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Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:37 pm
by BorisSpencer
As per the subject, I'm looking for a diesel or petrol outline locomotive that will primarily be used for steamer recovery.
I'll be fitting my own basic remote control utilising Arduino and Bluetooth as per Ge-Rik's work a couple of months ago.

Weight, battery power, and motor power seem to be the essential parameters, along with room to fit the RC, although I don't mind putting that in a match wagon.

Do people have any comments regarding the suitability of the items on the list below:
Prestige Models 0-4-0 Danny.
Mamod Boulton.
Roundhouse Little John.
Roundhouse Bulldog.
Accucraft Baguley Drewery.
PDF Models Baldwin Tractor.

All my steamers are manual the largest of which is a RH Jennie.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 6:01 pm
by Lonsdaler
I purchased a Mamod Boulton last year. It's very capable and will recover stranded locos. I got it to 'tart up'. It now has a sound card and deltang Rx, and some more detailing, with more still to do, but is very much being done a little at a time.
It is a great little loco, but If you do get one, it's well worth stripping it down and rebuilding the mechanical components - the gearbox and motor on mine were floating because the mount wasn't securely fitted, and the axle bearings were fitted in such a way that they could pop out of the frames and just float on the axle.
I suppose the price reflects the lack of quality control :roll:

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:44 pm
by DonW
Are you epecting to recover both the failed steamer and train? That could mean quite an extra load particularly if there are gradients.

Don

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:59 pm
by -steves-
Accucraft Baguley with around 16v RC under the bonnet, most powerful one I have seen to date :thumbleft:

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:29 pm
by tom_tom_go
The Accucraft Baguley Drewry (metal chassis version) is capable even when powered at a low voltage:


Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:23 pm
by Palmerston
Roundhouse NDM-6 weighs 3.5kg and powered by 2 motors.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am
by BorisSpencer
Thanks for the replies.
The Boulton is now off the list, I love my old SL1s and my Brunel, but build quality these days is just so variable, come on Mamod I really want to like you.
An NDM6 would be perfect, but beyond the budget I had in mind, anything spent on battery locos can't be spent on a steamer!

All my track is level due to my penchant for manual control.

Does anyone have any further info on the Danny, or better still own one.
I have a GRS LKM but with it's power being a PP3 battery I can't see it being man enough, if I load it up the battery can get quite hot.

The leader at the moment seems to be a Baguley.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 12:48 pm
by -steves-
BorisSpencer wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am Thanks for the replies.
The Boulton is now off the list, I love my old SL1s and my Brunel, but build quality these days is just so variable, come on Mamod I really want to like you.
An NDM6 would be perfect, but beyond the budget I had in mind, anything spent on battery locos can't be spent on a steamer!

All my track is level due to my penchant for manual control.
BorisSpencer wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am Does anyone have any further info on the Danny, or better still own one.

I have a Danny, it won't pull the skin off a rice pudding, lol. I am sure others may have a more powerful version but mine really isn't. I am going to build my own chassis for it shortly and gear it right down so it will pull loads.

BorisSpencer wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am I have a GRS LKM but with it's power being a PP3 battery I can't see it being man enough, if I load it up the battery can get quite hot.

I also have one of these, I changed the motor to the upgraded one, upgraded it to RC and run 3 cell li-ion cells at 3.7v each, which gives me 12.6v fully charged and although it's quite powerful it's not something I would use as a recovery loco.
See the RC thread here https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 37&t=12154

BorisSpencer wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am The leader at the moment seems to be a Baguley.

Great choice, buy a standard one full metal one (not the early plastic ones) and RC it yourself, easily done and plenty of room. :thumbup:

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 1:01 pm
by GTB
BorisSpencer wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:45 am The leader at the moment seems to be a Baguley.
This photo shows my old Merlin Motor Mule pulling the Garratt dead, along with it's train.

9E051CCB-F26E-4951-94EA-5580CCAAB748.jpeg
9E051CCB-F26E-4951-94EA-5580CCAAB748.jpeg (163.8 KiB) Viewed 7541 times

The Mule weighs 1.9kg and has a 12V motor running on 8 x AA NiMH cells, with manual control. It is easily pulling 6kg of Garratt and 10kg of train on more or less flat track in the photo.

The photo isn't meant to show off, but to demonstrate that any small diesel that weighs about 2kg and has a nominal 12V drive will have no problem bringing home a small steamer and it's train, even on a track with grades.

I can't find the weight of a Baguley on the Accucraft website, but the motor fitted to them is equivalent to the motor in my Motor Mule, so a Baguley with a metal chassis could be ballasted as necessary, as long as it can still slip the wheels at maximum load.

If the budget is tight, an Essell chassis with a scratchbuilt body and suitably ballasted would make a good basis for a rescue loco. The current Essell chassis design is an updated version of the one used in the Motor Mule.

Regards,
Graeme

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:17 pm
by Andrew
Interesting thread...

I'd advise against a Little John (and so too, presumably, a Bulldog or Hercules) in this context. I love my RH Little John, I think it's a fantastic loco, but the one thing that disappointed me when I got it was its haulage capacity. Early ads stated that it was as powerful as a RH steamer, but that's not the case with mine - my Russell or Bertie can easily haul three bogie carriages up my steeply-graded (one in 40/50) and sharply-curved (3'6" radius) line, but I wouldn't ask the Little John to do the same - I keep it at the bottom end of the line during a running session so that any thunderbird duties are undertaken in the downhill direction. I've never tried to pull a dead steamer with it - it might be alright on the flat, but not ideal... That said, this RH video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toqfs_GoZOw) claims that Hercules will pull 20lbs and is perfect for the task of hauling dead steam engines, so perhaps I'm just over-cautious...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:27 pm
by -steves-

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:28 pm
by tom_tom_go
The Brandbright Circket I had would pull a Roundhouse 0-6-0 steamer although required to be powered with a 12v battery.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:18 pm
by Paul_G
A bit late coming to this thread but I finally had a moment to try my RH Bulldog hauling a Lady Anne & 3 heavily weighted IP engineering coaches with mixed results. Fine on the level & around 3' 6"" radius curves but even my 1 in 70 gradient caused lots of wheel spinning & speed down to a crawl so I'm not sure RH' s little 0-4-0s are the best option as a recovery loco.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:35 pm
by BorisSpencer
Again, thank you to everyone for your input.
I have ordered one of Steves' 0-6-0 chassis from this forum.

I'll try and remember to post again when I have something to report.

Re: Recomendations for a 'Recovery Loco'

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 10:14 am
by DAVID L
Te RWM Salem also seems a rugged and well-built loco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6s-strlIQ4