When using USA Trains with shoes to Bachmann trolleys, be sure to add some weight and you will get better traction on hills/sharp curves.
Dan, I have removed the skates/shoes on my lightweight LGB equipment, so that they can actually haul a decent train up to the summit on my railroad. The skates act like brakes.
Has anyone tried using softer springs on the skates? That way the locomotive, or trolley, would have the extra power pick up of the skate, but with less drag.
Dan Pierce said:
When using USA Trains with shoes to Bachmann trolleys, be sure to add some weight and you will get better traction on hills/sharp curves.
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We left the traction wheels on the USA Motor block and mounted the 9 v. Batt. box on that end under the floor. We do have two sharp curves and not a problem even with the small incline cut going to the town of Wilsonville. On the our test old video, you can see the Bachmann block strugging to make the incline curve. Now the USA doesn’t even slow down.
Noel-
Many thanks for the photos and how-to instruction.
I have confidence in the USA products and that is what I will order – I’ll check the web site for prices.
Wendell
Little more done today…
Painted the top of the USA motor block and finished the Trolley floor touch up with matching Gray. Photo is just show Trolley setting on motor block to test.
I messed up the height from the rails. Got it to low…I had to use a pc. of card stock on resting plates to raise the Trolley up a bit. Now match up right with the side frame added to the axles.
Motor block is mounted and head lights wire up. For the over head LED’s, still have to mount the 9 volt batt. box on the back next to the motor block.
(Note: Batt. box will be on the same end as the traction tires are on.)
Waiting for the arrived people on order before mounting the roof on. With the painted floor it looks like it will be hard to see the motor block and came out better than I was figure.
One thing that was a lot of trouble and was a bugger, was getting the darn sets back in. Very small screws that loves to fly. lol.
Now Trolley matches about the same height as the Close Trolley and will makes a good pair.
They will be set up as one Trolley comes in to town and on to a siding, the other Trolley will leave in a few min. on our single track back and forth sys. We’ll have to mount a magnet on each trolley that will trip reed to a relay for routing and track SW. When the Back an Forth timer switches, this will change off trolleys.
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Wow cool
Still waiting for the people to arrive to finish the Trolley so meantime, we did some testing on both Trolley at difference Timer and speed settings.
Made a short video and most of the video is running faster speed than we run them. Guess anyway you should be able to get the idea of how smooth they run. Really happy with the new USA Motor block…
Noel,
That’s really cool. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Noel-
Again, a BIG thank you for the how-to and video report.
In short, I need to buy the Bachmann open trolley and an USA F3 motor block.
Do you have a preferred source for the trolley - my guess is a direct order to USA for the block?
Wendell
Great movies, Noel. Something happens with video. To get realistic looking pictures, I find I have to run trains MUCH slower than I would to not video them. Maybe 75% of “normal operation.”
I am running my trolleys with an HO/N power pack (only puts out about 12 volts) at about 8 to 10 VDC. Your mileage may vary, but check it out.
Thanks guys… Wendell… Got mine off of E-bay new yr’s. ago and had to sent both in later on for repairs. Did that twice and got tired of the block not lasting very long. We use a small Ho Transformer for the 8 to 12 DC Volts we use. We also use a old Veh headlight bulb in line to the track so any shorts, we can find it easy and not hurting the Ho Transformer.
I ordered my two USA blocks direct from
http://www.charlesro.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CRSC&Category_Code=GRP
Got them in about 3 days here in Ca…
Dick F… Yup, when taking videos we have to run the trains lot slower due to for some reason the videos run somewhat faster in frames… We were just testing timers on this video.
Our Movie Make program has a frame speed setting to adj. but I don’t use it… Just run the trains slower and that works ok for us…
On most of the video we were running the Trolleys faster due to setting all three times.
Timer are set now on the back forth unit.
At Wilsonville, set for 2 min. Pine Hollow set for 28 sec. and Hillsdale set for little over 3 min. Then adj. the slow down and take off speed at each station. You can see this at the very end of the video on slow down and then stop and start up timer for next run.
“By using a 556 chip, it a cheap way to become a duel time instead of using two 555 chips. Save some space on our board.”
Now Trolleys run a lot slow than the video show.
Still have to incorporate a latching relay with track siding for alternating both trolley at one at a time. Like to have difference Trolley going in to Wilsonville to see a change off. Well try to set this up at Hillsdale.
Guess the old saying is …" Are we having fun yet. " U bet.
Dick is absolutely correct. Trains on video seem to be moving faster than they really are. I will have to make note of it when I do my videos too. Thanks Dick for reminding me! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Noel and all:
I ordered from USA Trains Parts the motor block that fits the series of four wheel diesels and a Bachmann Open Trolley @ $109.95 - a competitive price.
Wendell Hanks said:
Noel and all:
I ordered from USA Trains Parts the motor block that fits the series of four wheel diesels and a Bachmann Open Trolley @ $109.95 - a competitive price.
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Great and have fun on the build… I sent you a message to your message box.
We received our little people in our today’s mail and started installing most of the people in both trolleys. Even put one guy on a finder step.
Other side.
Text.
To all:
As a courtesy to those considering ordering a Bachmann Open Trolley from USA Trains, I was notified today (Aug.18) my order for the motor block and trolley is on back order.
Wendell