This is interesting, actually having a design 'guy' relating things. As
a sometimes frustrated 're-arranger of loco innards', I would be curious
as to what would cause the motors to burn up. It does look promising
that Lionel is making a better effort than in the past.
This makes me want to bring down my old AF PA from a display shelf.
Only the shell and two recycled trucks are original AF. The drive we
designed wasn't that unique but worked very well. The shell was a 5
digit ATSF that I modified and painted it Union Pacific. We used solid
chunks of Plexiglas on the shell, some solid chunks of brass and a 0
scale sized motor to power that dude. I'm not certain what the wheel
gauge was set to but it ran on my layout in the late 80's until the AM's
versions arrived. That's the last time an AF engine has run on my layout.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 3/8/12 4:47 PM, richgajnak wrote:
We have been discussing this on OGR S Scale board over the past week
and I believe this information should be shared, if only to eliminate
surprises and new information is better than no information.
The SD70ACe's will have twin vertical motor drive and not the drive
developed for the U33C.
Now, before we go off on all sorts of tangents again, Lionel's Chief
Technology Officer offered his explanation today:
"We debated the drive system for some time internally, and simply
could not get the features into the loco with a motor in a horizontal
position. As a point of reference, the U33 was way late and the delays
were due to the drive system. The electronics and motors would not
work without burning up. I designed a completely new motor drive
circuit for the U33, and by luck (and some long days) we made the U33
shipment last year. It almost was placed on indefinite hold due to the
motor burning up problem that seemed to be unsolvable.
