one has hints of the Bugatti streamliners about it.

invicta280:63215 wrote:The last one has hints of the Bugatti streamliners about it.

It looks more like a postwar Morris J van to be honest...

Probably based on '30s bus designs. Other Aust railways had small railcars of similar appearance, some of which were built by Waddingtons, who were bus builders.

Graeme

My effort with a Meccano No 1 motor.

I was not impressed, but I have been advised that a thorough clean to reduce as much internal friction as possible helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XugchhGG ... plpp_video

That's not bad. wind and allow the motor to run down in a bath of car engine cleaner - it'll shift all the muck, then oil with very light oil (like sewing machine oil) and you'll find its a totally different animal!

invicta280:63151 wrote:Thanks for the info guys. Some lovely machines there. The CDR railcars have always appealed to me.

Yes Graeme, the sliding door luggage van is a good wheeze. Could even store the key in it to save losing it!

This would be my ideal ( or something like it )........

http://youtu.be/NoKuRp6D0qs


....but would require the motor to be in flat orientation  unless it was half passenger half parcels. Anyway  i'll try some fiddling with various gears etc

Love that video Lots of detail shown too that would interest a scratchbuilder.

Here is my attempt.

The full build is detailed here http://www.alspcs.com/TMHLR_Clockwork_Locos.html

Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3tQ13lXWoE

Very nice I'm sure I've got one of those motors packed away somewhere.

One full wind of the motor will give about 2 1/2 circuits of my line. However it is a very small line, about 33 feet in total

33 feet? That would be fine as I'm building an indoor layout.

Try my http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/ftop ... ranked.php what I did this weekend Clockwork.

I tried this also as inspiration
http://www.oocities.org/clockworkpage@rogers.com/

Lots of excellent locks and information for you