Jump to content
 

Idea for motors on bogie trams


Londontram
 Share

Recommended Posts

Can I just throw an idea into the melting pot to see if any of you guy have seen/done this but I've got a couple of Tower bogie cars that need motors, in the past I've gone down the Bec bogie route though I've got a couple with centre motors and flexable drive shafts to the bogie's. Has any one just used a single truck to the wheel base of the outer wheels and just had dummy wheels for the small inner wheels either floaing or fixed and flangless so its basicly a four wheel tram. The advantage of this is it might be able to run round tighter corners and could be easier to build. The disadvantage is on close inspection it would be obvious to any one with any knowlage what was going on or hidden behind the bogie side frames would it. The oher idea was to use a short wheel base truck for the centre wheels and the outer axles mounted like pony trucks this could allow the tram to go round very tight bends, this might be ok on trams with equal wheel bogie but wouldn't work on maximum traction bogies as the inner wheels are too small. Also finding a truck smaller enough. Are these ideas worth exploring? let me know what you think 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Can I just throw an idea into the melting pot to see if any of you guy have seen/done this but I've got a couple of Tower bogie cars that need motors, in the past I've gone down the Bec bogie route though I've got a couple with centre motors and flexable drive shafts to the bogie's. Has any one just used a single truck to the wheel base of the outer wheels and just had dummy wheels for the small inner wheels either floaing or fixed and flangless so its basicly a four wheel tram. The advantage of this is it might be able to run round tighter corners and could be easier to build. The disadvantage is on close inspection it would be obvious to any one with any knowlage what was going on or hidden behind the bogie side frames would it. The oher idea was to use a short wheel base truck for the centre wheels and the outer axles mounted like pony trucks this could allow the tram to go round very tight bends, this might be ok on trams with equal wheel bogie but wouldn't work on maximum traction bogies as the inner wheels are too small. Also finding a truck smaller enough. Are these ideas worth exploring? let me know what you think 

Yeah, it's been done before John Howe used the method on Kingsway Subway and Dog Kennel Hill, there is a website for it but I'm struggling to get on it....

 

I tried and didn't like it, but that's just personal choice.

 

If I was modelling London trams with short wheelbase Max traction trucks I'd use the Hobbytrain/Kato Munich Post tram chassis, wheelbase and trucksize and type is pretty much spot on for a lot of max traction London cars, also runs beautifully. They're often on ebay.de at around 80 to 100 euro not cheap, but I've seen them go for around 40-60 at auction on there, easy to say but they're worth it. I have a Leeds HR2 under construction and it will use this chassis even though it's max traction rather than equal wheel.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You may also get away with a small centre motor driving a pair of Halling GT4 bogies, I use that set up for Leeds Felthams and Middleton bogies, the GT4 bogie is 19mm wheelbase so pretty close for most UK bogie cars, they're available direct from Halling at approx 21 euros a pair plus post (4 euros) a chassis is easy to make and silicon tubing works well as drive train.

 

Couple of pics 

 

Feltham/GT4 chassis

 

post-7067-0-22615900-1381592564_thumb.jpg

 

Middleton/GT4

 

post-7067-0-47340400-1381592699_thumb.jpg

 

I also messed about with the Halling GT4 bogie and made it into a max traction truck, works ok....

 

post-7067-0-12686400-1381592827_thumb.jpg

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Ive got two that are to the same design as this I think the motors came out of a couple of Blackpool balloons I picked up cheap years ago as unfinished kit though in this case the drive shafts are fine lenghs of coiled springs. I put mine into a couple of Felthams as the bogies were just a little further apart than E1s which seemed to work better with this set up.

      Just had a look on the Dog Kennel hill vidio and I can see now what he did, I might still give it some thought as I'm still bed bound after my operations so thinking time is one thing I have to much of at the momment. Regards Steve

Link to post
Share on other sites

If it's a coiled spring it could well be a PC trams drive, they're still available but a bit fiddly and only offer 4w drive, the Hallings are driven on all axles and come ready assembled complete with pick ups etc.

Yes I think your right. 

I was looking on Ebay at those cheap open frame No. 7 Hornby motors that sell new for £2 they look like the motor in your photo Red Devil but only has a shaft at one end, has any one had a look at one to see if its any good for tram use. I have orded one as it looks small enough to lay flat and might be usefull if not for bogie trams then maybe four wheelers, we shall see.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes I think your right. 

I was looking on Ebay at those cheap open frame No. 7 Hornby motors that sell new for £2 they look like the motor in your photo Red Devil but only has a shaft at one end, has any one had a look at one to see if its any good for tram use. I have orded one as it looks small enough to lay flat and might be usefull if not for bogie trams then maybe four wheelers, we shall see.

It'll be a Mabuchi, the double ended ones are available from Halling at about 5 euros and also Brian at BEC kits, they're an update or the venerable Mabuchi used in BEC bogies and Scalectrix etc, the older ones are not as powerful and can be told from the newer ones by the fact that they have more metal as as a casing. They are used across the entire range of Halling drives often in conjunction with brass flywheels

 

The single ended ones are used in the single drive ABS and BEC drives. If you want any of the older type I have a number that you can have for the cost of post. The older type will not power 2 Halling  bogies.

Edited by Red Devil
Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow that looks like a nice bit of kit, the small "loop" with the wire hook in it would make an ideal place to mount the second axle. Be interesting to see what the cost will be as part of the idea when I started this thread was to get ideas for getting the cost down as on average of £40 a time I'm getting a back log of trams that need motors but it will still be interesting to see how it develops

Link to post
Share on other sites

Could you use something like this? If so what would be the maximum length of the unit that would fit into your bogies?

Yep, definitely, I'd been in touch with Ashley to register interest about that axle hung drive unit in the past and had been keeping up to speed via the blog.

 

American Interurbans tend to have a longer bogie  truck wheelbase than the normal 4ft 6/9in found on UKI trams, but I was particularly interested in using it as a drive on a 4 wheel truck of approx 6ft, to basically give an invisible underfloor drive.

 

There are ongoing experiments using a similar motor and some Nigel Lawton bits....

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes true but I'm looking for something new home grown and cheap, over the years and I,ve off and on been tram modeling for twenty five years I've tried most of the options and now feel like doing something new not just getting the debit card out and buying off the peg again. I think using say the Mabuchi motor which you can get for less than £2 plus wheels and gears and building my own frame I should be able to put one together for about £10 which is 1/4 the cost of a brought one

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...