[MOC] Self-contained 4 wide loco

[Nemo57]

That's an amazing set-up, but it's a little hard to see from the photos exactly what he's done with the track to compensate for the track geometry problems.

I'm talking about your work said. That's about it.

[Hod Carrier]

Magical layout. Love to know how that steam rake in the video was motorised.

It's a three-vehicle set-up. One coach with the battery box and IR receiver sandwiched with two vehicles each containing an L Motor driving both axles. Clever stuff that makes my packaging of the TRAXX look amateurish. Total genius!!

For curves I think you have to use the 12v inner rails as outer rails also and it all somehow works out..

Er, OK. So inner curves on both the inside and outside of the curves. I'd love to know how he's built the points too. I understand that his layout is more of a minifig scale narrow gauge creation, but it's not so far from what I was hoping to manufacture too.

I'm talking about your work said. That's about it.

Thanks man. :-)

Edited February 9, 2016 by Hod Carrier

[bricks n bolts]

Check this post out :

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79312

Has a set of narrow guage points and also shows that if you use one 12v inner rail for every other 'outie' you're only half a stud off.

Also some cool (powered) trains.

[Hod Carrier]

That's useful. Thanks. :-)

[jrathfon]

Check this post out :

http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=79312

Has a set of narrow guage points and also shows that if you use one 12v inner rail for every other 'outie' you're only half a stud off.

Also some cool (powered) trains.

Yes, and he had to play with the wheel tolerances on his bogies to navigate the constantly fluctuating gauge. Dig through his first puffing billy album it shows more details, including the points, which are stub points:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_switch

[peterab]

Er, OK. So inner curves on both the inside and outside of the curves.

The curves were built by trail and error mostly by Teunis Davey, essentially just mucking around with inner and outer rails till a reasonable fit for the available space was found. There may be cut pieces but not too many (I hope anyway since it's my 12V track). There may also be gaps filled by 1x4 and 1x2 panels but if I recall correctly only around the points. Teunis tries to be purist so there is probably not a lot of illegal stuff going on.

I'd love to know how he's built the points too.

Pretty much copies of the link provided and other similar ones on flickr.

[Hod Carrier]

**Bumped for an update**

I've had the crowbar out again and managed to squeeze in a little more power in the shape of an L-motor. Unfortunately the larger size of the motor has meant a few compromises have had to be made elsewhere. The reduction gearing has been lost and a what structural integrity the model had before has been reduced further. It really is only stable now with the roof and sides added. The motor, SBrick and, to an extent, the boat weight are now all integral parts of the loco's structure.

However, there have been a couple of other very small changes made. The boat weight has been moved one stud closer to the driven bogie and the LEGO traction tyres have been changed for rubber O-rings.

All the changes mean that the loco can now haul a reasonable weight, although the extra power from the L-motor does mean that the power bogie will need to be reinforced to prevent the motor tearing it apart. On a short test track it was capable of hauling the entire 4 car SLT model with only minimal wheelspin. This is a massive improvement in performance compared to the original M-motor version. Speed is little changed from the previous version in spite of losing the reduction gearing. I can only assume that the L-motor's internal gearing is lower than that of the M-motor which compensates and also contributes to the amount of grunt this thing can put out.

Ideally I'll want to change to metal track instead of the serrated plastic stuff and add some more length and a few curves and see just what she's capable of.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Hod Carrier

[bricks n bolts]

All the changes mean that the loco can now haul a reasonable weight, although the extra power from the L-motor does mean that the power bogie will need to be reinforced to prevent the motor tearing it apart. On a short test track it was capable of hauling the entire 4 car SLT model with only minimal wheelspin. This is a massive improvement in performance compared to the original M-motor version. Speed is little changed from the previous version in spite of losing the reduction gearing. I can only assume that the L-motor's internal gearing is lower than that of the M-motor which compensates and also contributes to the amount of grunt this thing can put out.

Good to hear you've got good traction now! Hope you find a good method to reinforce the drive wheels.

Ideally I'll want to change to metal track instead of the serrated plastic stuff and add some more length and a few curves and see just what she's capable of.

You mean ME Model stuff or thinking of something else?

[Hod Carrier]

Good to hear you've got good traction now! Hope you find a good method to reinforce the drive wheels.

As it turns out, it's an easy fix. It just needs a half bush each side to hold the sideframes on more securely (a crucial aspect of Space2310's design) and it all seems good. Weirdly the bogie is stable running in one direction but tears itself apart when running the opposite direction.

You mean ME Model stuff or thinking of something else?

Truthfully...?? I'm quietly hoping that ME Models will produce some narrow gauge (4-wide) curve geometries to complement their standard gauge (6-wide) ones. Plastic would be OK provided the surfaces are not serrated.