O Gauge Modelling on the GWR
A personal Journey
GWR Diesel Railcar Saga
How it all started
I bought a Mega kit as my first inroads into O gauge. It came complete with everything, (although there was a worm gear missing). I built it and painted and lined it, (so far so good).
Then I motorised it using the provided motor and wheels.
The bogey chassis are quite thin and the motor fits between the axles. I have used a DCC component to drive the motor and as you can see an American idea for picking up supply via both chassis wheels.
The chassis and wheel arrangement means that the heavy body would need both bogies motorised. For at the moment it stalls on the first movement nearly every time. This is due to the 'frail' nature of the bogies and the wheels supplied. Also it works better in one direction than the other.
All the usual tricks have been tried to make it run more reliably, but I am now in the process of searching for replacement bogies that are motorised.
My latest hope is a company called North West Shoreline
December UPDATE: As that has gone quiet I've invested in an Easybuild motorised bogie kit. I'm told I'll only need one of these babies to drive the railcar. It uses a chaindrive to power both axles and the only downside is that the Canon motor sticks up and will need to come up into the body. But I will be able to hide that as it fits neatly behind the driving compartment and is virtually invisible.
The kit costs £55 and here it is:
Putting the bogie together is easy and I've added pickups to that and the other bogie as current detection was one of the models main problems! I've also ensured that left and right hand rail pick up is on the left and right hand wheels rather than left hand back and right hand fore as previously.
The results can now be seen below:
GWR Diesel Railcar
The model
a Mega kit GWR Diesel Railcar
The problem
The original drive unit is inadequate for the job!