Abusing Our Test Loco on the Shady Pines Railroad

Рет қаралды 6,950

Күн бұрын

Mill Brook 71 has been on loan to the Shady Pines Railroad for much of the summer. It has been a very intentional torture test, to see what fails and what doesn't. Call it research and development.
I was experimenting with different ways to hold sprockets on shafts. Loctite 680 retaining compound works exceptionally well everywhere except for the motor, which gets hot enough to release the Loctite. Not something you want to have happen on a 4% grade, much less the 10% ruling grade at the Shady Pines.
This video starts with hammering a new sprocket on the motor. Yes, I know you're not supposed to do that. This is my own loco and not for a customer. The sprocket was supposed to be a slip fit, but when it came in, it turned out to be an interference fit. After tightening the set screws, we put it through the paces, trying to get it to fail.
So, let's take a ride around the Shady Pines Railroad.

Пікірлер: 62

@locohauledforum 10 ай бұрын

That's not a railroad, that's a rollercoaster!! lol

@brutus1102 10 ай бұрын

WOW!! Coming over the highpoint of that switchback was like, "Hang on, Here we go". LOL

@s16100 10 ай бұрын

That is one heck of a hill.........I am amazed you have a camera lens left after all those tree smacks! LOL He needs some warning close clearance signs on that line! :)

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

You just have to take it for granted that you have to pull your knees in from time to time.

@poowg2657 10 ай бұрын

Ideally the motor shaft and sprocket would be slotted with one set screw to hold a key in place and a second to secure to the shaft. That is quite the mountain railroad, a miniature version of Cass Scenic. Great video, thanks much!

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

The shaft does have flats on it. That's what the set screws are tightened on to. The railroad is a good place to find the weak points on a locomotive.

@poowg2657 10 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad It's never good practice to use the set screw as a drive component. A key or driven pin is usually used to transmit the force and a set screw is used to keep the key or pin in place. An alternative would be a splined shaft and sprocket with the motor shaft end drilled and tapped for a keeper bolt but then you're talking some big bucks. I learned long ago to become friends with people that have lathes, mills and key broaches. Fortunately, now I own that equipment.

@bradfordthompson8326 10 ай бұрын

Could you machine a woruff key and machine a keyway on the motor shaft and a square key way on the sprocket and use a setscrew...Bill has that beautiful CNC MILLING MACHINE 😊😅😂❤....ENJOY...OR A VISE BROCH GRIZZLY TOOLS HAS ALL THIS GOOD STUFF😢🎉😂❤

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

My philosophy on the drive sprocket: It is the equivalent of a 50-ton industrial switcher. The rest of the drive train can only handle 3000 pounds on the drawbar before components start to fail, so I'm trying to make the main drive sprocket the weakest point, but not have it fail during normal operations (pulling loads up to 2600-lbs. The traction motor sprocket is the cheapest and easiest thing to replace. My thought is that if I choose where the fail point is, I can make it easier to repair at night in the middle of the winter.

@jacobbutler4812 10 ай бұрын

You inspired me to start posting my own railroad on Tiktok!

@chrisrotmanthatguyfromtikt1033 10 ай бұрын

What’s your name in TikTok?

@jakobrebeki 10 ай бұрын

I think that loco will look great once you put all the transfers on it and put it into livery. Good job, well done....

@danielfantino1714 10 ай бұрын

That´s really mountain railroad. In that hot and muggy summer day, high altitude fresh and breezy air was sooo good that conductor sitting on caboose cupola with its head out fall asleep. Woke up was pretty harsh after head tree´s hitting twice. He´ll recover 😂😂 Can´t resist to that so super real fastly made logging line bridge. Your friend worked a lot, adding so much mileage in just a few months. That was a really good one you did Aaron !

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

He built it in two weeks.

@danielfantino1714 10 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad oh oh you have a serious competitor ...

@mischef18 10 ай бұрын

Another good video bro. Safe travels. Ken.

@ohgary 10 ай бұрын

Much better ratio of run by to POV. Keep up the good work.

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

I do like to mix it up. Sometimes, I have the time to get enough footage for a nice mix like this. Other times, not so much.

@donlatimer5114 10 ай бұрын

Here’s something I learned about setting set screws , screw the screws down tight , then back off a quarter turn then retighten them , this seems to hold A lot better ..

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

I'll keep that in mind

@marktaylor9975 10 ай бұрын

That video had me checking for facial injury’s. And a derailment, I was jonesing… Jk Although a trust in that coupler….. Going down hill back first is quite trusting. Could go to exciting quite quick.

@kenshores9900 10 ай бұрын

Liked the effect of nearly running into the trees. You have the same response as actually being there. That seems to be a small drive motor.

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

It's a little running gag I have going through many of my videos, to have the camera fall or get hit by something. Sometimes, It's a genuine fall. sometimes, it's just for the sake of humour. The drive motor is perfectly suited for the size locomotive it is in. It is a 24V 500W motor inside the equivalent of a 50 ton industrial switcher.

@kenshores9900 10 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Understand and appreciate your somewhat twisted sense of humor!

@BenjaminEsposti 6 ай бұрын

8:50 Great shot, LOL. "Weee... BANG!... huh?!?!"

@backwoodssolutionsllc9823 10 ай бұрын

Aaron is this the one you had a scary ride on? Man that’s a big hill there! Glad to see you fixed her up and rolling along! Stay safe in the RR!❤ video as always

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

This is the railroad I've had two runaways on this summer.

@peterhanson9806 10 ай бұрын

Just a suggestion you may want to run some flat spots of the shaft of the motor that way your sets crew has something to sit in I'm going to make an addendum to this post you may want their if you have a Mill or grind a flat spot just remember to polish the shaft with some fine grit sandpaper to take all the burring off

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

There are flat spots on the motor shaft from the factory.

@joannemills4638 10 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

Thank you, Joanne!

@Spanderson99 10 ай бұрын

The grades on this line have me wondering what you use for brakes! Does the motor have enough resistance to stop on its own, or is some other method used? If something gets away on this railroad, I’d give it 2 curves before it sails off down the mountain! With so many flat railroads out there, it’s neat to see someone push the limits of this scale a bit. Makes me wonder if anyone has tried building a cog railway in their backyard.

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

There are only regenerative brakes on my equipment. The Shady Pines own equipment is equipped with air brakes. There is a 7-1/4" gauge rack railway in England. ... but there are actually very few flat railways. The Mill Brook Railroad, for example, (a mere three miles from the Shady Pines) has a 3.5% ruling grade. The Brick Mountain Railroad has an 8% grade. The Shady Pines is probably the steepest at 10%.

@zenontrainstrucks9433 10 ай бұрын

Cool!

@trainjunky247 9 ай бұрын

may , need a helper locomotive on that railroad !... thats a pretty nice layout. its a bit like cass scenic lol

@keymaker1929 10 ай бұрын

Sharp curves and steep grades. That’s a real logging camp RR lol

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

The paradox is that he's right in the village.

@idemanddonuts 10 ай бұрын

Petition for name change to Tarzan

@bradfordthompson8326 10 ай бұрын

Very Surprised that a motor didn't have keyways already machined in the motor Shaft and sprocket 😅😮😢🎉😂❤❤❤.....very impressive RAILWAYS 😮😢🎉😂❤ Did Millbrook Shops use a electric golf cart motors??....Be cool to Solar charger to supplement the batteries longer......For late night Pellet unit Trains.....And Since Millbrook is Explainingtrack miles and helper service

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

There are flats on the motor shaft and two set screws on the main sprocket. The batteries are deep cycle marine batteries. ... and I am building a solar array to charge the batteries. I have a dozen 79W 12V panels.

@Cerebral404 10 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad Are they of a size that would lend to being made into rail cars? I think it would be pretty neat to have a consist that would be able to recharge the locomotive, but I imagine there isn't much one or two panels would do if they were just strapped to a car. It would be awesome to see something like a Transformer boxcar that could contain a small array of panels that opened up so you could park in a sunny spot and charge while away from home.

@JaredDunbar 10 ай бұрын

It sounds like the sprocket is making a periodic noise, similar to when my sprocket was not on the axle concentrically. Is there an issue with the sprocket alignment doing that?

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

I'll have to look into it.

@SurvivingTheApocalypse 10 ай бұрын

How far away is Shady Pines from Mill Brook?

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

About three miles.

@solarusthelonghaulerrailfa3226 10 ай бұрын

Ever thought about drilling a hole all the way through the axle and running a extra long screw through it

@MillBrookRailroad 10 ай бұрын

That would compromise the strength of the axle. The sprockets are held to the axles with loctite retaining compound and are holding up quite well. The motor is the only place I use set screws due to the heat when working hard.

@solarusthelonghaulerrailfa3226 10 ай бұрын

@@MillBrookRailroad👍

@beroth1 10 ай бұрын

how much battery life do you get out of it on a full charge? have you tested it until it starts to die? I know that probably would kill the batteries and I think you have 2 running in series.

@MillBrookRailroad 9 ай бұрын

It all depends how hard the locomotive works. If it is a fairly flat railroad and a fairly light load, then the batteries will last 8 to 10 hours. No matter what, they usually outlast me. I can't run for that long without a break.