Diesel electric locomotive power bogie

[Melbournesparks]

I realise I hadn't posted this one yet. A few people had been wanting a more heavy duty version of the tram traction motor for heavy rail applications which I recently had the opportunity to develop for a friend's Tasmanian Railways DQ class. It uses the same gears as the tram traction motors, but the motor itself is larger and more powerful. Based on testing with 35mm diameter wheels the speed and tractive effort seems to be approximately prototypical for a 1:24 scale locomotive. The design is still a prototype and may undergo some revision in future, but testing has given good results so far.



This is a complete 1:24 scale 45mm gauge diesel electric locomotive power bogie, designed for a Tasmanian Railways DQ class. All axles are driven by individual traction motors like on the real thing and all axle boxes are sprung independently to give a good ride quality.

The completed locomotive shown in the pictures here was built and painted by Lucas Woodward.

The locomotive body was printed using files designed by Leon Kernan.
Tasrail DQ Class locomotive by lkernan









You can download the files from thingiverse: 1:24 scale diesel electric locomotive power bogie by Melbournesparks

 

[dunnyrail]

I realise I hadn't posted this one yet. A few people had been wanting a more heavy duty version of the tram traction motor for heavy rail applications which I recently had the opportunity to develop for a friend's Tasmanian Railways DQ class. It uses the same gears as the tram traction motors, but the motor itself is larger and more powerful. Based on testing with 35mm diameter wheels the speed and tractive effort seems to be approximately prototypical for a 1:24 scale locomotive. The design is still a prototype and may undergo some revision in future, but testing has given good results so far.

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This is a complete 1:24 scale 45mm gauge diesel electric locomotive power bogie, designed for a Tasmanian Railways DQ class. All axles are driven by individual traction motors like on the real thing and all axle boxes are sprung independently to give a good ride quality.

The completed locomotive shown in the pictures here was built and painted by Lucas Woodward.

The locomotive body was printed using files designed by Leon Kernan.
Tasrail DQ Class locomotive by lkernan

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You can download the files from thingiverse: 1:24 scale diesel electric locomotive power bogie by Melbournesparks

Very interesting Mel, small point not entirely apparent from the pics how is each axle independently sprung. With some flop in the screws or some other way. Superb job.

 

[Melbournesparks]

Very interesting Mel, small point not entirely apparent from the pics how is each axle independently sprung. With some flop in the screws or some other way. Superb job.

The axle boxes are a separate part with a primary suspension spring like on the prototype. Having each axle mechanically independent with its own traction motor makes having sprung axle boxes a lot easier, and the more even load distribution on the wheels improves adhension.

I should add that the wheels came from bachmann tram motor blocks that have been made redundant by conversion to printed 21E trucks. 35 to 40mm diameter wheels are annoyingly hard to source unfortunately, at least for any sort of reasonable cost. Am looking at potentially getting a batch machined.

 

[Djjerme]

I bet that pulls well, but good Lord - what is the amperage draw!

 

[Melbournesparks]

I bet that pulls well, but good Lord - what is the amperage draw!

Less than you might think. A similar unit with 4 traction motors draws about 200ma on level track which is less than a pair of LGB motor blocks. There is much greater variation in the on load/off load current draw though, the wheelslip current is about 2.5 amps.