Subject:
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Re: Hobby Train
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:30:24 GMT
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Viewed:
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11148 times
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In lugnet.trains, John Gerlach wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Elroy Davis wrote:
> -snip-
> > I'm looking forward to the new PF trains, though I'm still trying to wrap my
> > brain around how I'm going to be able to fit all of the components into the
> > locomotive size I currently build. I really don't want my RS3 to have to always
> > pull the same car behind it in order to include the battery box, which likely
> > won't fit inside the RS3's 4-wide body, but I don't see another solution.
> >
> > Unless I move to 8-wide trains, of course, which I'm actually starting to do,
> > somewhat because of this change.
> >
> > -Elroy
>
> As someone in an 8-wide train club, our biggest concern is whether the PF trains
> will have enough power to pull our heavy trains.
>
> We've got our fingers crossed that the new motors / remotes / batteries will
> work for us, but we're also stocking up on the now discontinued 9volt parts
> while we can still get them.
>
> JohnG, GMLTC
I've heard tales that the rechargeable NXT batteries don't deliver as much punch
as alkaline cells, so I would expect similar with rechargeable train batteries.
If so, 8 wide will be tough (heck, it is tough enough to pull 8-wide with track
power).
The obvious solution for 6 wide would be to make the battery two plates narrower
and have studs on the side of the battery for tiles. Thus, you could fit it in a
four-wide hood without being too obtrusive. But hard to do a redesign if the
parts have already been produced. The next best thing would be 7 wide engines
with snot tiles across the battery box pulling 6 wide cars (or 12 wide running
on garden RR track & trucks, with more realistic curves, etc.).
If Lego is nudging the AFOLs toward 8 wide, then it would be nice to have a
larger radius curve option. It cuts down on a lot of the drag and keeps your 8
wide train from looking out of proportion on the turns. It might also be a heck
of a carrot for the 9v'ers to go unplugged.
In any event, for traction you want the weight of the battery box pushing down
on the drive wheels if at all possible. Dragging a battery "tender" will mean a
heavier train to pull and either dead weight in the motorized engine or lower
friction where the wheels meet the rails. Pushing a dummy engine with a
motorized battery box would work, but it would mean extra wobble (i.e., bad
friction) ahead of the motor. Getting back on track for a second, it might not
be bad to reintroduce the teeth in the rail from the 12v days (but there might
be complications with the teeth).
On the other hand, the one REALLY nice thing about the battery trains is that
you are no longer limited by the amount of power you can put through the rails.
So if you did go 8-wide and you could afford it, you could put a motor in every
car (or every 3rd car), set them all to the same frequency, and pretty much have
an unlimited train length. But boy would that be fun to watch someone try to
start/stop a 50 car train (grin). Maybe having IR repeaters along the line could
help with that too.
Benn
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Hobby Train
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| In lugnet.trains, Elroy Davis wrote: -snip- (...) As someone in an 8-wide train club, our biggest concern is whether the PF trains will have enough power to pull our heavy trains. We've got our fingers crossed that the new motors / remotes / (...) (16 years ago, 10-Oct-08, to lugnet.trains)
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