Show us your ET (electric train)

This forum is dedicated to Riding Scale Railroading with propulsion using other than steam (Hydraulics, diesel engines, gas engines, electric motors, hybrid etc.)

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Glenn Brooks
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Location: Woodinville, Washington

Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Here’s a thread to show off your ET (electric Train) and describe your loco a bit - weight on drivers, voltage/current draw, motor size, gear ratio in the drive train, type of controller, Max payload, etc - a few pertinent facts that could help others make decisions about electrifying their build.

Also curious how many ET’s there are in the hobby at present - either a real number in your club, or as a percentage of total locos.

The best I can do at the moment is post a photo of the forklift motors I scrounged to convert my old yard goat. This center cab will have a 48v, or maybe 60 v battery pack, with two 7” diameter DC 400amp traction motors- one in each hood end. 2 stage 6:1 gear reduction using sprockets and chain to drive each truck. I’ve spc’d the loco at 1500# gross weight, to produce around 350 pounds of tractive effort, and pull a total train weight of 10,000-12,000#.

Now this is a little oversized; 12” ga /3” scale build, so a bit beefier equipment than what might be needed for 7.5” gauge.
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What I hope it looks like, sooner or latter...
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Very interested to see what people are doing in 1.5” -2.5” scale.

Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
amadlinger
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by amadlinger »

DL&W GP7 #968
1.5" scale, 7.25"/7.5" dual-gauge electric
Designed and built by Tom Battle and Adam Madlinger
Weight: 874 lbs
Motor: (1) 48V, 300A Etek-R motor, 8hp (cont) / 15hp (peak)
Controller: 4QD-300
Power source: (4) 12V golf car batteries with 30A voltage converter to supply 12V power
Drivetrain: 1" timing belt to jackshaft; Lovejoy u-joints to Tolomatic 2:1 gearboxes on trucks
Braking: Regenerative; Tolomatic disk brake on jackshaft; Gast combo air/vacuum for engine (air) and train (vacuum)

Shown at the 2018 Train Mountain Triennial.
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Glenn Brooks
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Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Amadlinger, Classic and Classy locomotive!

Curious if you have gear reduction leading to the jackshaft? Or is your total gear reduction 2:1 from the tolomatic gear boxes? If so, what kind of voltage are you pulling and how does the motor perform at slow speeds- say 2-4 mph?

Thanks for posting!
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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NP317
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by NP317 »

Glenn:
Watch the YouTube videos of the last Triennial and you can get an idea of the number of electric locomotives in The Hobby.
And Train Mt. somewhere has the statistics of locomotive power sources and types that attended. Lots of info for you.
RussN
amadlinger
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by amadlinger »

Hi Glenn,

Oops! Meant to add that, too. The timing belt pulleys have a 48:22 reduction as well, so overall it's just over 4:1. I couldnt be happier with the performance with this ratio. This engine was designed and built with one objective in mind: card order meets at White Creek RR, and 2-4mph is right in the sweet spot for switching operations. It pulls tremendously well throughout the entire speed range and will creep along or highball down the track with a 30 car train, not a problem. Top speed is about 10-11 mph, but I have it electronically limited to 7-8mph.

Since it's a pulse width modulated controller, the voltage output is always 48V, but as far as amperage goes I wish I had an ammeter to know. However, I installed overcurrent protection at 200A and it has never tripped, so that's at least one data point.

Sincerely,
Adam
Speed_Toaster
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Speed_Toaster »

Some of my electric locomotive creations. The boxcab, “Little Toby,” while looking sedate here with a friend and his son at the throttle, is the scariest thing on 6 wheels in 3.5” gauge. I’ve topped out at nearly 18 miles an hour. Many years of fine tuning has made it an absolute speed toaster (hence my handle.) The setup on it is 2, 12v AGM motorcycle batteries, an old electric scooter motor, and a floor scrubber controller, all belt driven with regen braking.

The others are more recent projects. The steam outline was my first real attempt at 3d printing train parts. About half of what you see was done on a small home 3d printer and while it did spend more time spinning the wheels then anything else, it did manage to pull me along at a pretty good clip. The setup on this one was an electric skateboard motor, controller, and battery.

The other two, the GE switcher and the Streamliner (the New Haven Comet,) are my most recent projects. The intention of the switcher is to release the files for a small fee so others can get into the hobby for cheap using cheap parts. The Comet is my crown jewel of model railroading, and will be run off of a similar electric skateboard setup as the outline. I’ll be posting a build log when the Comet is done.
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Glenn Brooks
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Speed_toaster. Welcome to the Forum. And thanks for posting! We like to encourage folks to post their location on the side bar to give readers a sense of the community and so whomever is near by can identify a bit with what you are doing, and offer local knowEdge and resources, or ask questions.

Looks like you’ve been in the hobby as an ET enthusiast for quite some time, given the number of builds you’ve finished! Your stable of locos and is quite impressive - particularly how you have adopted and repurposed various power train components. impressive!

Looking forward to your build log. P.S. it’s quite common for folk to start a build log early on, and update it as they make progress...

Glenn.
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Those are some pretty neat trains Speed Toaster!
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
Speed_Toaster
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Speed_Toaster »

Thanks Glenn, and thanks for the suggestions! Maybe I’ll gather up some photos and start the build log this weekend. I’m located in CT, and belong to PVLS (Massachusetts.)

My family has been in the hobby about 20 years now (I was just 7 when we first started.) If you had gone to any of the meets at our club about 8 years ago (or within the 10 years before that,) you would’ve seen my mom and dad running the kitchen while my sister and I were out playing trains.

We’ve built and amassed quite a few engines (mostly gas and electric, a few steamers) and cars over the years in both 7.25” and 3.5” gauge. I think I’ve reached critical mass for trains right now though. Once the Comet is done and the little switcher perfected, I’ll probably take a break from building for a while.

A pleasure to be here and share info!
Karl
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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

Ironic this thread corresponds somewhat timely with recently published news regarding full-size railroad locomotives.

A Google search related to Wabtec's FLXdrive locomotive brings up recent press releases etc.

https://www.wabteccorp.com/locomotive/a ... s/flxdrive

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... ts-on-bnsf

Of particular interest to me is the controlled environment for the 20 racks of approximately 20,000 Lithium-ion battery cells.
A HVAC system keeps the batteries at room temperature in all environments.

This entertains the idea or functioning value of an insulated battery compartment on a miniature railroad locomotive.
I know that during hot summer days it gets quite warm under the metal shroud housing batteries.

To expand on this thread slightly... any thoughts meandering out there on the useful practicality of insulating a battery compartment on a miniature railroad locomotive?
Perhaps someone peeking in on this thread has already done it with results they could report.

John
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kcameron
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by kcameron »

John,

Since most of us operate during the nicer times of the year, insulating is the opposite of what we need. Between charging, running, and just sitting out in the sun, the locos and batteries are warmer than ambient most of the time. The question becomes if using energy to cool down the batteries would pay off with a net increase in performance as either runtime, load capacity, or battery life. At least that's what I've seen.
-ken cameron
Syracuse Model Railroad Club http://www.SyracuseModelRr.org/
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mailto: kcameron@twcny.rr.com
In the Upstate New York US area of the world
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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Show us your ET (electric train)

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

That's a good comment Ken. "Insulate" may be a loose term meaning multiple things.

Typically the monitoring of batteries centers on electrical measurements and in the case of lead acid storage batteries,
checking specific gravity on a schedule.
If readings are logged and one creates a "trend" so to speak... there's a record to look back on in making decisions.
I've never considered actually measuring the thermal environment of a battery compartment
so I don't have any statistic to reference for comparing any assessment.

I guess if I've gained anything in thinking about the question... a thermometer for measuring the temperature under a locomotive housing would be a place to begin.

Getting back to work,

John ; )
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