"TRAIN-ing" new Engineers!

Kids enjoy running my radio-controlled live-steam Shay at the Old Colony & Fall River RR Museum's annual train show; my Ruby 2-4-2 tries to set "speed records"! ;)

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• model
• railroads
• trains

[durangoandsilverton]

nice, how did you get it rc, did you put in the motor and it just is welded, tied, to the reversor?

[WA1LBK]

I removed the manual reverse lever in the Shay, made a small aluminum bracket, & installed an RC miniservo in it's place; the servo arm directly controls the reverse valve, controlling both speed & direction. The RC receiver is mounted just below the cab roof. I waterproofed the rechargeable battery pack & installed it in the tender tank, sitting right in the water! ;)

[durangoandsilverton]

thats a lot of work, i would just put a water proff battery but have a electric motor attaced to the reversor and a other motor for the throttle.

[WA1LBK]

An RC servo IS an electric motor. The Shays run slowly enough that separate throttle control isn't needed; by varying HOW MUCH the reversing valve is opened, it also serves as a throttle.

[Weiberts]

How did you run a live steamer indoors? It's like having a campfire!

[WA1LBK]

These are butane-fired live steamers (refueling is done with the fire extinguished), so not much different from a butane-heated hot plate. (Fire is totally inside the boiler). Only visible flame is when they are first lit (via a butane wand or regular match) with the smokebox door opened (which is closed for running). Wouldn't recommend doing it in a small room, but a large hall like this is OK.

[durangoandsilverton]

sorry, im not good at elertecioncs, i usally get it wrong and shock myself

[SkipW]

I sure hope you do a demo of the Ruby RC upgrade, it could be usefull out here!

[WA1LBK]

Picked this one up on eBay; it's a slightly more "deluxe" version with a "Russian-iron" boiler, 2-4-2 wheel arrangement, pressure gauge, & 4-wheel tender. Just recently converted it to RC (an ABSOLUTE necessity for running it on my home railroad due to the grades; it's wrecked spectacularly a couple of times running away downgrade without it!). ;)

[WA1LBK]

Well, if you want to know what I look like, I'm visible just before the end of the video (@ 5:48), down on 1 knee beside the track, in case I had to throttle "Ruby" down! Due to my bad knee (still very sensitive to pressure!) I wear shorts pretty much year-round, just pull a soft pair of sweatpants over them when it's cold outside.