Hornby HO clockwork, train racing.

[skuthorp]

Friend sent this to me, it's mad
http://www.antiquetoys.com.au/hornby...-gauge-racing/

[PeterSibley]

Now that does take me back .....to about 1955.

[David W Pratt]

Doesn't the inside one always win?

[leikec]

Love it!

Jeff C

[B_B]

Love it!

Jeff C

+1!

[LeeG]

wow, I bet that man knows springs

[Stiletto]

Now that does take me back .....to about 1955.

Me too!

Why do you reckon they raced them backwards?

[leikec]

Me too!

Why do you reckon they raced them backwards?

To keep the coal smoke away from the engineer?

Jeff C

[Todd Bradshaw]

Why do you reckon they raced them backwards?

Since the pilot truck wheels on models don't usually have much weight at all on them, they can tend to be rather touchy. I suspect that running backward with them in a trailing position reduces the chance of derailing the loco - especially at that kind of speed and on that lumpy old sectional track.

[Mad Scientist]

On the full-size locos of this design, engineeers found that their visibility was better in reverse, without the tank/boiler assembly in the way.

Same thing with diesel 'road switchers' in the modern era. One railroad - Norfolk & Western - had a rule that their locomotives must be operated long-hood-forward, and claimed that they never had an engineer or fireman killed in a collision.

Tom

[coelacanth2]

Great video but it'll never catch on in the States. It's got almost everything - close racing, the opportunity to root for different brands, some handicapping. But those guys were turning right and NASCAR turns Left.


Oh wait they're from Oz - whirlpools turn backward and everything's upside down. Sorry, my bad, carry on.

[Todd Bradshaw]

On the full-size locos of this design, engineeers found that their visibility was better in reverse, without the tank/boiler assembly in the way.

The Southern Pacific was known for using cab-forward locos. General visibility was improved, but another big advantage for a railroad with a lot of tunnels was that the cab passed through a spot in the tunnel before the smoke got there, making it safer and a lot more pleasant for the crews. The drawback was that if they hit anything, the cab and those inside were right in the front with little protection.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

How was she fired, Todd - oil?

[PeterSibley]

I got addicted to clockwork toys at a very early age, remember these.....

I had a clockwork battleship that I strongly suspect would be quite valuable today ... had it survived .

[Mad Scientist]

Andrew, that Cab-Forward in Todd's post is oil fired.

In the diesel era, SP had EMD build special 'Tunnel Motors' which had air intakes for the dynamic brakes (like regenerative braking for electric cars, except that the power was fed to grids on the top of the locomotive and dissipated as heat) set low on the loco bodies. The cooling air had to be as cool as possible for the dynamic braking to work efficiently.

Tom