Moody Christmas Train

[walter monkhouse]

Very nice train . It takes a LOT of effort to build a yard train and to successfully keep it running night after night .

[Bob Moody]

Thank you everyone for the support and compliments.
Yes... I have had some major growing pains with this first year.
First off was the profile that was in the PVC brick moulding I used for the corners. The guide wheels would hang up in there and caused many problems.
I cut some filler strips and took care of that.
This reduced the current draw coming out of the corners from about 23 amps to 18.. okay .. progress.
But I kept having incredible wear on the guide roller (left rear front of the drive wheel carriage). It actually self destructed a couple of times.
Finally (with the great help from my dad) figured out I had a "differential" problem.. or lack of ... With both wheels driving, it was driving the casters into the corner and binding. Shear torque would drive them through.
So... I took the 3/4" axel out and took it to a machine shop and had a 1/2" diameter boss turned on one end 1 5/8" long. This allows the inside rear wheel to free wheel and slow down as the engine drove into the corner.
Drawback (if you want to call it that).. is that I'm only driving one wheel.. it slips a little at startup from the torque of the wheel chair motor.
Benefit... it runs perfectly now. Its running much smoother, you can literally push the engine through a corner with your pinky.. and with all cars in tow, the train is drawing about 9 to 11 amps coming out of the corners.
that's approx. 1/2 the original current draw. Also there is no wear on the guide rollers!! BTW .. this train is not light!!! Deep cycle battery, steel sub frame and wheel chair motor... this thing is heavy...
Running 4 to 5 hours a night, every night and its running smoothly at a constant 4mph.
I do have to lube the casters periodically but that's to be expected.
I could not write a book on building a yard train .. but I could write the how NOT to do it ...

Thanks again guys ...

Bob

http://facebook.com/moodyfamilychristmas

[walter monkhouse]

Bob - My train is very heavy . The Loco weights 120 # by itself. I have cut the amp draw and friction in the turns by 2/3 by bringing the distance between the front and back rollers in as close as possible . Mine were 23 " and now 13 " . Big difference in smoothness and running time . Walter

[frederic]

I'm just going to say wow and leave it at that.
Wow!