Wickham Trolley

[nigelcliffe]

( Will this help Ted with his High Level battery loco ? ).

The late Chris McCarthy had an interest in odd departmental locos, and had put together a type 27 Wickham Trolley from an N-Brass etch. He'd got a motor/gearbox underneath it, and was experimenting with DCC control when he became unwell last year. On his last trip to a East of Scotland group meeting last winter, he asked me if I'd try to finish it...

I looked at what there was, and its small, really small. It wasn't going to work as setup, no way to control the 3v motor with the decoder (the heat from the extreme chopping of the PWM at >12v would see off a motor) and achieving good reliable pickup was really difficult. I tried the same motor on a Deltang receiver, and control only-so-so (which I'd expected, I'd used the same motor in a 2mm scale bus, and pushing a 4mm metal model was much heavier). I rummaged around for alternatives... Sol-Expert (German suppliers of parts for 1:87 radio controlled lorries) have a nice 95:1 motor gearbox, and I've a few Deltang receivers and Lipo cells around.

The rear axle had to go, it took up too much space, and in its place, two stub axles. Which meant those wheels run on 1mm I/D, 3mm O/D ballraces (I had a few in a bag). The Lipo cell goes in the roof, visible, but only just. And there's a few bits of bracket to hold it all together.

It got some green paint today as a base colour.

Yes, it does run, including through turnouts, quite well all things considered.

- Nigel

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Final shot underneath, with battery disconnected, which is also where charger is connected to battery.

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[Tim V]

Snap!

Here is my version from the same kit, but using a Simplex motorising kit. Picture dated 2009!

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[John Palmer]

For comparison, here is my Wickham trolley from a Nucast kit in white metal:

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This shot was taken in January 2004 at the S&D Trust's exhibition at Edington. I couldn't find a motor anywhere near small enough to disappear beneath the trolley floor, so perforce used a Tenshodo motor projecting into the seating space and camouflaged by a simulated tarp. The vehicle was constructed around a PCB floor gapped electrically to facilitate split axle pickup. I turned steel wheels on my Unimat and arranged a crude form of springing on the undriven axle in the hope that all four wheels would maintain sufficient contact with the track for adequate current collection. By and large they did, but the trolley has proved prone to excessive yaw due to the wheelbase being shorter than the track gauge. The white metal in the Nucast kit helped provide ballast, at the expense of an armour plate appearance, but the trolley could do with more weight by substitution of lead for the Plasticene lodged within the roof arc.

The etched brass version is a great improvement in appearance, but at the time it was made my motorised version of the Nucast kit must have been fairly uncommon, and at exhibitions made an entertaining distraction whilst we untangled the chaos of a mismanaged fiddle yard.

[Enigma]

Wow, and I thought my Ruston 48DS was small! Tim, does your Wickham drive by friction from the motor shaft onto a rubber pulley and then by belts to the axles from a layshaft? Interesting idea.

[Tim V]

Wow, and I thought my Ruston 48DS was small! Tim, does your Wickham drive by friction from the motor shaft onto a rubber pulley and then by belts to the axles from a layshaft? Interesting idea.

Pretty much it. I started with one of these http://www.nigellawton009.com/20HP_WD_Simplex.html and converted it to P4.

[nberrington]

Wow, and I thought my Ruston 48DS was small! Tim, does your Wickham drive by friction from the motor shaft onto a rubber pulley and then by belts to the axles from a layshaft? Interesting idea.

Pretty much it. I started with one of these http://www.nigellawton009.com/20HP_WD_Simplex.html and converted it to P4.

Tim - do you have a blow-by-blow account of how you did that? Is it just a matter of changing the axles? I’d be interested in the details of your conversion …

[Tim V]

I thought I covered it on my workbench thread, but I can't find it there. I think it was on my workbench thread on the old RMweb - so it's lost.

[zebedeesknees]

( Will this help Ted with his High Level battery loco ? ).

I am always willing to study other ideas Nigel, but in this case there is, relatively, a lot of space in the H/L BEL. Room in the battery space for batteries! That unit is the property of JackBlack btw. My problem with that and the High Level Pug chassis in the Works is how to arrange the springing. How hard can it be? I thought to myself.. Now I keep hearing JFK's early 60's speech about going to the moon...

I had noticed that the space under the roof of the Husky was ideal to house an Rx45, leaving space for the battery behind the cab.

Back to the subject, below is a photo of the Bachmann version which I acquired this week from the estate of my near neighbour, the late Alan Lancaster who detailed and populated it. It is still in 'OO', next to my 40hp Simplex for comparison of size. The Simplex is sprung, battery powered and radio controlled, as demoed at S4um last. It was finished and painted by JackBlack.

Wickham and Simplex 40hp.jpg

I haven't dismantled the Wickham yet, but found a view of the missing Bachmann parts list on Sam's Trains. For those who haven't studied it, the trolley itself is not driven, only the lead axle of the trailer drives, with rubber tyres on the wheels. Impressively smooth and quiet, it runs by my estimate at around 60smph on 9 volts. There are pickups on all 8 wheels, but even then susceptible to the smallest amount of dirt on the rails or wheel treads.

P.S. Alan left a large cellar layout in 'OO' set in the North East in the 1950's with many locos and hundreds of wagons and other rolling stock, mostly detailed as the Wickham. Anyone with an interest should PM me. All proceeds to his Widow.

Ted.