TurboTrain help...

[eric220]

Man, those things really give new meaning to "bloody nose scheme."

[Missaberoad]

I don't want to share the design here because it is VERY CLEVER.... 
-Jason

 

[Point353]

2 or 3 intermediate cars, so 4 or 5 cars total.  i always liked the symmetry of the 5 consist.

Didn't the trains under Penn Central originally have only 1 intermediate car, thus 3 cars total?

[rapidotrains]

Hi guys,

OK - NEW PROBLEM!

The factory fought me when I tried to have prototypical 30" diameter wheels on the Turbo. But they grudgingly put them on.

Now they have illustrated the problem. See the image attached.

The gears are basically touching the rails. They will certainly hit crossings and frogs. The factory wants to increase the wheel diameter to 36". To make the train look correct, it means we need to increase all the wheels to 36".

Would that be considered acceptable in N scale? I'm not keen on increasing the wheel diameter, but I'm not seeing any way out of this.

Your input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

[wmcbride]

That's only a real-world increase of 0.0375" / 0.9525mm isn't it? It's certainly livable.

Better than all the disappointed and bitter customers with turbos jammed on frog points going ape online, I would think... 

[wcfn100]

How do Z scale locomotives do it?  A 40" locomotive wheel in Z is 29" in N.

Jason

[peteski]

Why can't they reduce the size of the gear? Are those some sort of standard components which have to be used?

There are models which have smaller gears on the wheelset axles. Kato RDC is such example (32" wheels).   That would pass easily for 30" wheels. Bachmann 44-tonner might be another (I don't have one handy to measure).  Many Japenese-prototype interurban MU train sets probably also use small wheels on powered trucks.

One thing in that drawing I don't like is the electric pickup system. It smells of the crappy Bachmann Acela set - are these designed by the same engineering team? 

Disclaimer for the moderators: I'm allowed to bash Bachmann Acela set as I actually own one (and redesigned the pickup system with a more reliable one).

[djconway]

Keep the wheels as close to 30" as possible. While the difference may not be too noticeable while moving, when photographed it will stand out like a neon sign.

[nickelplate759]

Hmm.  If you must increase the drive wheel diameter, do it only on the power trucks (both ends of course, even if only one is powered), and leave the single-axle trucks correct.

Either way, they'll be closer than Bachmann was

[jmlaboda - RIP]

While the difference may not be too noticeable while moving, when photographed it will stand out like a neon sign.

Wow, an whole N scale 3" neon sign...

It is doubtful that any who do not know about this discussion is going to notice the 3 N scale inches needed for the gears to clear... and even those who do likely won't think it will matter.  We are, after all, talking about 0.01875" or ⅟64" in the real world (12" divided by 160 divided by 12 times 3).

[wcfn100]

Wow, an whole N scale 3" neon sign...

It is doubtful that any who do not know about this discussion is going to notice the 3 N scale inches needed for the gears to clear... and even those who do likely won't think it will matter.  We are, after all, talking about 0.01875" or ⅟64" in the real world (12" divided by 160 divided by 12 times 3).

So if Micro-trains never tooled a 36" wheel and just put 33" wheels on their heavyweights, you would have been fine with that?


Jason

[eja]

Round and round we go ....

[peteski]

Round and round we go ....

. . . that is what wheels usually do. 

[nkalanaga]

I always assumed they had 36 inch wheels like other passenger cars.  What I get for assuming...

And, as long as it's in the design stages, changing the gears would probably be better.  They might even be able to make the gearbox symmetrical, like most are.  As Jason said, most Z scale locomotives have wheels very close to N scale 30 inches, and their gears work fine.

[Wutter]

Realistically, I can actually tell which one of my freight cars has 33" vs 36" wheels. And its especially noticeable when its a low floor car with 28" wheels. So I would say yes, please try and keep it 30" if possible.