i thought it would be pretty nice to have a railroad that wasn’t dependent on getting power from the rails. it would work something like this:
rechargeable batteries located in boxcars or baggage cars that would be hardwired to either a r/c reciever or ?? (had an idea of using a cordless phone reciever and the operator would ‘dial in’ ) located in yet another boxcar or RPO. then finally hardwired to the locomotive.
no more track worries! heck, you could make your rails out of painted wood if you liked.
There has been quite a bit of discussion in this forum about battery power, so look around in the past messages. I use only battery power and wireless DCC control, so when I go shopping for a locomotive I try to find one with a large enough tender to hold the batteries instead of having the batteries in a box car. Rechargeable Gel-Cell or Ni-Cad batteries will power a locomotive if you can get between 12-16 volts. I have seen some wireless control systems that can operate on up to 20 volts, but you’re increasing the amount of batteries that you must use in order to get the higher voltage.
Battery power, there is so many ways and different ways meets different needs. I use 4 types based on needs. Love it. Even if you only have one unit just for those bad days.
Speaking of wood, I decided to use the $150 of track that made up my storage area and ,replaced it with wood strips. Thats right. Why waste the rail?
Seeing is believing, and yes I AM cheap!!!
OH , If you look at the double stack car you can see the red/black wire coming from the Aristo TE with a DeWalt 18 volt battery inside the car going to the loco.[;)]
marty, the wood rails don’t look all that bad, maybe some paint? ok, thought i had some pretty original thoughts, but as usual in model railroading, its been done. just think what we’ll have in 20 years from now.
All of my 'lectric loco’s are battery/R/C controlled.
Bachmann Shay, 2-6-0 and 0-4-0 Porter use the RCS system made here in Australia and you’d be suprised how much easier life is with all loco’s fully independently controlled.
Hope this little helps.
All the best to you and your’s for the New YEar.
