Image by jalapenokitten
The sad saga of the APT-P launch in the early 80s is a well known one, and the sorry state of this surviving power car almost seems appropriate. What most people don’t realise is that although the project was "cancelled" the trains still in use today on both the East and West Coast Mainlines (Pendolino on the WCML and IC225 on the ECML) are derived from the APT-P – indeed the original project name for the ECML IC225 project was APT-U.
In reality, the APT-P project failure was more a failure of management and PR than of the design itself; by the time the six prototype sets were withdrawn they were working without fuss, doing what they were expected to do.
Incidentally the Railway Age museum at Crewe has a partial (6 car – the full train was 14 cars) APT-P rake on display.
Question by steve00878: A step-down transformer is to be used to convert an ac voltage of 105 V to 6 V to power an electric train. If?
A step-down transformer is to be used to convert an ac voltage of 105 V to 6 V to power an electric train. If there are 420 turns in the primary coil, how many turns should there be in the secondary coil?
Best answer:
Answer by jrrymiller The voltage ratio is the same as the turns ratio.
6/105 = X/420
X = 6*420/105 = 24 turns
Discover the holiday magic of LGB trains in this starter set! The hard-working steam loco features puffing smoke, the flat car is complete with a special Christmas package load, and a classic red caboose brings up the rear. All models were colorful Santa Fe lettering. Set is complete with train, track, power pack and smoke fluid.
Question by mrhaana: How does electric train gets power?
Is the electric train get power from the wires continuously or it gets for some time and run with saved power? (I meant Indian Electric Trains)
Can someone explain?!?
Best answer:
Answer by Sudeep King of Scorn Not just electric trains. All trains have dynamos near the wheels and it works on the same principle as the bicycle dynamos. The motion of the wheel charges it and it’s stored in batteries. Which is circulated for the lights, fans and AC’s of the train. Next time while traveling by train notice how the lights dim a little when the train slows down.
Indian electric trains can retract the arm which is in contact with the wire and run on the stored power.
Question by Cameron: How do I light up model power buildings for my model railroad?
I have a yellow and white wire coming out of the building. The directions didn’t say. I couldn’t find it on the internet. Can you give me some answers and links.
This is the most appropriate section i could find sorry.
Best answer:
Answer by heli_guy60 evidently those wires r the leads of the lights. u will have to make an extension to the transformer acc. terminals.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
This was kind of a “concept” train set Bachmann made in the early 80′s. It featured 3 accessories (pipe loader, cattle loader, and turnout) that were activated by stopping the engine over the activator, and reversing it. A clip on the track held the engine in place as one of the rear wheels spun a wheel on the track (like how many of the Tyco US-1 trucking accessories work). I first got this one when i was 5. And even with help from my parents we couldn’t get the set to work right. So i wound up operating the accessories by hand. It didn’t last long and i only have the power pack and 2 pieces of it now. Then in 2007 i got a complete set off Ebay. And this time i got it hooked up right (the metal wires that connect the accessories to the activators were the problem). This system did have drawbacks. The train had to be in the same order all the time so the cars matched up. And you couldn’t run the train the other way unless you removed the holding clips on the activators. The turnout was kind of cheesy because all you could do was pull the engine and reefer into the spur. Then back out again. The engine itself (a Santa Fe U-36-B) was modified in that only 1 wheel on 1 axle had a traction tire so the activator wheel could turn while the others spun on the rails. Needless to say having 1 traction tire cut it’s pulling power. And because of that other engines wouldn’t work with the set. As far as i know this was the only example of this type of set Bachmann made. Though they …
Question by Snow C: How is electric power transmitted to trains with the overhead cable?
Since the overhead cable is only one contact, and any circuit needs to be closed, where does the current flow out of?
Best answer:
Answer by Marc Robertson The circuit has the live power on the overhead cantilevers and is grounded by the rails which complete the circuit. This way there is no live power and ground right next to each other that humans or animals can be killed by.
Ironically, every locomotive is electrically powered. Most locomotives are diesel electric because a traditional transmission won’t work. Basically the power is fed from a huge diesel motor into a huge generator. The power goes through a drive which controls the power. Then it goes to multiple traction motors simular to electric trains.
Correction: Every diesel locomotive is electrically powered, China still runs steam powered locomotives…
