Taita Gorge Railway

:think: Small hic-cup on the battery/TE front. Bench test, perfect, except it occurred to me that I was feeding 12 or more V things into the TE......... battery I looked at is 7.2V. So, bench test Mk II, feed 7.2V into TE. Of course, there's voltage drop through the TE, so I was only getting nearly 6V feeding into the loco. It goes, but......

Lucky I didn't buy the battery (and charger), I'll keep looking.

However, during the original test, with 7.2V feeding the loco, it gave a comfortable low speed. Considering bypassing the TE, and feed 7.2V battery direct to loco, and use the on/off switch on the side of the loco. Afterall, it will be mostly tail chasing, rather than doing shunting things that really useful engines do. I'm told that's what the 7/8th's boys do.

Stay tuned, even if it is only to smell the pizza..... :blush:
 
a98087 said:
Have you thought about using one of the cheap lm317 voltage regulator chips of eBay? You could just USA any 12v battery and it would give you a little bit of speed adjustment?

Dan
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Thanks for your interest, Dan.

Rather loathe to e-bay..... can't see it, and freight to NZ is (very) expensive. What I need, is in the shops here, somewhere, I just have to find what I want. Shopping day is tomorrow ;)
 
The Critter has completed test runs on the Taita Gorge, under battery power, with limited success.
It goes, nice and comfortably slow. The BTE reacts to stop and go commands, but will not reverse. I've narrowed this down to the 7.2V battery input not being grunty enough to latch the reversing command. Other options are being considered, but, at least, I can now play at away games!
 
:punch: Well, any ideas of using my old BTE as an onboard system, have been given the flick.

7.2V battery in boxcar now feeds direct to the loco, and control is by the on/off switch on the loco.
The top speed is not that high that I have to control any acceleration. And forward/reverse.... considering that 90%, or more, of the running will be 'tail chasing' when on visiting layouts, I'll just keep it simple (and cheap).
 
:cool: Nine hours running on one charge, that'll do me (Don't want to overstay my welcome when visiting others, do I).
 
Gavin Sowry said:
:cool: Nine hours running on one charge, that'll do me (Don't want to overstay my welcome when visiting others, do I).
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All set to test it out a Loco in December then Gav. ;-)
 
JRinTawa said:
All set to test it out at Loco in December then Gav. ;-)
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I'm not going all that way just for the free pizza...... mind you, I did take a fancy to Italian food when I was over there (found nice little place in Venice that did a beaut Spag Bol, could I find that place again, for a return helping? No way.)
 
Note to self...... run down battery, and fully recharge before Sunday.

Tipplers returned from 'away' visit to Pine Valley..... they really did look the part there. :cool:
 
:blush: Meet Dodge, the new deputy Vermin Control Officer on the Taita Gorge Railway...

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.... first day on the job. Yet to realise that the railtruck ain't vermin (though some garden railroaders may beg to differ.)

'Tis the Christmas season, so the railway is getting into the spirit (I'm a beer drinker, myself) of things

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:p Longest day of the year, and a heat wave to go with it. Spent most of my work day monitoring rail temperatures around the country, got up to 54°C in 3 different parts of our world..... so far, no track buckles :cool:

Nothing for it, but to relax with a bit of backyard train running, it's a logging theme this evening

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One more sleep until Santa, so, Merry Christmas everyone.

Slight drama on the Taita Gorge today.... the battery powered train stopped. Dreading for a minute that the relatively new battery had failed, Instinctively gave it a nudge, she went, then stopped again on the next curve. Broken wire, right where it goes into a sealed plug. Temporarily hard wired the connection from loco to battery car (I can unplug the battery through the car door). So, the search is on for a more durable plug system
 
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Christmas holidays, and, yet again, an extension to Taita Gorge. This time, on the Outback. Sort of running out of live storage room when operating, so I to tooed with some spare track, and a turnout, and thanks to Mr. Lehman's R1 geometry, I found I could extend the previous short siding into a full size loop. Funny things happen when you connect the 'other end' to a circuit, it only worked for one direction.... until I uncovered the switches, and found I was feeding the isolating section from the wrong terminal. Thank goodness for switches with screw tabs (which I only discovered after the big soldering iron had heated up!).
 
:cool::cool::cool: Ah, the joys of Christmas holidays

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After the first full day of operation, the fact that the full beer train could not actually be tucked away in the loop (and be isolated), and the geometry and space constraints negated a further extension, I pondered various solutions with track available on hand. A rather common solution here in New Zealand was the use of a backshunt, so, I put one in. I can now cross/isolate my longest train at two loops now on Taita Gorge. Might actually further isolate the backshunt, as it will provide a good holding road for a motive power unit. The possibilities of extending this road into a branchline have not escaped me either.
 
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