Still working on the 5"

This is the start of a 4wheel AWD tram with two 150 Watt motors.                             It may look like this...

Carriages for no: 12

Fuses for No: 12

Added 3A PPTC fuses (or Polyswitch) to the Li'l Big Hauler. These haver low resistance until a specified current is reached. The 'poly' film then rapidly heats and its resistance vastly increases. When current is removed the film cools, circuit restored... So they are really an auto resetting circuit breaker!

 

G gauge RC...

Found a cheap Bachmann G gauge Li'l Big Hauler, and thought I could RC it with bits I have... So here it is with forward reverse with the RCS handset - and a directional headlight... Runs on 45mm track, and guess what... with 12mm rail head the distance between the 7 1/4 an 5 inch rails is 45mm!!     Cute eh?

 That's a 1.25 Ah LiPo, RX in the dome and ESC on the backhead , 10mm LED headlight.

New Axle and Suspension Experiment

I will need longer axles for the adjustable pillow blocks. The bearing centres are quite long. So I have put 75mm wheels on the standard sized axles with a simple suspension of 15mm pillow blocks, coil die springs and 1/4" bolts. This is for a small driving car... a 1 1/2 seater. It will have a simple rectangular frame of mild steel angle or RHS. We will see how we go...
There is not enough ground clearance with the smaller wheels so the pillow block will be inverted, mounting flanges on top...

Axle experiment

Working out more substantial driven axles with good suspension for two axle battery powered loco, or tram... So experimenting with 15mm bore spherical/self aligning bearing in a modified, adjustable pillow block. and with a 30mm OD coil spring. Horn slot on the bearing housing is 12mm and 75mm wide. Here is before and after on an un-wheeled axle.

... a 'shed' for the Carriages

Procured a couple of sheets of Colourbond - cut and folded to make weatherproof enclosures for the passenger carriages, which will have to live outside for some time. 

Ends are underway from the offcuts. I can handle them on the 70cm folder...

Is this what SRR needs?

Really Nearly There!

Just waiting on the new two-piece seat for Car#2.  White bead on the front and black on the back, at the moment... Grommets for cables to Anderson Plugs, 6 pin data sockets, two red LED markers on the rear on each car.

Nearly there...

Figure that the 1.5m riding/passenger cars are the right size for SRR. Fit in the 1.8m trailer, don't overhang the inside of the tight curves too much, fit three adults - cosily... And are not to heavy to lift.

This is how our cars are constructed.  Warrick Sandberg's bogies.
Simple frame - 25x25x3mm side rails, 75x10mm bolster support, 50x50x3mm buffer bar/ends, 20x20x3mm corner supports. 
Sides are one piece with 20x20mm top fold, 245mm high  side, 100mm footboard with 15x20 folded edge. This is Car#2 with 1mm steel sides and ends... I have ditched the handles on both - just as easy to grab under the ends.

Lights and cabling to go... Both cars are directional, having the brake pedal only on the driving end of Car#1, and Car#2  also has only one  braked bogie - which should be on the front for effectiveness. So red lights only need to be on one end - of each!

The Carriages

The Indian Red carriages so far. I used incompatible primer on one side of #1 and had to strip it and start again... bugga!

Coupler Pockets

First pair of coupler pockets for the ride-on cars. 40x40mm outside 32x32mm inside. 1/4" pins, per AALS  5"gauge standards. The mounting holes are 70mm between centres for 1/4" HT bolts through the buffer beam. Height above rail top 3 1/4" or 82.5mm to the centre of the pocket...  Like this...






Shows the different colour too, Heritage Red semi-gloss (on the drawbar/ coupling bar) to Indian Red full gloss. The drawbar will probably end up shorter too.

Carriage rebuild

New buffer beams from recycled angle

Another Board decision: to rebuild the original ride-on with coupler pockets, and repaint Indian Red!
The original coupling bar passed through a slot in the end panels - to keep the pivot close to the bogie pivot. Examining the geometry in use indicates that a coupler pocket on the end panel will be okay, easier to couple - and more conventional. 

Welded cleaned up and painted

So I have two new ends for Car#1, have added (internal) buffer beams to both cars. So basically dismantled Car#1 and rebuilding to match Car#2...

Car#2 is a little different with narrower angle side frames, bogie support plates of 10mm rather than 8mm flat bar, and the sides are 1mm rather than 0.8mm sheet.

Bogies back on with 1/2" UNC bolts as pivots

Now I am busy repainting the original sides and new end panels... A bugger getting the signage off!

Also making coupler pockets out of 40mm x 5mm SQ RHS to weld onto 50mm flat and bolt on through the buffer beams. Will still use the same coupling bars and 1/4" pins.

Before you know it there will be two ride-on cars... All we need then is something that will pull six people...

Connections... and Braking

A decision was made by the SRR Board (me) that train carriages and locos on the SRR will be connected by 12mm, 6 pin plug/socket with multi-strand 6 core security system cable.

The cable is really data cable but should easily carry enough current for led lighting and relay coils. The pin connections are rated more than 5A.






This will be the electric brake actuator for carriage #2, activated by microswitch on the mechanical brake, and a relay. It's a  24v push solenoid 20kg at 10A, 50% duty cycle

Instant Thomas the Tank Engine

Thanks to Rob VDD  we have another option for the universal chassis. $4 from the community op shop. Still some work to do, like a short Troublesome Truck body for the back half...

Esky >>> Diesel 10

Building a 'plug' for a fibreglass mould, about 1:12 scale of Thomas the Tank's colleague Diesel 10. Seems to me to be based on a BR Class 43.

Blue foam base with acrylic filler and plaster.  It will end up on the original, short chassis, formerly Esky.

Still working on the Railcar...

Toby's test run...

Toby vists SRR!

We had a go at a 5" day a month or so ago. Weather was terrible but we did have a couple of trains running around. No one took photos! Too busy BBQing... and eating inside...

Toby's innards - Before

Toby's innards - after

However Toby the Tram stayed on for a re-wire. He was a new Tram with a PWM controller and secure wiring, headlight taillight etc. He'd did subsequently suffer a failure in a solder joint (my fault), so is back for a service call... under warranty.

Aside from the minor repair, he has had a little bit of a makeover. How about a 3D face, a chimney, a steam pipe and a bit of paint - not too much as he is a working locomotive!!!

Carriage brakes!

I have been working on SRR too. The ride-on carriage has been re-bogied with Warrick Sandberg mechanically braked bogies. The ride height changed etc. I finally decided what to do about connecting the brakes. Thought about cables, cams, levers... bearing in mind on the SRR track the curves are tight(ish) at 3.9metre radius and the bogies turn a fair bit. 

So ONE bogie now has FOOT brakes. I plan to build another carriage so will get a pair of unbraked bogies and use one on each carriage plus one braked version. 

The brake lever on the bogie only needs to move 5-10mm at the end so I roughly calculated the mechanical advantage, made a pedal on a shaft, a return spring and lever, a short activating lever, and linking piece out of an offcut of 20x10 rail. Grade 8 bolts connect it all.

The pivots are quite loose and the clevises are wide to allow for turning in the curves. It take very little pressure to feel the brakes, and full pedal will lock it up!

Oh, and the carriage now has LED marker (tail) lights...

Side tracked...

This mess came out...

Amongst other things needing doing (like house stuff) I rewired our friends' 'Tram' - Toby... Replaced a switched resistor speed 'controller' with a $5 chinese PWM controller. $5 for a 6-60VDC 1200watt speed controller - including postage! Toby now has progressive speed control and a bit of dynamic braking... 15 amp circuit breaker/switch, LED headlight & tail light, and a really loud horn!
It is all 24v now. All tied up and hopefully vibration proof!

 

 

Meet 'Esky'

Our little basic general purpose locomotive has been re-purposed and re-designated. 
Meet Thomas's Friend, 'Esky'!

Down the S-Bends...

Both S bend kinks beside the house are finished. So the riding car with feet hanging out clears the water tank and the new slim shed. 
The track will be level with the top of the brick paving and filled in with granitic sand to the rail tops. Won't be used a lot so a quick sweep will clean the rail tops and clear for wheel flanges.

SRR successful opening...

The crash test dummies arrived on Boxing Day. Notwithstanding a re-jig of loco suspension, the Southern Riverina (Garden) Railway has had a successful opening week.