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Here's something a little different. These are propeller driven locomotives I designed using model airplane motors, push propellers, flatcars, and Gary Raymond dual ball bearing low friction wheels. These run on conventional dc track power and they are the fastest locomotives I own. The dual ball bearing wheels are important especially to get them moving from a dead stop. Once they start moving, I must be careful not to give them too much power or they can travel too fast and derail on tight curves. When going down a hill or when approaching a tight curve, I reverse the current and the propeller spins in reverse and acts like a break to slow the vehicle down. I modeled them loosely upon an old 1909 photograph of the prototype's proud inventor. When I run them, I disable the remote's momentum control so I have faster acceleration and deceleration response when needed. When going downhill, they actually act more like roller coasters. It is a completely different experience running these since they respond so differently from wheel driven engines. It takes a bit of practice, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. The small one only cost me about 30 dollars to make.
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