April 30, 201410 yr Sounds like you have given this a lot of thought, right now the only non 9V train i have is my EN with custom 9v pickups running a single M Motor housed in the boiler. The solution works very well but as you say adding a few 9V motors to a long trian workes every time and is easy to do. My HE is set-up as a push pull over the six cars and runs 2 9V motors with no issues. Good luck with the final build, train and layout,
May 1, 201410 yr A very beautiful engine, and so extremely powerful. Thanks for the opportunity to see it IRL, working uphill at your 8 percent climbing layout. I don't think you will have any problem pulling 72 ore cars, as the original do. My PF-version is a little bit weaker. Pictures will come later, in a new thread... Leif/Lafe, Stockholm Edited May 1, 201410 yr by LeifSpangberg
May 1, 201410 yr Author A very beautiful engine, and so extremely powerful. Thanks for the opportunity to see it IRL, working uphill at your 8 percent climbing layout. I don't think you will have any problem pulling 72 ore cars, as the original do. My PF-version is a little bit weaker. Pictures will come later, in a new head... Leif/Lafe, Stockholm I just tested the iron ore train with the Dm3 and 12 wagons where the tail wagon is equipped with additional 2 engines (and two LED red tail lights), so six 9V engines all in all. The test was indeed very successful, no problems at all with the 8 percent inclinations. And what a spectacular experience watching this beautiful brown "snake" crawling its way through the climbing spirale! Next week I will hopefully receive all remaining parts to build additional 8 wagons. Then I will add links with more pictures. 72 wagons??! Leif, thats a 20 kg heavy LEGO train, approximately 20 meters long ...! Would probably need some 18 9V engines which would require approximately 9A! I can already smell burnt plastic ... From a space point of view It might work in my future 9V Extreme display but I certainly would have to look for sponsors - and technical advisors to solve the challenges re regulators and heatsinks ..... I don't think that a single LM350T regulator would provide enough power for the 10 plus ? engines. By the way, the 72 original wagons that you are referring to - with a load of 100 tons of ore each - are part of a trainset with a total weight of close to 9000 tons (!) It's hauled by two single-ended Co'Co' locomotives (IORE) , each with a power output of 5,400 kW (7,200 hp), This is the worlds strongest locomotive today: http://en.wikipedia....re_11.08.04.jpg To my knowledge, the first Dm3s back in the early 1960ies were build for trainsets with 65 3-axes wagons (type Mar) and a train weight of 4875 tons. Edited September 21, 201410 yr by Haddock51
September 21, 201410 yr Author After more than 3 months of absence it is now high time to proceed with my Lego projects again. Tests in late spring revealed a serious unbalance of pull/push forces re the eight 9V engines on the "full-size" Iron Ore Train, consisting of the Dm3 and 20 wagons. (Full-size at least for me - the original trains used to have 65 wagons ...) This caused spontaneous decouplings and derailments. The main problem appeared to be the Dm3 with its four engines. It was simply "overpowered". I therefore decided to rebuild the Dm3 and downsize it from four to two engines which are now mounted on the midsection. So this is version 2 - maybe even more alike its original. Then I tested the Iron Ore Train again with six 9V engines, two mounted on the Dm3, two on wagon # 9 and two on wagon # 19. Now it works perfectly - apparently without any lateral or vertical tensions. This megatrain is 5,3 m long and its weight is 6,5 kg. A truely amazing experience to watch this train crawl up and down the climbing spirale! Edited September 25, 201410 yr by Haddock51
September 25, 201410 yr Oh wow, very nice indeed. The locomotives look great to begin with but to then see them pulling a long train up the grade is fantastic.
September 27, 201410 yr Perfect reproduction and work very well done with the lights. Great job. Congrats!
November 25, 201410 yr Author After further testing, I decided to remove the 9V engine from the midsection of the Dm3 and replace it with big wheels and rods. Now it looks even more authentic compared to its original. All ten (!) 9V engines are mounted on the iron ore wagons, two each on wagon # 1, # 5, # 9, # 13 and # 17. After several complaints ("you can´t run an iron ore train with empty wagons"), I decided to load all wagons (except # 20 which carries a 9V battery and cables for the tail lights) with "tons" of iron ore, i.e. thousands of round 1x1 plates .... To prevent spreading of these small plates on the floor in case of derailment (2m above ground floor ...), I had to find a solution to fix these loads. And the solution was: black net stockings in thin nylon! Amazing what kind of materials you end up using for a Lego build ... So this concludes the Dm3/Iron Ore Train project. I would like to thank all of you - and in particular alainneke, Selander and LeifSpangberg - for your valuable advice and contributions to this challenging project. The result speaks for itself. This train with a total length of 5,5 m, a total weight of 8,2 kg and ten 9V engines is most likely second to no other 9V trains, or? And finally, high time for video showtime! Edited November 26, 201410 yr by Haddock51
November 26, 201410 yr That is still amazing to watch those trains climb the grades, especially given their size. Oh, and I have to admit that this is probably the first time I've seen stockings used so thoroughly in a lego build.
November 26, 201410 yr Author Oh, and I have to admit that this is probably the first time I've seen stockings used so thoroughly in a lego build. The purchase of the net stockings was certainly a new experience for me. I could almost guess what was going on in the mind of the shop clerk next to me when I widened the stockings by hand to check the size of the holes, but I didn't dare to tell her what this was all about (she wouldn't have believed me anyway ...). Just imagine what a scoop for the local newspaper: "SO CALLED AFOL EXPLORING NET STOCKINGS FOR LEGO TRAIN !?" And all this just a couple of days before the yearly Swebrick event in the same city ... Edited November 26, 201410 yr by Haddock51
November 27, 201410 yr I can spend all night watching it. {BrickShelf appears to be down at the moment.)
November 28, 201410 yr Author That is one long train sir! It looks great. Long yes, but I still get questions/comments from some swedish friends why the train is so short (!?!). The original Iron Ore Train back in the eighties used to have 65 wagons. To go "all in" would mean a Lego train with a length of almost 20 m, a weight of approximately 20 kg and a need for some 20-25 9V engines in order to cope with the grades .... In my future 9V Extreme track, space would not be the primary problem. But power supply certainly would be a major challenge - not to mention the budget for such a monster train ... Edited November 30, 201410 yr by Haddock51
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