I picked up my kids belated Christmas present (thanks Lionel) Tuesday. Percy the little engine from the Thomas series. Yesterday, I noticed that he didn’t just lift off effortlessly when I picked him up off the tracks. There was some resistance. So I took a pair of pliers and touched the wheels. Magnetized. I tried it again with some keys. Magnetized.
Is our Percy unique or are they all that way. I thought magnatraction worked via electromagnetization. Our Percy’s wheels are megnetic all the time.
The wheels are magnetic. Don’t know about the axles. Strong too. You would be surprised. I’m wondering if that works against the locomotive, i.e. makes it run slower?
Maybe they included this in order to override poor tracking at higher speeds.
0-4-0’s usually seem to fall short when operated at kid speeds. The extra grip might have been the answer.
Magnetraction was always based on use of ALNICO magnets. Some units had magnetized axles, others had magnets mounted to the loco frame. Field will not effect rolling abilities and has a slight improvement in adheasion/traction but it’s main feature is to allow a loco to take curves at speeds that would allow a non magnetratction equipped loco to roll over.
Believe me when I tell you, there was no apparent need to give Percy magnatraction. He tops out at just a little faster than an RMT Beep. He’s a slow goer.