1981 100 Year Anniversary Engine

[zman50]

Just purchased a used 1981 European style engine that has a small circuit board on the bottom attached to contact slides and closer to back wheels. It has a small switch with a roller that touches one of the back wheels. It looks like it was not original to engine and was added on later in its life. I have my track setup to run mostly starter set engines with 1 amp starter set transformer's. I want to test this engine but do not want to cause damage to it. Can anyone tell me what this board may be, and if I can run it on my track setup. Thanks

 

[Greg Elmassian]

That is hilarious. As the wheel turns, it looks like you have a "wavy washer" that will push the roller in towards the center.

A really crazy type of "chuff switch"....so I assume this loco has sound? Does it have DCC?

Never seen this particular idea, but put a little oil on the roller, they were definitely not designed for this.

Greg

 

[zman50]

Do not think it has sound, as it is just a engine. DCC do not know what that is, and surely do not know if this engine has it. I have not even tried to run this engine that is what my question is can I try it on a regular track. Thanks

 

[playmofire]

Do not think it has sound, as it is just a engine. DCC do not know what that is, and surely do not know if this engine has it. I have not even tried to run this engine that is what my question is can I try it on a regular track. Thanks

You could always turn the loco upside down and apply the slightest of power to the skates and see what happens.

 

[zman50]

Ok lets throw this out there. If I have a DCC engine can that engine run on track with a starter set 1 amp transformer, or would that transformer hurt that DCC engine? Thanks

 

[Paul M]

Not a very basic speedometer or milometer?

 

[PhilP]

Try it and see...

I would say it is a crude 'chuff' sensor, and there might be some kind of sound card..
You will not 'damage' a DCC fitted model, with a starter set controller.

Run it, and report back.. I am intrigued..

PhilP

 

[zman50]

It runs but not that well. Will have to check amps being used. Hope it is not another bad motor like the circus engine. Now I will have to look at the circus engine replies to see how to check the amps again. Thanks

 

[PhilP]

A plain DC Buhler motor, will start rotating at 2-3V..
If you have a decoder, you will need 5-6V on the track, before the electronics 'wakes up'.

PhilP

 

[zman50]

I checked the amps and it was around .45 - .50. Hopefully if I clean it up and put new grease in that number will come down. Seems like it hesitates now and then. Will probably remove that circuit board also, not really sure what that is for. Thanks

 

[Software Tools]

It is highly likely that the added contraption is adding significant drag to the whole drive mechanism. Personally, I would just remove it.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Well, those little spring switches don't take an awful lot of effort, and if, as Greg suggested, it was lightly oiled, it's probably not going to make a huge amount of difference.

Let's face it, you've got to give some marks for ingenuity to the bloke who did it - a bit like the APT; achieving a modern solution with outdated engineering ...................

 

[zman50]

Well after I take it apart to pull the motor out for cleaning, I will take a picture of the board setup. I am thinking that I probably need a speaker in a trailing car to make this sound board (?) work. Thanks

 

[Software Tools]

Well, those little spring switches don't take an awful lot of effort

There is a reason that that type of roller microswitch switch is NOT used on commercial models. They are typically used in limit switch applications and deliberately need a non-trivial amount of pressure to minimise false activations.

 

[zman50]

There is a reason that that type of roller microswitch switch is NOT used on commercial models. They are typically used in limit switch applications and deliberately need a non-trivial amount of pressure to minimise false activations.

What do you mean by commercial models?

 

[Fred2179G]

commercial models

I think he's referring to products from model train companies, like LGB.

I also agree with Greg that those switches aren't designed to have the roller turning all the time. The roller can rotate in case the item pushing is not perfectly aligned, but it will probably fail if you spin it under pressure all the time the loco is running.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

That is a micro switch, it takes very little pressure. Unless the roller is seized, that is not your main issue.

I would open the loco first and determine if I wanted to preserve the sound system (pretty sure it has one)...

to debug the running, I would pull the board off to just eliminate it mechanically.

If it was me, I would get rid of it, use a modern sound system with autochuff, no mechanical chuff switch.

Greg