Garden Railway Forum

I asked this elsewhere, but didn't get an answer (probably because it was in a fairly obscure thread) so thought that I'd try here...

I intend to put a switch on the underside of the AnDel battery powered chassis of my loco, so that I can automatically stop and start it by having 'arms' that come up out of the track and hit the switch as it goes past. This, I believe would be fine for stopping and starting but what about reversing? If it's going along forwards and I switch it straight to reverse without stopping it first, am I likely to damage the motor or gears?

If it makes any difference, it has a 3v motor running off a 1.5v battery to get the speed fairly slow, and it won't be pulling very long trains, perhaps four wagons at most.

thanks!

Si,
Over the last century many commercial models have had on-off and reversing switches actuated by lineside gear. Some clockwork, some electric - and of course London Transport used the trip-cocks on full-size live steam (though not for reversing!)

No, you won't damage anything unless your gears are very flimsy.

You've not mentioned the type of gearing, but I would guess you have plastic worm-and-wheel gears in mind. These will stop your engine dead almost as soon as the current stops, so o reversing there's little or not extra inertia compared with starting from a stand.
If you have this type of gear-set, GET SPARES ANYWAY when you build your model, and put a dirt guard under them.

You can modify commercial toggle switches to make them more suitable. If you shorten the spring a little you'll reduce the change-over resistance. If you have a lathe you can substitute a different arm.

David

Many thanks David.