As Dave said. electric motors are tough, if the loco was working before then presumably it can be serviced/repaired/titivated or whatever, I would certainly try and get is up an running before thinking of a completely new drive system.

My guess on the small motor is that it an air pump or small compressor for an air horn.

Ian P

If it were mine I would remove the motors (photograph all electrical and mechanical connections first) and strip them down to see if there is anything obvious. If you dont fancy that do you have a motor repair/rewind service local to you, they should be able to tell you quite quickly if the motors are shot but also if they can be serviced/repaired back into life. It could be a lot cheaper than new motors even if you can find them.

I dont think Sinclair C5 motors are man enough for the job, I think I am correct in saying that they are only 250 watt so a pair at 500 watts is not enough. As you say it is a heavy loco, from the pictures it looks very heavy plus the riding car, the batteries (there will be more than one) and yourself and any passengers. At a guess I would say it needs 2HP (1500 watts) at least.

Edited By Ron Laden on 19/08/2019 18:45:39

Connecting the leads to a battery is ok, but the "regulator" will need to be moved to the run position. Apolgies if i'm stating the obvious.

John

I wouldn't give up on those motors yet, try to do some simple resistance checks first.

Maybe even a 'smell' test though rather a lot of time has passed for this to work.

I think those motors are WW2 vintage motor/generators. I think if you remove the perforated metal cover on the right hand end you will find there is a commutator that end that originally was the high voltage output. I can't see any brush housings that end so they have probably been removed as they are not required when just used as a motor. Another thing that might have made you think they are faulty is they are probably shunt wound (Rather than permanent magnet.) so they would need a supply to the field winding as well as to the brushes at the left hand end. I think the small motor at the bottom of your last picture is a compressor as you can see a cylinder and cylinder head on the left hand end of it.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 19/08/2019 22:08:37

My 040 battery loco runs fine on its C5 motor. Used to pull my kids round the club track and also a car load of kids up and down my portable track at fetes all afternoon without missing a beat on an old Capri car battery!

Paul.

I suspect the control system is well pre-electronic and worked in the same way as the old SR electric stock using control of the field current possibly by switching voltage or by resistors hence the two controls using a multiway rotary switch (rather like those I built as a workshop exercise 50+ years ago!

The Sinclair motor is a good motor, no doubt about that and two of them (500 watts) will drive the loco along but how well and how easy..?

Judging by the pictures that looks to be a heavy loco, all metal and 7 1/4 inch so quite a lump. If it were mine I would be looking for more than 500 watts, I always think that is better to have enough power to drive with relative ease than not enough and the motor/motors working hard most of the time, plus you always have a throttle.

I think the loco needs a minimum of 1.5 HP and preferably 2.0 HP but others may think differently.

Unless you are always accelerating or driving uphill or going around ridiculously sharp curves, a free-rolling train has very little resistance once it is moving. Try moving a loaded train by yourself, with just 1-manpower I can keep a train of two 7-1/4"riding cars each carrying 6 adults travelling at a fast walk without breaking a sweat. The average person can only manage about 250-300W maximum output, and I would not be using half of that. 2HP is in my opinion seriously over-powered, and requires batteries, leads and controller capable of handling the high currents such motors will draw if loaded to capacity. What is more important is traction, and provided that the motors have enough power to spin the wheels if the train is stalled then that is sufficient. It's not hard to measure the traction force available using a spring scale connected to the loco coupler and with the loco wheels locked. A few simple calculations will determine the motor power necessary to provide this traction force, add a little for a safety margin and you're pretty much set.

Have a look at the small motors powering e-bikes, and they are no slouches up steep hills or accelerating off the mark!

I'll get off my horse now…..