long shot, but I'm a live steamer in the San Diego, California and that control on the trolley car around the 5 min. mark looks absolutely fantastic. If i may, where can I find one and how much would they cost because I've never seen one like that before and that would motivate me to build a street car over a steamer first since electrics are cheaper to build than steam. great vid and have a great day
Dear John, The tram 'John' was built, in 2014, by my friend Gavin Motley who you see working on it in the video. It was made for Stuart Ravell, the owner of Kirkby Green Light Railway. It was built in memory of Stuart's friend John Skinns who donated a battery powered sack truck to the railway which he'd partially converted from road to rail use in 10.25" gauge. Unfortunately, the truck's drive electronics which was over 30 years old, was completely shot, so Stuart got me to repair it which I did, and I upgraded the design to use a MOSFET motor power module, tacked onto the original control unit. Stuart then saw a 2 seat tram on a visit to a 7.25" gauge railway and with Gavin they cooked up a plan to rebuild the sack truck into the tram you see in the video, just using the wheels, gearbox, motor, drive electronics, and batteries, from the old sack truck. They had to use the old electronic system as the motor was a DC series wound unit, with an integral gearbox, rather than the permanent magnet motors which are more common today. Gavin has his own metal fabricating business and has built a couple of 10.25" gauge hydraulic drive locos which you might also see in the KGLR videos I've made. He's recently sold the green Freightliner Class 66 diesel loco. If you're interested in building a tram, I'll ask him how much it would cost to make one. The main problem would be getting a suitable size motor and gearbox. The drive electronics wouldn't be a problem as you could use a Penny & Giles iDrive, provided the motor you are using is a DC permanent magnet type. There are several miniature railway suppliers selling their drives over here. We bought one thinking it could be used for the tram but then realised it wouldn't run a series wound motor. At present that's being saved for a possible future project. regards, Brian J
Brian Jones - Channel Ten (and a Quarter) well the electronics motor wise I'm very knowledgeable on. My curiosity is specifically on the motor controller it's self that looks as if it was a miniature version of any Westinghouse motor controller on a full size trolley or subway. You don't happen to know anything about that do you?
If by controller you mean the actual lever operated by the driver, that's nothing more than a fancy metal box with a cast brass top cover and cast brass levers, made to look like an old fashioned tram controller. The lever has a slotted cam which engages with a door ball catch to give the controller notch positions. The end of the lever is attached to the shaft of a 10K linear pot which is wired into the electronic speed control. There is a second cast brass knob which operates a 3 position switch for Forward/Off/Reverse. The box was obtained from a small company over here called Ride on Railways who specialise in the manufacture and supply of miniature railway equipment. They can be contacted at paul@rideonrailways.co.uk The controller electronics is designed such that the tram cannot be reversed unless it is at a standstill. BJ
long shot, but I'm a live steamer in the San Diego, California and that control on the trolley car around the 5 min. mark looks absolutely fantastic. If i may, where can I find one and how much would they cost because I've never seen one like that before and that would motivate me to build a street car over a steamer first since electrics are cheaper to build than steam. great vid and have a great day
Dear John,
The tram 'John' was built, in 2014, by my friend Gavin Motley who you see working on it in the video. It was made for Stuart Ravell, the owner of Kirkby Green Light Railway. It was built in memory of Stuart's friend John Skinns who donated a battery powered sack truck to the railway which he'd partially converted from road to rail use in 10.25" gauge.
Unfortunately, the truck's drive electronics which was over 30 years old, was completely shot, so Stuart got me to repair it which I did, and I upgraded the design to use a MOSFET motor power module, tacked onto the original control unit.
Stuart then saw a 2 seat tram on a visit to a 7.25" gauge railway and with Gavin they cooked up a plan to rebuild the sack truck into the tram you see in the video, just using the wheels, gearbox, motor, drive electronics, and batteries, from the old sack truck.
They had to use the old electronic system as the motor was a DC series wound unit, with an integral gearbox, rather than the permanent magnet motors which are more common today.
Gavin has his own metal fabricating business and has built a couple of 10.25" gauge hydraulic drive locos which you might also see in the KGLR videos I've made. He's recently sold the green Freightliner Class 66 diesel loco.
If you're interested in building a tram, I'll ask him how much it would cost to make one. The main problem would be getting a suitable size motor and gearbox. The drive electronics wouldn't be a problem as you could use a Penny & Giles iDrive, provided the motor you are using is a DC permanent magnet type. There are several miniature railway suppliers selling their drives over here. We bought one thinking it could be used for the tram but then realised it wouldn't run a series wound motor. At present that's being saved for a possible future project.
regards,
Brian J
Brian Jones - Channel Ten (and a Quarter) well the electronics motor wise I'm very knowledgeable on. My curiosity is specifically on the motor controller it's self that looks as if it was a miniature version of any Westinghouse motor controller on a full size trolley or subway. You don't happen to know anything about that do you?
If by controller you mean the actual lever operated by the driver, that's nothing more than a fancy metal box with a cast brass top cover and cast brass levers, made to look like an old fashioned tram controller. The lever has a slotted cam which engages with a door ball catch to give the controller notch positions. The end of the lever is attached to the shaft of a 10K linear pot which is wired into the electronic speed control. There is a second cast brass knob which operates a 3 position switch for Forward/Off/Reverse. The box was obtained from a small company over here called Ride on Railways who specialise in the manufacture and supply of miniature railway equipment. They can be contacted at paul@rideonrailways.co.uk
The controller electronics is designed such that the tram cannot be reversed unless it is at a standstill.
BJ
yea thats exactly what i was talking about. thank you. thats a pretty cool way of working with what was available