Battery Locomotives

Hello all,

It may be I am seeking the impossible, but does anyonje know of a Continental manufacturer who sells 45mm locomotives that are battery powered and ideally have remote control? I am not in a position at the moment to spend a great deal of Euros and would consider a "toy train" that could be enhanced. I have trailed the internet to no avail. I know some people have got hold of old LGB Locomotives and converted them, but regret I have very little electrical skills. Ideally, one day, I would like to get a French outline railcar, as used by the "Reseau Breton". I suspect that it would be a job for model engineer, but it may be that someone knows of a French manufacturer? I would be grateful for any advice. I would imagine it has already been done, but could a wagon be converted as motive power and provide power to an old LGB locomotive?
That is probably a lot of questions, but any tips would be good.

Thanks,

Keith

There's Playmobil

I ordered the diesel (small) from Germany, there's some picture in the forum. You could see some on ebay or the german website of Playmobil.

There's some other in England, there was a post about them recently. I am sure there's some more.

Oh...Keith...come into the workshop and pull up a chair.....

Cheap battery powered radio control trains available in France.
As Laurent said PLAYMOBIL.

Yes they're for kids but they have bags of potential for conversion and modification.
Standard 27mhz single channel R/C and equipment can be bought commonly on the internet.
I have about 6 playmobil originated machines.

Here's a couple.


The green diesel was made out of perspex and directly fits over the Playmobil chassis.

Their parts and product availability is constantly changing but here are the links to their French site.
They also have a store south of Paris.

Playmobil France trains
Accessories


I'm sure Mikey will come in here too.

Here's another one that uses a Playmobil receiver and speed controller mated to an IP engineering chassis with a GRS plastic body....!

hi Keith When i started in this fantastic hobby (more like obsession) i was determined to prove to myself that i could do it economically. I've always loved the little tramways of France so thought they would be an ideal subject. This made life a bit easier; shorter trains, less power required. I bought 99o/o of my track on ebay. Didnt want power, and was going to build all my own rolling stock. It didnt work out quite that way (never does, does it?) but at the moment I've got 5 LGB Stainz (1 converted into a sort of Decauville),and 1 scratchbuilt loco on a playmobil chassis. The next thing i did , using two covered wagons and 1 tombereau, was to install batteries (battery from an old rechargeable drill, plus 4 rechargeable AA's wired together; really easy to do)I drilled 2 holes in the ends of the wagons, installed a simple switch (got it from an old torch) and soldered two small nails on the ends of the wires which plug into the light sockets on the stainz's. You are effectively running the power backwards but it makes no difference. I get about twenty minutes running time hauling 1 wagon and 1 coach (similar setup to Reseau Breton).

I have several spare recycled batteries so there is always a charged one available..

Now i have live steam and today i connected up my old Hornby controller and lo and behold I now have a powered track (this does not mean Brian that I am going DCC, i've got no need!)

It is much appreciated to get so much advice. I shall certainly look at Playmobil Germany and IP engineering.
I hope that when I have found something and I ask (where do I put this wire?), not all the replies will be the obvious!
Seriously, all the suggestions have given a lot of food for thought and even if something does go wrong, I know I can ask for help.
It would be nice however to get it right and post a photograph of the finished result.

Many thanks
Keith

With regard to using a Playmobile loco , you can get a good run on 4x AAs, you can alos get a battery box especially for rechargeables from Playmobile. I do have one query tho for those that use them. When on my brass track the thing literally jumps up and down at times and wont move in either direction - is this "glitching" or some other fault.

I was in the train commuting, not easy to answer, now i got time to finish my post.

As you see there's lot's of possibilities and converting a playmobil is one of them.

Here the picture of the one we have (picture in Carl's garden).



I used some small battery easy to recharged. If you switch off the remote control and unplug the battery. You could use it for long time.

There was a post about an English manufacturer using battery here the link : http://www.locomotion.connectfree.co.uk/

And here the link to see the locomotive of this manufacturer in action : https://continental-garden-t.forumotion.com/garden-railways-f2/david-grantham-s-railway-t355.htm

Mikey, did you take the power pick up skates off the Stainz ?
(Otherwise your battery power will be transmitted not only to the Stainz motor, but to the track also)

I'm sure you have, but it may benefit another modeller.

Keith, if you need any more info on the Locomotion diesels please ask. They are very robust with excellent power bogies, lights, sound system and electronics. Battery lasts about 25 hours between charges and locos are gauge adjustable with an allen key.

Down side is that the wooden bodies are crude by comparison with injection moulding. In my case this was an advantage because I wanted a big powerful loco that did nt cost much but that would allow more detailing as and when I could get round to it. In the photos the yellow FEVE loco has been superdetailed (by my standards) and the maroon loco is a basic as supplied version as shown on the Locomotion web site.

Good point Paul! Yes I took the skates off after being advised by your good self many moons ago on the old ~GSM. I still have the PDF you mailed me!

Mikey

Hi Keith

So glad you plucked up courage to ask your question on the Forum after emailing me!

Just keep the questions coming you'll be surprised how much we all learn just by "peeking in" on these answers!

bon chance

Keith George wrote:

Ideally, one day, I would like to get a French outline railcar, as used by the "Reseau Breton".
I suspect that it would be a job for model engineer, but it may be that someone knows of a French manufacturer?

You can buy French railcars in G scale from good old Max at Apocopa

I would not recommend a ready to run model from him as his finishing work especially interior is crap and for a silly price of around 700+ euros.

You can buy a bare resin shell and built it yourself. These start at around 200 euros each but they are rough and need a fair bit of work. I have done three so far and have another shell to do. This ironically is a Billard 150D6 which were very popular on the Breton network.



I could realistically build you one, battery powered for quite a bit less than Max is charging.

Keith George wrote:

I would imagine it has already been done, but could a wagon be converted as motive power and provide power to an old LGB locomotive?

Yes, many people have battery cars/wagons that can couple to any suitable locomotive.
This is an economical way of flexible battery power.

I converted an LGB post wagon to this function. It is not powered but houses a large lead acid battery, receiver, speed controller and has multiple connectors for various makes of locomotive.
All one needs to do is slightly modify the locomotive - intercepting the track pick-up with a dpdt switch (so that it has the switchable option of track power ).



This wagon is now red and cream

Thank you again everybody.

I really like the look of the French railcars Carl. I will have to pursuade my wife that it is a good idea! If you are willing, perhaps I could contact you at a later date?

In the meantime, the wagon conversion seems the best way for me to go. My track is about 30 metres from the nearest power point, so powering the rails whilst not impossible, would be a logistical nightmare, not to mention the cost.

I realise the power would not be great, but I found Locolines website and see they sell cardboard kits for very little money. I thought I would get one and start with that. Does anyone have experience of these? If nothing else it could do the odd bit of work around the main station and at least be an extra engine on the track, provided I don't leave it out in the Rain!

Keith