"real" Diesel-electric In Model Engineer

[JimG]

Going back to diesel electrics , the next issue of Model Engineer - No. 4440 - has just dropped through my letterbox and, as I thought, this was not going to be a lengthy, blow-by-blow account of the loco's construction since the second part of the series is the last. This part deals in a small way with the construction of the body, but most of the part is dealing with all the adjustments and alterations which had to be made to0 get the loco running in the required manner.

There's a video of the unpainted loco running with six coaches on the Birmingham SME web site

It certainly looks very controllable and the engine sound is not too off-putting. The horn sound comes from an MP3 player through a 4W amplifier and speaker.

Jim.

 

[JimG]

Just love the winking headlight - reminded me of a car indicator and turning right!

It looks as though they might be tied into the traction current. Maybe the builder uses them to give some kind of visual feedback - like me depending on the headlights on my N scale DCC diesels to know which way they are going to move.


Jim

 

[Peter]

"real" Diesel-electric In Model Engineer
I have been reading the discussion regarding the latest "real" Diesel-electric. Unless I am mistaken and from what I have seen, it appears to be similar to others that have been built in recent times. That is, it is a battery powered model where the battery pack has been replaced by a generator pack. The controls only control the electric traction motors while the generator pack supplies the necessary electric power. This was the way things were in the days of the gas electric railcars of the USA. Patent 1,589,182 by Herman Kemp changed that so only the main motor was controlled by the driver.
The only gauge 1 model I know that replicates, to a high degree, the diesel electric locomotive is that built by Robert Symes-Schutzmann, Stewart Hine and Ulli Holtmann.
In discussions I had with the then editor of the G1MRA newsletter, Art Walker (I think!!), there were plans to have published in the newsletter the two articles covering the Hymek diesel hydraulic and the Type 4 diesel electric built by these three gentlemen. Art’s untimely death killed the project but after persistent nudging by me, Dick Comber contacted Ulli Holtman about the locomotive. Ulli prepared the information with other models for printing as a book. I was given a CD copy by Ulli and still have the source material that I had supplied to Art.
The articles for the Hymek were in Model Railway News October 1965, November 1965, December 1965 and January 1966. The articles for the Type 4 were in Model Railways June 1974, July 1974 and August 1974.
The Type 4 shown with the loose body is the one mentioned above.
The control of the main motor of this locomotive can be seen in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXL7ADuMLfk&feature=related
Peter