Thanks for the head's up.

If I may ask and I know there is no exact answer because there are so many variables, but I'll ask anyway.

What is in your favorite RPM @ 12V ?

Maybe if you could put it into engine categories with an average for each?

Like small, medium, large steam and then geared ?

Also it would be nice to know what kind of scale speeds a certain RPM will get ya?

I know that is a big question, but if you could, it sure would help out when looking and buying these motors.

Thanks for any information you provide.

T.C.

TC

My favorite motors of all time are no longer manufactured which is a reoccurring problem that we encounter. Most of the motors are surplus and once they are sold they are no more. In selecting a motor I obviously first look for a size that will fit. We select the largest motor that will fit within the confines of the locomotive. In our “Remotoring a Fujiyama Northern Pacific T-1 Class 2-6-2” project we show how we check for motor fit when selecting a motor.

Secondly I look for motors that have the slowest top speed at 12 volts. Again that will depend on the size. I like to keep the top RPM under 10,000 with my favorite all time 15mm x 20mm x 32mm motor having a top RPM of 8,900. We showed an installation of that motor in out remotoring of a “PFM/United Heisler” and used the same motor in various other remotoring projects shown on our CWRailman “Projects” page. A somewhat smaller motor that we have had great success with it the Nichibo PC130SF series motor which is 15mm x 20mm x 25mm and has a top RPM of approximately 6,000rpm. You will see that motor used in several of our remotoring projects. Usually, but not always, the motors with the slowest top speed will also have the slowest start up speed which is desirable to start the model off slowly and for switching purposes.

However, sometimes such as in our “Remotoring a Westside Ali-San Two Truck Shay” project, the available space dictated that were compelled to use a 12mm x 15mm x 28mm 12,000RPM flat can motor. We had no other choice except to start cutting brass away to fit a larger motor and we tend not to do that.

You might check out our Remotoring of a Mantua General as that demonstrates how the size and operating characteristics of a motor will impact how the model ultimately operates.

Go to our WEB site which I have noted below and go to the Projects page to see all the projects I have mentioned here. In many of the projects you can click on either the last image in the project or a supplied link and it will either download or take you to a brief video, depending on the browser you are using, and show you the model in operation.

Most of the motors I have noted were procured from Ebay sellers however you can find similar motors being sold by Jameco Electronics.

If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact me.

Dennyid="size4">

Janitor in Training

CW Loco and Car Rebuild Shops

WEB site: http://www.cwrailman.com/

Facebook: CWRailman

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Thank you for the reply Denny:

I have been to your web site numerous times reading and rereading your projects and I find them very informative.

I have found motors very similar to what you use in your projects like the Nichibo PC130SF series motor only the one's I found are 4800 and 7200 rpm witch aren't exact but should work.

My concern is the engines now run so slow ? I replaced the Pittman type motor in a Mantua 4-6-0 with the Mabuchi # FK-130SH 7200 rpm using stock Mantua gears and it's like slow motion compared to the Pittman?

It runs smooth, goes really slow and is very quiet, it just seems slow ?

Maybe it's just me, I should try to find out what the scale speed is before I go crazy trying to fix something that isn't broken ?

T.C.

FYI

I did check the scale mph of my engine and what mph a real engine of this type would be and the numbers match up, around 50 mph for both.

So your in the ballpark, I was amazed the older engines only ran in the 40-50-60 mph for the most part, with yard and geared engines only going around 15-25 mph, wow turn you hat backwards !

Thanks

T.C.

TC

Good to hear that you found something of interest on our WEB site. Yes the locomotives had a top speed roughly equal to the diameter of their drivers. So a locomotive with 60” drivers would have a top speed of 60. Many logging locomotives had 44" drivers which provided a top speed of 40-45mph. However, remember that was the very TOP speed and most locomotives did not operate at that speed and if they did it was for brief periods of time. Due to roadbed conditions most short line locomotives seldom exceeded 35mph. (The Durango and Silverton narrow gauge locomotives run at approximately 25-28mph.) Another issue to consider is that unless you are modeling an unusually short railroad there is no way you can represent, even in scale, the miles they had. By running your locomotives at slower speeds it stretches the time it takes to get from station to station or terminal to terminal and seems to increase the length of your model railroad. I never worry about the top speed of a locomotive but do focus on the slow speed for switching maneuvers as well as slowing such as when going through a turnout during transitioning from one track to another. When I was a member of a club my prototypical scale speeds really pi…d the guys who wanted to turn their trains loose and let them run at high speeds.

Dennyid="size4">

Janitor in Training

CW Loco and Car Rebuild Shops

WEB site: http://www.cwrailman.com/

Facebook: CWRailman

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