"That's one of the most realistic things I've ever seen!" Nobody tell him about real trains

Now the engines have a reason to finally get a brakevan for once lol, nice adjustment Sam! Sir Topham Hatt will be pleased!

First off, let me just say fantastic. This is brilliant. I would make 2 changes, subtle changes. I would go to the horizontal position on the solenoid and have levers that act on BOTH axles. I would also get rid of the paddles and just go for a drum design. You dont want the wheels to get flat spots from dragging on the track. The drum, while it may yet lock up the wheels, they wont lock up in the same position each time. If you just make a drum that goes on the axle that the solenoid then contacts the outside radius, it should work just fine.

Apparently Google knows I still love trains, despite not participating in the hobby for almost a decade! This was absolutely WONDEROUS to watch! Hell, I might would even toss 20 USD at you for a version your completely happy with. I agree that it's 'realistic'. After all, who in there right mind would expect a brake van to stop a runaway train on a downward mountain grade!? -Sincerely, a new subscriber!

For more braking power, put some more weight in it. If you put a bridge rectifier between the pickups and the solenoid, it will work whichever way round the DC voltage is (forward or reverse). A capacitor after the bridge rectifier will smooth out some of the PWM to the solenoid.

All it's missing is a TOAD face, then imagine how popular it would be then. Just make sure you put the face on the right end....UNLIKE MATTEL WHO MADE TOAD BACK THE FRONT

Hopefully this breakvan doesn't need an exciting adventure that involves going forwards.

Don’t you need an accessory decoder, rather than a loco decoder, so it’s not trying to detect a motor? To use it analogue as it is now, you could build a marshalling yard on a gradient. Maybe incorporating the Hornby tipper and/or coal drop, so you can unload one truck at a time.

At this point u could create a company that makes detailed model trains

Nice idea. I would use a servo though. A solenoid, as you also mentioned, will not take constant power well.

What a great idea! Fantastic to see it working, it remind me of the Triang gimmickry of things like the Giraffe Car and the TPO and log wagons, something that's fun, pointlessly functional and endlessly entertaining as you get to play the guard applying their brakes.

You know what I just realized. You could also use this chassis as a brake for a gravity railway. You could have a layout that has an incline, then bring some trucks (some box vans would probably be a better idea considering this design) down the hill using gravity until you start putting on the brakes to stop and/or slow down the trucks. Once you get to the bottom, you could then just have a loco pull the trucks back up.

this might just be the coolest thing i've seen from your 3D printing endeavours, excellent stuff!!!

I love this idea! Try putting some weights inside the brake van to give it more stopping ability maybe? Also, would a small point motor with a shaft work to apply and release the brakes with more control? I do love your experiment videos!

This is fascinating ! I worked on the rail for nearly fifty years . A couple of things that might be of interest to you . On the underside of the body of the brake van was very large and thick concrete blocks . It was made up in two parts and was about a foot to 18 inches thick . I'm not sure if this is correct , but the weight was 2 or 4 tons ,sorry I can't remember which. When we were running steam and yes I was on the railway when diesel came in to use. The brake system worked with vacuum . But when diesel came in it changed to air . The vacuum brake was incredibly sensitive . But drivers used to complain how harsh the airbrake was. when applied , the vacuum brake started at the rear of the train and worked its way forward .Which gave us an advantage, it kept the whole train under tension. But with air brake at first it was from the engine . Which could have caused a derailment with the wagons pushing forward This was quickly changed to it came on the full length of the train at the same time. I had to deal with a death of a guard . He must have gone out onto the veranda part of the van . This was in the middle of the night and leaning on the door . But the bar that went across the top of it was not in place so he fell .

Amazing concept Sam, and I could see this being of great use on layouts, for instance allowing for simulated breakaways, gravity-shunting, etc. Might I suggest adding weights to the van (and possibly the trucks) - this would make the consist more likely to roll on a gentler gradient and give the van a greater degree of adhesive weight/braking force.

I think it would be neat to revisit this concept but using a similar method of braking as dynamic braking on American locomotives (or regenerative brakes on electric cars) use: The electric motors are turned into generators and the current is put thriugh a massive resistor grid, which turns the energy into heat and creates a braking force inside the motors. Not exactly sure how it'd work at a small scale, but it would be interesting to explore the idea!

Next episode: How to 3d print hydraulic disc brakes for your model trains

This was one of the most fun videos I think you've made Sam. Great idea taken to completion, and what a great result! So fun watching, probably 10x more fun running it! I really hope you keep playing around with the concept and please show us any improvements!!!

Fantastic Sam, now fit a bridge rectifier and it will work no matter the polarity of the track. Also if you add a voltage controller you can bias the the operating range to better match a loco

This should be put on sale!😳 that’s amazing how it brakes realistically!

At 23:15 you were definitely Not the only one having fun, I assure you! Great job!

You could use the same idea and do a slip coach

That was brilliant, how about a 3d printed loco powered by a rechargeable battery, no worries about dead electrical areas and with a control system super smooth crawl speeds! Great video as ever.

Well done,and your thinking cap is working overtime! I had a reprint of a LSW working timetable[1909[,back then,a hand braked train(frt),was limited by brakevan weight,and gradients! Nominally,there was a load limit of 20 axles,per train! And coal loads were 1&1/2, of regular wagons! Interesting reading and that way you can be protypical,and historical too!! The LNWR also pulled that with passenger carriages,a part of FYI!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT 👍!

This was great to watch and it’s a great design! But can it beat an engine?

I remember I did something like this years ago by using a small string wrapped around the axils and glued on on end to the frame and wrapped twice around the axils and the other ends attached to the shaft of a small motor so that when it rotates it tightens the string and applies friction to the axil it wasn't strong enough to lock the wheels (unless the motor was over volted) but it could realistically stop a rake of wagons going down an incline.

good job, I remember you said you were going to do something like this some time ago I'm glad you finally did it

I saw you drawing with your left hand, Im a southpaw too! Love the brake van, it never occured to me to have model brake vans with... well, brakes. Lol

Woah!!! Great video. This is just amazing. I love these experiments.

Now THAT was really interesting. And I loved your comments about the lack of purpose except enjoyment. Well done. Simon T

Great Video Sam , More of these type of videos would be great Can you please post a link to the solenoid for me it looks ideal for a project i am doing . Thanks Dave

That's a great idea. I've had an incident when on a steep grade on a curve had a section of passenger cars come uncoupled, which came speeding back down the hill and crashed into my general store scattering unglued pieces such as trees, barrels, people, etc. when they derailed at the bottom on the turn going into town. I fixed the issue with some Bachmans have a plastic tender hook that slides up under the cab of the engine. at top of the hill where it levels out the tender becomes detached. I used a piece of heat shrink tubing that fits snug under the cab. and cut it to fill the gap.

I'll say it again. I'm really happy you started 3d printing. Your creativity is really shining now.

Nice project. Good approach for proof of concept. Start simple, make it reliable, then make improvements.

Well Sam.. I think you might have just added the next level of realism to this wonderful hobby! I have all kinds of uses for this braking system!! Please keep up with your inventing I'm excited and I want to use this on my trains!!!!

That mechanism would be great for an incline railway model. Breaks being applied before a runaway near-miss onto the mainline, that would work terrifically !

Hi Sam, I've been watching your videos for some time now... and I have to say that your enthusiasm and ability is very impressive. This has to be one of your greatest achievements so far. Really looking forward to see if you get it going with DCC, Maybe a manufacturer of these chips might be persuaded to make a custom one for you, as they would get some publicity?

Hey Sam! Since you can now make rolling stop that can brake on its own, maybe you could try making a working slip coach…

Yes, the mobile (motor) decoder needs to see a load where the motor is; try a 10 to 100 ohm resistor, or get a lighting-only (stationary) decoder. If you put a decoder equipped loco on the tracks, then enter the decoder address on the handset (or base station), you’ll often see a brief surge (hiccup) from the loco as the decoder checks to see if a motor is connected. It’s actually applying a brief pulse of current to the motor. The resistor will trick it into thinking it has a motor.

Nice experiment, Sam ! Tip 1 : make your beakvan heavier, especially on the breaking axle. Tip 2 : if your decoder is designed to fit on an engine, i.e. if it's not just a function decoder, the motor output needs to have a motor connected to work properly. Suggestion : take a (cheaper) function decoder with no motor output, or put a resistor on the motor output of the decoder you're using here to simulate a motor. I guess 1 ohm should be enough but you'll find the right value by testing. Cheers from France, keep the good spirit up !

My best accidental click on KZfaq! :) I wasn't expecting a model railway video to be fun and interesting; haven't thought about the hobby properly for too long. There was one time when I thought about buying N-gauge so I could make a complicated layout in the little space I have, but I forgot about it again because I have too many other things I want to do. Nice use of attic space, by the way. I love the painted beams. :D

What a fantastic project Sam! You are genius 👏!

Love it!!!!! Great fun! Perhaps a more effective way of utilising your idea may be to use the solenoid to push a fibre tip pen head (the sort of thing you use to clean electrical contacts) directly to both axles? One solenoid and a pivot bar pushing two bars, one to the front and one to the rear axle. The fibre tip acts as friction compound without wearing or damaging the axels and could possible provide a smooth more progressive stop…. Maybe fun to try it. I’m sure you could make it work.

Hi sam as an idea, would adding traction tires help add more braking strength and grip?

That really was satisfying to see in action!

Love it Sam. Maybe a bigger van with some more weight. If probably braking both axles would help. You could wire the controller to a small relay which controls the connection of the track to the selenoids. So the controller turns on the relay with turns on the solenoids. The wiring from the track tor relay to solenoids. That would also the controller to handle is current limit while controlling a higher current item. It is just a thought. Also relays can be much lower current than the solenoids.

Another entry in my list of favourite videos from you Sam. This idea was extremely creative and very well executed, bravo! I also really enjoy your enthusiasm for things like this, it leaps out of the video. Never apologise for that and long may it continue. Best

I will admit it's been a while since I did any electronics so I may be remembering it wrong, but one possible idea for using the dcc encoder is to use one of the lower power outputs and have it trigger a transistor. The main power to the solenoid would come from the tracks, through transistor, with the lower powered trigger signal coming from the dcc encoder to tell the transistor to open up and let the power flow to the solenoid. Granted you'd need the appropriate protection for the transistor to stop it being popped by the power from the tracks but it's something to look into.

Good evening Sam!! Sorry it’s been a long time since I last had time to watch You Tube channels!! Now I’m back and watching you!! I’ll keep in touch because you have interesting ideas and trains.

hi sam. a brilliant idea . great for shunting on a slope. especially if you incorporated a magnetic uncoupling system in the layout. a feature which is usable and useful with such layouts. may i suggest you perfect the idea better using better equipment and patent it.. oh and try running it brake van down first with wagons following it down the slop

you could work a slip coach with this and a dcc decoder :) well done!

If you're interested Sam, the gauge II version from 110 years ago lay the solenoid flat and just used a counter spring (like what peco points have) but operated the actual brake shoes. The similar period slip coaches appeared to have used the axle design. A mechanical flywheel was attached to an axle to increase momentum. Like so much from the period things like that been long forgotten, awaiting a revisit by good folks like yourself :)

Good proof of concept! well done

That's so cool!!! I love it you should make some more and have a contest where people can win some.

Absolutely amazing test though that to be fair Well done you. Should try it with the brake van running first also.

I’m surprised nobody thought of doing this before you did. It’s an amazing idea. Brilliant job!

Nice one, Sam! You are no longer learning, you are a full fledged Maker! 😊👍

Another brilliant one Sam. Any time of day, any month, any year. Happy to be back again, and happy first of the month. Isaac

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Sam you always impress me with your ideas, but this, this is incredible! It makes me want to try something like this in future as well! :D

Very intriguing idea! As others have commented, the right DCC decoder for the job would make this more viable and redesign it so that the solenoid is powered in the brake ON mode. Also, add some kind of transient sound generator for some brake squeal.

Sam, I think another go at the brake van idea is in order, with a redesign of the mechanics, some weight, and some traction tires, we could see a very practical brake van (ofc for useless perposes but idc)

A simple design that has great potential. This a fantastic piece of micro model engineering,well done Sam. Now watch a model train producer bring one out!!!!

That would be nice for model railway outside and nice video sam

It’s pretty remarkable that it works at all - well done chum!

Not a bad project there Sam looks like a good break van and quite good that it works.

Reninds me of Mattel TWR toad, which has a brake feature

That was fun! Just one thing Sam. Model Railway's did have a Purpose in the Signal School at Royal Oak where an extensive and fully signaled layout was used for demonstrations. Sadly according to my photo' it was binned as scrap at the end of the steam era.

Brake vans are the most important rolling stock of the railway, to stop the runaway and see the danger on the line.

Great idea and ... it works in a fail safe way, the brakes are on if the solenoid fails!

What an ingenious idea, nice one Sam! This could actually be a really cool way to have gravity trains on a model railway 👍

Now that I think about it, this could actually be useful if you have a railway with steep gradients, and say something goes wrong on a train. Could be redesigned to be better, but still! Amazing work as always Sam!

Really great idea and video Sam!

Amazing little thing. I enjoy those experiments

I remember the old train layout my granda made for me. It had a bridge and my granda tried his best to make its grade low as possible. This brake van would have been extremly useful. When you start adding sweets to the those cars the weight is difficult to control.

Umm have you been spying on me I was literally thinking about if models had working brakes the other day haha 😄

have you considered a friction break? i think you could use the solenoid to pull the rope tight around the axel (so the rope follows a u shape path), you might need to roughen up the axel for a bit of friction but i think it could work, and the solenoid would be horizontal so you would be able to hide it easier. this is such a fun idea though!

Yes Cool, amazing, and fun to see. Thanks.

Awesome job sam glad to see you finally did a 3d printed brake van with quite a bit on engineering into the design I would still like to see a heavily detailed o gauge brake in the future but it's worth the wait 🤣

Loved this from beginning to end!

Very impressive, that stopping effect was verging on prototypical, I can imagne that in 0 gauge that would be very very handy. In real life loose coupled goods trains would stop at the top of steep inclines and screw down the van brakes so that the couplings remained taught durrimg the descent and stop the train surging against the local and maybe causing run aways (see many Thomas stories for details) A stsyem like that in 0 gauge would look and work very well, How about that for a future project?

Would there be a way where you reverse the mechanism so when you apply power to move the loco, the brake releases and when the power is stopped for when the loco stops the brakes are applied. Or applies pressure onto the axle when slowing down rather than completely stopping the wheel from turning.

patent this Sam, thats great innovation, well done.

All you need to do now is add more weight, attach a long train to it, release the brakes, and have "William Tell Overture" play in your head, haha! I'd really like to see if it could stop right before a head-on collision with a stopped engine. Possibilities are endless

Great video sam never thought I would see a working model brake van

great video Sam love your experiment videos fab

A digitrax Kato switch decoder would be the one to use. Kato unitrak turnouts are single silinoids so it is just what you are looking for.

Fascinating idea Maybe instead of the paddles you could use two magnets that are on both side of the axle and pull up a brake pad. That way the brakes are loose when unpowered and the wheels wouldn't immediately stop when the brake us applied. Or you could adapt the current system to make a ratchet brake, that way if the train gets seperated why climbing up a slope, the brakes would stop the train from rolling back. That way you would only need to power the magnet when reversing

I had built a working WAGR (western australian government railways) ZA brake van, that uses a Tamiya RC car servo on a remote with actual brake shoes, but the brake shoes tend to wear out and have to be replaced every 40 uses

Now I want to see you develop this concept even further by building a model of a downhill 'gravity' railway with one car having power brakes, meaning the amount of power you apply to the track is how much braking force is applied (or the other way round) I have seen another model brake van (if you can call it a model) for wooden railway which was Toad from Thomas and Friends' model from 2006, but that was like a handbrake for parking the train. I don't own that wooden toy so I can't really test that on a hill

Ayo that's insanely cool sam! Keep up the good work

You should be working for Hornby designing new locomotives! Think of the products you could make for everyone given your extensive knowledge of what us model train enthusiasts like and dislike in a new release. Seriously!

Very cool! You could do a gravity shunting yard with the wagons fitted like this.

This is actually a Cool concept, I wonder if you could do the same with Break coaches? Like, 1 break-express-coach trying to stop 7 express coaches

Brilliant Sam! Thats really cool.

Thats actually really cool!

Hmmmm. If you used a servo motor and a disk with a slightly offset center rubbing on an axle, the motor could incrementally apply more or less pressure to the axle (or a disk on the axle) as it changes position, just as real brakes do. However, one might need a small programmed microcontroller to manage the pulses to the servo and which receives on/off instructions signals plus power from an accessory decoder. Kind of involved, but it could be done. I wonder if there are accessory decoders that can do servo motor control, as this would be much easier. In any case, I always enjoy watching your projects and hope you will do many more. Cheers from Wisconsin.

You need to make a limited sale of these Sam they are awesome the safety test runs you did proved your talent lol I call it a "5 Tonne 'SAB' brakevan" SAB stands for single axle brake

Original and inspired. Maybe something to use with a hill and shunting yard...? Well done Sam

Thats bloody awesome!!