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FASTEST RTR 12V OO LOCO/MULTIPLE UNIT


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Hi,

 

As part of helping with a new RFID system within MERG I need to simulate an O gauge loco running at 120mph. I have a OO test track I'd like to do the tests on and 120mph in OO translates to 210mph (scale) in O.

 

Is there a RTR 12V  OO loco or multiple unit that can do 210 mph (OO) scale - that's about 4 feet per second?.

 

 

Regards

 

Nick

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3 minutes ago, Mark said:

Are you sure? I would have thought that a scale 120mph in O gauge equates to a scale 210mph in OO.

 

Mark

 

Hi,

 

Yes, sorry I meant to say that 120mph in O equates to 210mph in OO.

 

Regards

 

Nick

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1 minute ago, Half-full said:

Hornby's Smokey Joe Pug, hypersonic that thing is!!!

Hi,

 

Haven't Hornby added extra gearing to the Smokey Joe to cool it down?.

 

Regards

 

Nick

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Probably not from current RTR ranges.  I reckon the 1960's Triang locos with X04 motors and two start worm drives would be somewhere near that speed 4ft / sec (or 4 X MK3 coaches passing per sec)  but they tend to ride roughly at high speed which affects power pick up.  The older Hornby "Desmond" 0-4-0 also went like a rocket ship but would fall off straight track at high speed, current versions have (sadly) been geared down but wobbly wheels remain standard.

I would think my Prairie tank with a Triang Hall chassis with, 5 pole X04 clone and Romford wheels would be around that fast as it rides beautifully and I use it for testing coaches to make sure they ride nicely at high speed.  You have to back it off round 2ft radius corners when hauling 7 coach rakes or the whole lot ends on its side.  Generally as long as an RTR express loco will do the ton I'm happy.  Which led to a saga trying to get my son's  Hornby A4 "Mallard" to do a realistic speed, instead of 75.   It needed a loco drive chassis with an X04.   Riding rather than anything will be the limiting factor on straight track, so you need Romford or similar nicely profiled concentric wheels and a decently long coupled wheelbase.   I will attach my train timing chart.  Works for anything 12"/ft to Z scale

Train Speed.jpg

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Almost anything early Tri-ang should be capable of high speed.

 

An X.04 is rated 20,000 rpm. A reduction ratio of 20:1 gives an axle speed of 1,000 rpm.

26mm drivers then give a scale 1000 x 3.142 x 6.5 ft  x 60 /5280 mph = 232 mph

 

This is off load of course so realistically something around 150mph.

 

The 0-4-0 'Nellie' chassis has a ratio of 15:1 (IIRC) so this could possibly make the desired 210 mph with suitable wheels.

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A good smooth running RTR OO drive capable of scale for 400mph* may be found inside the first version of the Peak from Bachmann. Make it a BB by taking the cosmetic frames off to remove the unpowered wheelsets, as they don't like staying on the rails as it exceeds scale 0.5 mach. The weight,  on an all wheel pick up and drive, means that provided the track is smooth it doesn't lose speed due to lack of adhesion or power interruption: until it throws itself off on a curve...

 

* That may be an underestimate as firstly we only tried 12V, and secondly we only had 20 metres of straight track.

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My Dad's Mainline class 56 was faster than my Lima HST much to my disgust.

 

Do you need a fast loco? Can't you just move the sensors closer together? Half the physical distance and you double the actual speed.

 

Steven B.

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12 minutes ago, Steven B said:

My Dad's Mainline class 56 was faster than my Lima HST much to my disgust

When I built Dagworth I had to fit low retaining walls all around it to catch errant derailments and stop them becoming dive bombers. The main culprit was a Mainline 56 that wouldn't bother with the curves at the end of the layout, preferring to go straight on.

 

As for the new Hornby HST that thing is unbelievably fast, mine has been seriously tamed down on its decoder but I still daren't take it past about step 14 of 28!

 

Andi

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6 hours ago, Steven B said:

My Dad's Mainline class 56 was faster than my Lima HST much to my disgust.

 

Do you need a fast loco? Can't you just move the sensors closer together? Half the physical distance and you double the actual speed.

 

Steven B.

Hi,

 

I'm just testing one RFID reader/writer so the speed of the train tags over the RFID module are important.

 

Regards

 

Nick

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Yes I've a Scotrail HST and can confirm its seriously fast.

 

The fastest loco I had in my youth was a Mainline 45 . Really you couldn't run it flat out on an 8 by 4 or it would have plunged to the ground .

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I tried my speed chart with some  locos this evening, its very good at sensible speeds but very hard work over 100 mph, but I did record a Hornby King Arthur with 27mm Hornby drivers instead of the standard 24/25mm at around 200 scale MPH 1.61 seconds for 7X 60ft coaches to pass my water column    7 X 57ft should take 3.2 sec to pass at 100 mph so its right in the zone especially as it was hauling 7 coaches at the time.  Its the plastic worm wheel type with the coarse worm wheel, I doubt the Bog standard version is any slower,  The King Arthur has not been a regular performer on the layout for many years now  The cab is wrong and the rest of it isn't much better despite upgraded valve gear etc.  It was retrieved from the spare loco shelf for the attempt and has since returned to it.   Picture shows "Sir Brian" 30782 following the epic run!

 

DSCN9980a.JPG

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The plastic coarse gears are 28:1, whereas the "Bog standard" twin start gears are 20:1, so it should be even faster....

 

Flat out a HD Duchess will fling herself off on the 15" radius curves. The Dublo spec. (minmum) for a new locomotive with 4 SD6 Dublo coaches (not the most free running or light weight vehicles) is 25 seconds for five laps of the standard Dublo 'oval' which is about fifty feet. This equates to 104mph. Tri-ang locos are considerably faster, assuming they can actually shift this load which is not always the case.

This assumes a 12 volt supply. A higher voltage will obviously improve these figures.

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