Hey guys! Here is another project I did recently. I had this TYCO trolley (with a broken antenna) that I got for $5 in a train show. As you guys should know, they ran very poorly, with low slow speed control, extremely loud gears/motor, and high speeds of 100+ scale mph!
I had this old Bachmann FTA unit with all the details broken, and a burnt motor.
I decided to make this little mech. with these very nice quiet helical geared trucks and a cheap (yet nice) motor from a toy.
So first I took apart the trolley:
You can see the little mech on the top right:
I removed the rivets that mounted the motor.
Then, I started to modify the metal base piece(front left)
there were many things I had to cut/shape to make the mech be able to be mounted on the base.
First: The wheels on my mech were too close than the original, so I bent the sides to 90' to accomdate the wheels
Before:
After:
Then I cut out many other holes to accomodate for the gears and plastic axles that were sticking out of the truck base:
With the mech in:
Then I used some hot glue (I shoulda used epoxy, but I liked the hot glue's shock absorbing effects. ) to mount the mech on the base.
The final product!!!!!!!!
With the shell on:
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Here is a video of the tutorial/running of the trolley.
BEWARE OF MY 15 (more like 8) YEAR OLD VOICE
Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!
Please comment below/place any suggestions below
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
Charles:
Interesting project! You are doing a great job of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear! I will be interested to see it detailed and finished.
I got a laugh out of seeing how fast the original drive ran at full speed. Talk about 'rapid transit'!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Nice project!
Just out of curiosity - what do you mean by "antenna"?
That thing sticking up from the roof is called a trolley pole or a pantograph and is used to collect the current from the overhead wire.
I sent you a PM.
Ulrich:
Let's call the reference to 'antenna' poetic license. Modern kids figure everything is wireless.
Dave,
I'm glad you like it!
Yea the original one ran wayyyy too fast for a trolley. That's what the project was for.
Oops, did I say antenna? Sorry, I should change that...
Im not really a trolley person, I really should learn more about them...
Charles - trolleys (or streetcars) are a fascinating thing and modeling them can turn into an addiction. Up until the 1950´s, not only the major cities had quite an extensive network. There were also a number of interurban connections. By the beginning of the 1960´s, most of that was history. But there is hope now. With the prices of gas on the rise, and growing environmental concerns, streetcars see a kind of revival in the US. Seattle, Portland (OR), San Diego - just to name of few cities where streetcars have successfully benn re-introduced!
Search the web - there is tons of info available (as well as nice videos on Youtube)!
Hey Ulrich:
You forgot about Toronto's street car system which has been operating continuously using electricity since 1892, and was started in 1861 using horse drawn trolleys. The evolution of the cars over the years has been quite interesting, and in fact some of the newest ones could be called 'trains' because they have five articulated sections to them.
This is the car style that became known affectionately as the "Red Rocket":
Dave - without the intention to hijack Charles´ thread, but some of these streetcars are trains. In southern Germany, there is a streetcar which runs on 1.200 V DC in the streets of Karlsruhe, signalling and operations on the legal basis bfor streetcars, and changes to 15.000 V AC, when reaching the mainline, formerly operated by Deutsche Bahn, now operating as a train.
When Deutsche Bahn abandoned the line, the Karlsruhe Transport Authority took over, turning the line into a giant success by offering an attractive service in this rural area.