Neat throttle

[sirenwerks]

No knobs?  How about a steering wheel in a loco's cab?  It is used as a throttle and it rotates like a knob. 

We, at least I, am not in Eurpoe. This is what I have in mind when I think of an engineer's controls, a good ol' fashion covered wagon's controls, sans knobs, steering wheels and other turny turny things. I want something that has a recognizable starting and stop position, not just rotates round and round, that you can easily, visually see your progress in the scale of action.

[ednadolski]

Advanced Reservations are now open:  http://www.protothrottle.com/


I'm saving my pennies up for this:

Ed

[ednadolski]

Here it is in operation:

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It does not look terribly ergonomic.

[peteski]

It does not look terribly ergonomic.

Neither were (are) the real control stands in US-prototype locos, right?  Isn't the goal of that model throttle to imitate the real ones?

[C855B]

It does not look terribly ergonomic.

Neither were control stands. Unless you used one every day, all day, it was too easy to get crossed-up and grab the wrong lever in a stressful moment. It was like learning a musical instrument - practice, practice, practice. 

[tappertrainman]

Neither were control stands.
















 

[TLOC]

I operated the Proto Throttle at Trainfest in Milwaukee on the MRH layout. Joe Fugate was great in the explanation on how to use it. It is really geared toward switching operations. It has a strap on the back to place your fingers into and after a minute or so it felt great. Still at the price of 2 sound equipped locos it maybe a tough seller. They are taking pre-regristation info at ProtoThrottle.com. They will notify you 2 months prior to shipping to get payment and ask if you are still in.

TomO

[Bruce Bird]

For full realism I think you will need to have a brakeman, as you will be sitting on your a$$ running the throttle.

Do they sell proto cab seats as well?

[altohorn25]

I played with this a bit at the RPM meet in Chicago back in October.  I just felt it was too big and clunky (and I have good sized hands....).  I missed my digitrax UT-4 that I could run with one hand.  Perhaps I would like it more with further use??

[MK]

Six Benjamins!   

[BOK]

I ran the prototype down in St. Louis at an RPM last summer and having been a locomotive engineer it was very realistic. Unlike another poster, I thought the throttle pack fit my hand comfortably, and yes, just like a real control stand, if move the automatic air brake all the way to the right it will "dump" the air (go into an emergency application of the brakes). Moving the throttle through the eight notches provided smooth control of the model as you acclerated and good momenteum when you backed off it.

It makes a great throttle for switching and definitely would be nice for smaller railroads but I'll bet it also would handle mutiple unit consists well. For a modeler with only a few engines it would probably be a real asset.

The only thing feature it didn't have was the ability to "feather" the independent (engine) brake so you could apply just the right amount of braking when switching for smooth operation. The other feature missing was also about the independent not being able to be "baled off" (released on all units when the automatic brake is applied) to prevent sliding engine wheels. We engineers sometimes get used to playing with the independent brake handle by balling it off to help break the manotany of a long run and keeping us alert. Having made these comments to the developers of the throttle they are looking into adding this feature as they progress.

Just a final comment. I'll bet once they get a few of these sold they will develop a steam locomotive throttle,

All in all I'll probably save my pennies to buy one as they are a quality product made by good folks.

Barry

[BrionO]

I had an opportunity to "test drive" this throttle last November in Milwaukee.  To evaluate it in terms of a traditional throttle with knobs, wheels, and speed steps, is like comparing apples to oranges.  It is simply not the same type of throttle.  This throttle simulates the function of a prototype locomotive control stand so a better description might be a hand held control stand (HHCS).  As you can see on the videos the locomotive has smooth acceleration and deceleration response.  When the HHCS was put in my hands I have to say that I was a bit apprehensive and didn't want to put someone else's locomotive on the ground.  The biggest difference is that a with a throttle you use the speed steps to start, increase speed, decrease speed, and stop the locomotive.  With the HHCS you use the 8 notches to put the locomotive in motion and increase speed, and the brake to slow down and stop.  After just a few minutes I became comfortable with the HHCS and had a lot of fun.  Is this for everyone?  Probably not.  I for one am excited about this product as I believe it will transform how I run my locomotives.

[up1950s]

Steering wheel throttle should be outlawed for mussel memory reasons .

[strummer]

And yet, models don't run like the prototype.  They don't have the same inertia.  And, for example, dynamic breaking isn't a real thing on the model, it's something that you simulate with sound.   So in trying to make a model behave realistically with a prototypical looking throttle you are necessarily simulating a bunch of the physics with momentum settings and so on.

It strikes me that this product may be perfect for flat layouts but if you have any grades it would lose a lot of verisimilitude.  That is, unless there's some complicated system for telling the throttle what the grade is and changing the relationship of speed to throttle notch accordingly.  I was actually thinking about this the other day and thinking that if the user had a way of telling the throttle what the grade is, it could all be made to work.  I don't see that here though, unless I didn't look close enough.

If you don't have a way of telling the throttle the grade, you easily end up with bad simulation and possibly really bad control of your train such that a professional 1:1 engineer using the throttle gets unrealistic and hopefully not crashing to the floor results.

This is probably 'way out in left field, but here goes...

Last year off eBay I purchased a Heathkit "Electronic Throttle", which is as far from the subject being discussed here as you can get. It's big, heavy (think 1970s era stereo amplifiers), and it has a feature called a "DC Compensation", which reads the current and allows for the engine to slow slightly as it climbs an incline. Is this similar to what you're talking about?

I should mention it also has "AC Compensation", which I guess allows for variations in side-rod binding, etc.

Before I took delivery, I contacted "SP&S 0-6-0 Max", as I recalled he had had one at one time, and got his opinion and advice, which was much needed and most appreciated. Perhaps he can chime in here...

Mark in Oregon