Hi All,
My Welsh inspired layout has some long tunnels where track cleaning becomes tricky, so I bought a track cleaning vehicle. BUT none of my locos have the pulling power to pull this vehicle up my inclines. Which loco/chassis would you knowledgeable fellows recommend that would have the weight & pulling power for this task, and also handle 9" curves. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Regards, and a happy and healthy Christmas to you all.
Norman Ball
Perhaps an N gauge American diesel chassis, most, if not all of these are driven on eight wheels and the body is packed with weight. An 009 white metal diesel body on top would add more weight - and, I suppose, more adhesion on your gradients.
Peter
Or even two diesels double-headed....
You could just add a lump of blue tack to a loco to give it more weight.
All our locos have as much weight in them as possible, we even add weight in the RTR locos.
We use the Fleischmann track cleaning loco chassis with its revolving disks. I have three of these! they are ok for keeping the track clean at an exhibition, but they are no substitute for a good clean by hand.
Sadly, they are not made any more, but they do come up for sale second hand from time to time, they can suffer from split drive gears so do make sure these are ok before you purchase one.
We always build the layouts will access to every section of track for cleaning. We learnt this lesson the hard way many years ago! It is far better spending the time and effort making a removable section for access than it is trying to clean the track in a tunnel with no access!
Thanks for your input guys, I will look into both options. I bought the layout already built some years ago, supposedly professionally built, but the tunnels are a problem. I have created some access points where possible, but there is one tunnel which is impossible to access, thus the track cleaning vehicle requirement.
Thanks again.
Quote from: normanball@icloud.com on December 08, 2020, 19:36
Thanks for your input guys, I will look into both options. I bought the layout already built some years ago, supposedly professionally built, but the tunnels are a problem. I have created some access points where possible, but there is one tunnel which is impossible to access, thus the track cleaning vehicle requirement.
Thanks again.
Have you given any thought to access via a hole cut in the baseboard giving access from below? A section of fine emery paper on a stick may be usefull as well.
Society Sales have a chunky Bachmann Santa Fe Bo-Bo N scale diesel for sale (in the 'kits and chassis' section) which looks quite meaty... Or you could contact Alan Hamer at spares@009society.com and he may be able to find you a Warship or similar chassis at a knockdown price.
David.
Am I right in thinking you went for the Santa Fe Bo-Bo? It may look a bit out of place in Wales but I hope it does the job for you!
David.