Nottingham 3 1/2 rally.

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Nottingham 3 1/2 rally.

This topic has 18 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 July 2016 at 20:09 by Neil Wyatt.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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4 May 2016 at 15:29 #237501
ruston165
Participant
@ruston165
We are holding a 3 1/2 inch rally at Nottingham on Saturday the 2nd of July, if you would like to attend with a locomotive could you please pm me and i will book you in. The opportunity to run on the sunday is available if you wish to make a weekend of it.

Thanks,

Lee
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4 May 2016 at 15:29 #4498
ruston165
Participant
@ruston165
4 May 2016 at 22:55 #237546
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Hello lee, are electric locos welcome?

Neil
4 May 2016 at 23:18 #237548
ruston165
Participant
@ruston165
Of course Neil, all welcome, would be good to see something other than steam in 3 1/2 running.

Lee
14 May 2016 at 18:03 #238672
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Great, I'll put it in my diary – no promises, but I'll do my best to get along. It's a raised track at the GCR sheds as I remember?

Neil
15 May 2016 at 21:09 #238818
paul rushmer
Participant
@paulrushmer83015
Neil & Lee I hope to see you there, last year I went to Leyland and had a great time for me this is half the distance!

I can not have you with the only diesel I will bring my new toy (bought form the classifieds last year) This is my first posting hate computers the pictures upside down.
27 June 2016 at 23:09 #244393
ruston165
Participant
@ruston165
Event this coming Saturday, everyone welcome

Lee
28 June 2016 at 11:35 #244448
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Lee, the website doesn't give any times – is there any more information you can give?

For anyone wondering this is the venue from the NSMEE site:
28 June 2016 at 11:54 #244454
ruston165
Participant
@ruston165
Hi Neil, it will be from 10am onwards, the site is locates at Great Central Railway North at Ruddington. On site catering. We are also doing a BBQ on the saturday evening for anyone staying later. Everyone welcome, and if bringing a steam loco please bring boiler certs.
1 July 2016 at 19:36 #245013
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
In an unprecedented move, I have invested in a brand new 7Ah battery actually meant for cyclic motor use rather than my old worn-out burglar alarm batteries. I've also checked out the 1:111 gradient and gambled on my high gear ratio

Neil
2 July 2016 at 09:45 #245082
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
NG11 6NX
2 July 2016 at 10:29 #245090
mechman48
Participant
@mechman48
… 'I can not have you with the only diesel I will bring my new toy (bought form the classifieds last year) This is my first posting hate computers the pictures upside down'.

Be honest Paul it's from the Antipodes isn't it

George.
2 July 2016 at 16:13 #245142
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
I've just come back from a great half-day.

Scalextrix fans will be delighted to know Paul's 08 has 'magnadhesion' as the photo shows, but it didn't work on the alloy rails. Paul kindly let me run round the track with his train – it was like being at Alton Towers with tension of worrying about derailing the loco with a full rake of wagons!

My battery decision was a good one – I did three laps or nearly 1 1/3 miles and the battery was still full of life. Although it slowed down a bit on the gradients, my problem was wheels slipping not grinding to a halt, gentle starts worked OK, so it was capable of pulling me up 1 in 110 on 50% power. I would guess that it would happily do a few more laps at least. The headwind was worse than the gradients – when I was stopped on a gradient one gust had me rolling backwards!

My very simple driving trolley worked well, especially the very simple rubber block suspension, but I think a bit of padding is needed on the stirrups as they started to dig into my legs.

I think I will simplify my controls. I discovered that I've fixed it so the back-emf brake can't be put on when you are in 'neutral'. That said the braking works much better now I have a truck with pads that give no danger of fouling the buffers.

Neil
2 July 2016 at 16:19 #245144
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
P.S. they have four(!) bridgeports…
2 July 2016 at 17:55 #245156
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Just measured the off-load voltage of the new battery, it's has some 4-5 hours rest and it is putting out 12.61V which, depending on where you look, suggests it has only given up 10-25% of its capacity.

Someone at the track said a 7 1/4" loco did 6 laps on two of these size batteries without slowing down.

Neil
2 July 2016 at 18:58 #245166
MichaelR
Participant
@michaelr
7 July 2016 at 18:28 #245734
paul rushmer
Participant
@paulrushmer83015
If you are interested the Nottingham club have a large collection of photos of this rally on their facebook page. If you are not on facebook like me you can access it via their web site also a link to a youtube video including Neil driving my train.

Paul
7 July 2016 at 20:02 #245747
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Thanks Paul, I'll take a look. Video of my choo-choo here!

Neil
7 July 2016 at 20:09 #245748
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
And the Nottingham video with Paul's waggons:
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