The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
QUOTE: Originally posted by Torby Glo motors to reduce maintenance? Na... A few guys have built glo powered equipment. From my years of RC planes, I don't think I really want glo mess all over my train.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
The Home of Articulated Ugliness
I 'm new at this. my former experience is with HO scale from 20 years ago but reliability was a nightmare. I was flying planes a few years ago and there was a someone offering true diesel power upgrades that increased HP and reduced fuel consumption. Diesel does have more power per volume than other fuels. I think it is an interesting idea but cooling is a serious issue. I'd love to stay involved and get on board.
It has been done and semi commercially at that. Hydeout Mountain has a "line" diesel locomotives which have onboard gas engines powering generators driving motors and the wheels. they look pretty cool even to a steam guy!
Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNv_V59zW5w
here is a link to the web site: http://www.hydeoutmountainlivesteam.com/
Winnegance and Quebec Railway
Eric Schade Gen'l Manager
Hello all,
Check out this forum http://continental-garden-t.motionforum.net/forum scroll down to "live diesel"
Hope this helps
Andrew at the Sandbar & Mudcrab Railway
I would think a gas powered engine would cost a lot plus cost a lot to fix. I would alos think you would have to fool with it to make it run good.
I use mainly track power and have very little issues with the track and the track powered engines. I also have battery power that I like but I dont like the idea of having to recharge and not being able to let my trains run for hours at a time.
G'day. I have run track powered DC outdoors for over 25 years. Sure it has to be cleaned, but you still have to clean large debris from any track before battery or live steam can be run, so why not just clean a little more to let the juice through.
I understand why manufacturers build for DC users. The vast majority will use DC indoor and out. Some only around the Christmas tree. Some will want to add DCC, and manufacturers have started catering to this. Some will want to run batteries, but there are so many variations as to battery sizes and remote systems that manufacturers could never satisfy everyone.
One of the beauties of this hobby is self expression and altering someone else's equipment to suit your layout and running style is part of it. I am just glad that there are manufacturers making stuff for me to butcher.
Mick
Chief Operating Officer
Northern Timber Company - Mt Beenak
My first live diesel model is due to "first fire" on Saturday afternoon. The amount of calculation that has been done is of an order of magnitude higher than that of one for an electric loco. Not only do you have to work out how to fuel, cool, and control it -you also have to "get at it" with a starter motor. Then you have to work out how you are going to couple the engine to the drive wheels and make it go forwards and backwards. This is fairly easy in a diesel electric as after the alternator and rectifier chain you come back to conventional ESCs and RC technique. But, what happens when you build a diesel mechanical? you need some form of clutch (or equivalent) and a method of changing gear fwd ->rev. You may ebven need more than one gear...
regards
ralph
Ralph,
May I request that you post pictures and video? I want to see the locomotive in action!
- James
James -I will try and get a short video of it running "for posterity" on Saturday. However this is simply a learning session. I have to figure out how to fire it reliably and that the coolant system, (pumps and radiator), all work within parameters.
The next step after having leaned how to start (and stop!) the engine is to test it with the torque convertor and see if that works, and then we put it on some track and see if we can get it to go forwards and backwards!!
Ralph, I'll try not to pester you (too much), but I'm dying to know - how did the test run go? I always find the first testing of a locomotive - steam or diesel - a wonderful balance of excitement and stress. My first test fire on my last steamer found me beside the boiler, safety valve roaring and two balky injectors! Diesels can exceed that level of fun if the prime mover decides to run away for some reason. However, things usually work just fine with maybe one or two quirks.
Enquiring minds want to know!
James,
Yes I did get it to fire although the starter system is going to have to be modified into something a little less "lethal"... Once the engine fires the starter is withdrawn -but the yellow rubber cup that connects the front of the engine to the starter somehow flies off in any direction -for some reason normally the most painful one!!! The engine now has 45 minutes of run time to it and is nearly "run in" -I have yet to take it to full throttle.
The fan powering the coolant system quit after 6 minutes into the second run and I had to abandon it until I could get a new fan -it is supposed to be rated at 2000 hours -needless to say the fan went back to the supplier with a "letter".
One thing that did surprise me was the amount of nuts and bolts that came undone -even after having tightened them between "runs". The exhaust bolts came undone about 30 seconds into the 2nd run and waste oil spewed EVERYWHERE -this has however ensured that all gears etc (and anything locally) are now well oiled...
I am a little busy with domestic things and the next series of tests are scheduled for the next free weekend (May 21st). The cascade power supply for the starter motor worked to perfection -but the main source of worry for me now is the amount of current that the pumps are going to "draw" whilst the loco is in motion. Each of the two pumps draws 2.5 Amperes each and the design is a ten minute duration this gives me a peak draw of 7 Amperes if I wind up all the coolant fans -and I am rapidly running out of space in the loco to fit a battery pack capable of such a sustained draw.
On the plus side the glycol never reached a temperature higher than 30C and the air temperature was not much higher than 24C -so the radiator system does work. (Pity about the fan).
Very nice, Ralph! Thanks for the update. The part about things coming loose brought a grin to my face... as part of my mis-spent youth, I decided to power one of my 1/16th scale Ertl tractors with a Cox .049 airplane engine. I cobbled together a geartrain from anything I could find to reduce the ultrahigh RPM's of a small bore engine to a reasonable speed for a model tractor. I ran it a number of times, but the runs always ended prematurely with something either coming loose from vibration or flying apart from stress, the tractor stopping dead in its tracks while the engine rev'd seemingly to infinity! I like to think that I've learned a lot more about mechanical engineering in the past 25 years, but who knows since nowdays my projects are powered by sedate Briggs & Strattons (or coal!), not high spirited glow engines.
Anyway, it sounds like you had a successful test run. Yes, a few things to sort out, but that is always the case with an original creation... relatively minor issues that you will address in due time! Again, it is a very impressive piece of engineering - please keep us up to date with your progress.
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