MOC - Lego Clockwork Locomotive #3

[Paperinik77pk]

Hi all, after the arriival of BBB wheels, I finally completed the third clockwork locomotive. It is based on pre-war Goods Train No.2 made by Hornby 

Thanks to BBB wheels reduced profiles it manages well large curves. It works also on R40 radius curves, but looks a lot better on longer ones.

The clockwork motor is quite the same as my previous version, only a bit lighter and made all in dark-stone grey color. Two pull-back motors are connected by two red 40-tooth gears, which power the rear big wheels. Motion to front big wheels is achieved trough coupling rods. It has no brake lever, since for winding up you need to keep it on one hand and you can stop the wheels with your fingers. So, being an unuseful weight, I did not include it.

It is very light, since the boiler is made by empty cilinders and the body is made by panels.

Gear ratio is 5:1 to the axle, then large wheels help to furtherly overdrive the gear ratio. I choose 5:1 since this locomotive will be part of a set, and needs to pull three very small and light wagons. The bolt works as flywheel, and it is put over a little piece of flexible Technic tube. No wheelspin at all allows a bit more travelling. Front wheels on bogie are completely independent, so they make less friction. Front bogie is made to follow the track and not to guide the locomotive, as in old Hornby models.

On a mixed track made by straight and large curves it can manage 9 meters with a pair of wagons. I plan to replace the full coupling rods with @zephyr1934 ones, since they are much nicer and surely lighter than mine. 

 

Hope you like it! 

Davide

 

 

[Hod Carrier]

Oh, now that is rather nice. Even though the proportions do look wrong, the early tinplate Hornby locos did have that slightly tall and ungainly appearance that you've recreated very well. I'm pleased that the performance has improved too. What do you think made the difference? Was it the basic flywheel, the BBB Wheels or something else?

[Paperinik77pk]

A little update: the tender is now finished and ready to run!

I added a lever on the front of the boiler and gave it a more "British" look, by adding one white lamp on left side - which, if I'm not wrong, should mean that this is an ordinary freight train (please correct me if it is not so!).

I add some more photos of the clockwork motor I made today :

Bye!

Davide

[Paperinik77pk]

Hi there, @Hod Carrier - yes it absolutely looks odd, it is a "Toy Train" by all means! I wanted to recreate the Hornby "feel" which I like a lot. Buffers are very high, wheels are big and the whole locomotive is ridiculously tall   

I think performance is better due to BBB wheels, which have a smaller border, therefore on curves are less aggressive on track.

The flywheel gives a bit of smoothness during the run, distance is increased thanks to the two pull-back motors and the big wheels helping  to achieve a balanced gear ratio (speed and torque). But what really makes the difference is the reduced weight of the locomotive.

Now I'm working on the small (single pull-back motor) locomotive, which is following the same "diet" - let's see how it works! 

[Hod Carrier]

Sounds like you've found a good combination of parts to make it work so well. That's excellent!!

And yes, I can confirm that your lamp code is correct.

[Feuer Zug]

What a great idea. I'd never considered using the wind up motors for something like this. Reminds me of some toys from my childhood.