I'd like the Hornby Smoky Joe to run at slightly more realistic speeds. Does anyone know of regearing information, or perhaps an onboard voltage reducer to stop it running 4 times as fast as anything else?
TIA
Jo
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Martin"
Go DCC, fit a decoder and re-set the maximum voltage using a few keystrokes. By far the easiest solution and another less publicised advantage of going digital.
Dave W.
In message , Jo Martin writes
Do what I did with a Tri-ang "Nellie".
Replace the awful wheels with Romfords. You can use the original coupling rod screws to fix the original coupling rods to the wheels. If you use Romford's 1/8" axles you can get "top-hat" axle bushes to fit in the axle-holes in the chassis. South Eastern Finecast do a motor mount for something to replace the X04, and I used a Romford 60:1 gearset.
Drill a 1.8 mm hole through the shaft of a Kadee No. 20 coupler and use an 8BA bolt to screw the coupling in the original coupling fixing hole.
Nellie now runs very slowly. It still won't pull much, however.
anything
Alternatively (and more cheaply) add some weight? There's not a lot of extra room in the body, but Liquid Lead or something could be used. Personally, I improved the running of my Pug by switching to a Gaugemaster feedback handheld controller. It's not quite as meteoric anyway - the problem now is some stalling on pointwork at lower speeds, which I suppose I could fix by building one of the small tenders used on the prototype and adding pickups. Performance still not quite good as I'd like, but I'm in two minds as to re-gearing as presumably if you're sticking with the existing motor the worm will have to be changed when the current one wears out.
Mark.
"Jo Martin" wrote
Could you not fit a electrical resistor in the circuit somewhere? Don't ask me for ratings because it would be beyond me, but I suspect it would work.
John.
I get beautiful running from two of these machines, just by being careful how much I turn up the controller, and keeping wheels and track clean. My controller is a Gaugemaster product, but I cannot remember what type.
Hope this helps.
PhilD
Thanks for all the suggestions.
The Smokey Joe already has as much lead as I can get into it, and fitting Kadees was an absolute bitch - I had to build a new platform at each end in order to get the coupling at the right height. As for DCC - I'm not ready to spend that much yet, but it is an idea...
It does stall over points occasionally (Atlas) but that's probably because they have too much paint on them. I wanted to run it slower so that I can run 2 trains on the same loop. At the moment it catches up a bit quick.
It will pull at least 10 trucks (on the flat) - and most of them have at least four 4 inch nails as ballast weight. The problem is when it attempts the 1 in 25 gradient - wheelspin about 15 inches up the grade.. Needs more weight, but as it's full of lead then maybe DU is the only answer.
I'm still trying to slow it down.....
Jo
In message , Jo Martin writes
In my opinion, 1 in 25 is too steep. 1 in 50 is the maximum incline I would use.
What's the steepest prototype gradient?
Well, one of the standard gauge heavy rail companies with the steepest gradients is the Sudost Bahn in Switzerland at 5% ( 1 in 20). Originally contructed with a weird type of rack that was quickly abandoned in favour of adhesion only.
A few pictures/details at:
I think the Hopton incline on the Cromford & High Peak was 1 in 14. It started out as cable hauled but also quickly reverted to adhesion only.
A multi-meadia CD-ROM called something like Trains and Trails featuring recollections of the C&HPR has, I think, some footage of the last train up the incline.
Ashley.
"Mark W" wrote
The climb up to Goathland on the NYMR is regarded as severe and that is
1:49.John.
That was originally cable-hauled, though not on the same alignment.
One time I was at Goathland, The Schools Class 4-4-0 had to stop on the gradient before the station due to a signal malfunction. It took a great deal of huffing and puffing to restart and reach the station.
In Germany, the DRG experimented in the late 1920s with using large tank locomotives on the various rack lines they had inherited around Germany. Their conclusion was that gradients up to 1:15 were more economically worked using normal 2-10-2T or 0-10-0T locos, 1:10 and steeper by rack locomotives and those in between dependent on curvature, route etc. This means I can legitimately use 2-10-2Ts to pull 3 wagon trains on my branch line :-)
Regards, Greg.P.
It also had the tightest curve (55yards radius).
Steepest main-line gradient in the UK is the Lickey, at 1 in 37. As mentioned elsewhere, there were steeper gradients on more minor lines.
What about going into city thameslink station?
Quite significantly not on the same alignment! It is more than a realignment, being a totally new railway from just outside Grosmont to a mile or so south of Goathland.
Or that bit of track that runs into Lewisham (Hither Green Line) by St Johns.
55yards = 26 inches at 1:76!
That's a great site on the GCR, BTW.
On a summer Saturday in 1963, I rode a Bournemouth-Bradford 10-coach through train (boarding at Oxford) via the GCR, Sheffield, Penistone and Halifax. From what I remember, the loco attached at Banbury (I don't know what it was) worked through to Bradford Exchange; it required a banker on the gradient near Halifax.
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