Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Ugly loco - first run

 

Time to give the loco a blast on the club track. As you can see, it runs well, but slowly. The 90-yard circuit took almost exactly 5 minutes. 

Looking underneath, a little tweaking is required. 

The gear mesh isn't perfect, the one on the axle having moved slightly. Recentring it quietened the model down, and it kept running. A bit of glue to stop it sliding around should solve this. 


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phil I would say the speed is not slow, but realistic any faster would be in the triang Nelly toy speed range.
Graham

James Finister said...

If anything I think it is still a little fast

Phil Parker said...

Let's see how a line of skips slows it down.

Paul B. said...

I'd agree regarding speed. When I built Saltford locos one way of controlling the speed was to build a battery box from plasticard and wire the batteries through a DPDT switch(?) so the batteries could either be used in series or parallel. On that kit swapping the battery box for a single AAA one would work but only give one very slow speed. Which would suit me just fine!

Steve said...

Hi Phil, How do you move the gear on the axle? They are so tight I find it difficult to move them to adjust them. Using a big hammer doesn't seem a good idea :-)

Phil Parker said...

Steve. Mine wasn't that tight, I was able to move it with finger pressure.

Phil Parker said...

I have a Saltford Simplex wired this way! It works fine, but to you need a different battery box - 2 single cells in this case, and I'm not sure there is space.

Paul B. said...

On both my Modern Simplex and Koppel the battery box was made from plasticard with brass strip for contacts.

Phil Parker said...

My Simplex one was, but after many years, it became brittle. I replaced it with a modifed moulded one. It sort of works.

Paul B. said...

I haven't run either for nearly two decades, ever since I moved up north. They're in a Bedfordshire attic right now.

Steve said...

Thanks Phil. I will try again... and maybe buy some finger strengtheners πŸ˜€

Steve said...

Thanks Phil. Fingers to move the gears worked. I just needed to apply more pressure. (Along with a bit more courage :-) ). I now have 4WD fitted too. Thanks for the advice.