San Francisco Cable Car

dunnyrail

dunnyrail

DOGS, Garden Railways, Steam Trains, Jive Dancing,
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This is a short video that I made today showing my AMS (American Model Supply) San Fran Cable Car. I bought it from Kent Garden Railways around 3 or so years ago for around £120 (I think that the Dollar was low against the pound at the time). It has been sitting in my workshop having not been run (except for test Running on Analogue). Then a week or so ago that nice Mr Funandtrains wanted rid of a couple of ESU Locpilot Chips. Well this weekend I got round to fitting one to the Cable Car. So here she is taking a Test Run on the Dunnyrail main Line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3gvDf2EtqA Hope you enjoy. JonD
 
Westcott said:
Hi DunnyRail,

Thanks for linking to my YouTube videos, but you probably meant one of yours instead!
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Yes it did the same to mine....did you point to universal use?
 
Last night, the lights went out on mine while out for a run.

I just hope I haven't blown any electronics (if there are any).

Has anyone taken one of these apart yet.... any tips. Just hope that all that is wrong is a broken wire, but most of the wiring is on conduits within the body.
 
Gavin Sowry said:
Last night, the lights went out on mine while out for a run.

I just hope I haven't blown any electronics (if there are any).

Has anyone taken one of these apart yet.... any tips. Just hope that all that is wrong is a broken wire, but most of the wiring is on conduits within the body.
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Hi Gav, never needed to take mine apart to Chip it as the wires were all visible from underneath to enable a Simple Chip Fit. However from memory there were plenty of screws beneath to do a full dismantle I think.

Would recomment taking Digital Pics as you pull apart to help rebuild. Also somewhere (a couple of Freezer Containers) to keep the bits. Plus note and measure Screw Lengths of where they go. They can sometimes be of different lengths and size.

Good luck and let us know how you got on.
JonD
 
You know I've just realized I've lived in the bay area for 20 odd years now and I've never been on a trolley!!
 
minimans said:
You know I've just realized I've lived in the bay area for 20 odd years now and I've never been on a trolley!!
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Think you need to rectify that forthwith. All lines are a superb trip. Including the non Cable ones. Think you have a good excuse for a couple of day trips.
JonD
 
minimans said:
You know I've just realized I've lived in the bay area for 20 odd years now and I've never been on a trolley!!
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I rode them way back in 1970. A lot of fun. We actually helped the motorman turn the car at the end of the run on a turntable.
 
Madman said:
I rode them way back in 1970. A lot of fun. We actually helped the motorman turn the car at the end of the run on a turntable.
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Yes I've seen them do that, make the passengers turn the trolley, wonder how the 'elf and safety people feel about that!
 
minimans said:
Yes I've seen them do that, make the passengers turn the trolley, wonder how the 'elf and safety people feel about that!
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PLEASE don't ever call cable cars 'trolleys' a true San Franciscam would lynch you for that. Trolleys run in San Francisco on th E and F lines and are electric.

As for passengers helping to turn the cable cars - I am afraid that it is now banned,,,,yes it was the elf n safety pixies
 
dunnyrail said:
Hi Gav, never needed to take mine apart to Chip it as the wires were all visible from underneath to enable a Simple Chip Fit. However from memory there were plenty of screws beneath to do a full dismantle I think.

Would recomment taking Digital Pics as you pull apart to help rebuild. Also somewhere (a couple of Freezer Containers) to keep the bits. Plus note and measure Screw Lengths of where they go. They can sometimes be of different lengths and size.

Good luck and let us know how you got on.
JonD
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Don't panic, Captain Mainwarring...... turned out to be a relatively simple dismantling job.
Off with the couplers at each end, then the four corner screws, and the two middle ones. I used the foam box to poke the screws into in a plan layout fashion so I know which one came from where. I then unscrewed the outside passenger seats.
The body lifted off. The wiring had a plug connecting chassis wiring to body wiring. There is a circuit board under one of the saloon seats which unscrews.

I could feed 12V to the after end of the board, and she lit up like a Christmas tree, but feeding 12 V at the end that 12V is supposed to go to, it didn't go. I need to consult. There's 4 diodes or resisters, a fat black thingy which could be a capacitor or something, and a bit with fins that gets hot. Don't really want to jump wire this, just in case it is some form of voltage regulator that stops the lights from blowing.
 
The four things are probably diodes, in a bridge, then a capacitor, followed by a regulator.. Sounds to be to normal LGB standards..
 
PhilP said:
The four things are probably diodes, in a bridge, then a capacitor, followed by a regulator.. Sounds to be to normal LGB standards..
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Hmmm.... one of them diode things looked a bit fatter/disfigured compared to the others. Perhaps that has 'failed'.
This regulator (if it is one), has 3 pins. I'm thinking it could be - earth + so that the output is constant polarity. Can't see why, though. Surely polarity don't matter for DC lighting.... or does it.
 
The two bogies are wired independently- one is self contained with the motor and the other powers the lights I ran a jumper wire across to provide 8 wheel pickup.

I would appreciate pics of how to dismantle the body s I can't put passengers in the body
 
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