As for electrifying a kids trian: I built a 10" gauge track in my yard and was going to electrify it, but in the initial build, I used bicycle pedals mounted at hand height for propulsion. Glad I did. Kids from miles around found their way to our house, but then tired after a few rounds and went home. If it was electric, they would never leave!
I suggest electrifying the rails at 56 volts or so and use that to charge an onboard 48v battey. The battery provides the surge power and the rails keep it charged. My rails were made of 1" angle iron with strips of PT lumber for the ties. I coule lay 8' of track an hour. But curves were harder. I made a hacksaw kerf about 1/2" deep every 8 inches or so in the angle iron and it would then bend into a nice 10' radious bend. Wheels were 4" pulleys fully articulated like real ones with automotive valve springs between each pair of wheels and then each pair of wheels joined into a 4 wheel truck.. Problem is, pruning. My wife and I have permanent disagreement on pruning. She wont let me prune back the bushes, and she insists on using a pair of scissors to cut off only the outer layer. So over the 30 years, the tracks have all disappeared under the foliage and are abandoned. Bob, WB4APR On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 10:38 AM Lee Hart via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > mark hanson via EV wrote: > > The Roanoke Zoo (Mill Mountain ZooChoo) kiddy train (G-16, 16" wide > track) > > has been inoperable for a few years and the 100hp Wisconsin VH4D 4-cyl > > tractor engine (about 1970'). They would like me to fix it, don't seem > to > > know why it was abandoned. I think the engine is seized and the > gasoline - > > varnish. It has 3 cars and goes about 1000' back & forth. Has anyone > > converted a mini-train, runs about 6mph for 8 hours? > > Hi Mark, > > What an interesting project that would be! I remember them fondly, and > rode in a couple different ones; on in MI as a kid, and one in Brainerd > MN at Paul Bunyan Land. > > I'm surprised they used a 100hp engine. I can't imagine needing that > much power for something that only goes 6 mph and is rolling on steel > rails. Maybe they wanted it to sound like a real diesel engine? > > I saw an interesting home-made one in Holland MI. A machinist had built > it in the style of a steam locomotive. The boiler was a pressure tank, > and it ran on compressed air. Four cylinders and a valve mechanism drove > the wheels like a real steam engine. He'd fill it with an air > compressor, and then run it around the track, chuffing and puffing like > the real thing. > > > Maybe a 8 or 9" Advance DC motor and control? Lithium LiFePO4 is nice > (with > > the attracted complexities of balancing/monitoring) but would ye-old > cheaper > > Lead work in this application (maybe not run time). > > Weight is not normally a problem in trains. The engine *needs* to be > heavy to provide traction. It wouldn't surprise me if there are weights > in the engine for precisely this reason. In this application, lead-acid > batteries make sense. Probably an industrial pack from a fork lift; they > run all day on a charge, for thousands of cycles. > > I would think an ADC/Netgain 9" motor would be big enough. A 10,000 lbs > fork lift doesn't have that big a motor. > > I wonder if it could be an "electric" train, with no batteries and > electrified rails? 36v or less between the rails should be safe enough. > > Lee Hart > > -- > If happiness is on your mind, here's a daily list to find: > - something to do > - something to look forward to > - someone to love > - someone to take good care of > - and misbehave, just a little > -- > Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html > INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20200329/1c81d9b1/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
