Smallest practical size for a speeder?

[Jacob's dad]

http://www.ridgeclub.org/pics/wm2009/74.jpg

This is a pretty small speeder that comes to the track at Ridge Live Steamers in Dundee, Florida.

(Photo is linked to Ridge's web site, 2009 winter meet.)

Jeff

[Jacob's dad]

http://www.ridgeclub.org/pics/wm2007/22.jpg

This is our speeder made from the plans that were in Modeltec years ago. It will pull a pretty good load, but I keep it to what you see in the photo because I can safely stop that load in a very short distance.

Jeff Smith

[Goose]

I have build a model of the RGS speeder (constructed after the On3-model of Grandt Line) as a gas-electric-hybrid for the Triennial 2003.

I had to change the scale from the correct 2.5" to 3" scale to get the gas-engine (4-stroke), the alternator, the batteries and the drivemotor into the body.

If Iwould have build it as pure electric, everything would have fit into a scale body.

[ceejones]

I have built a Speeder, based on Buster Keaton's Railrodder movie, close to proper scale for 7.5" gauge and I power it with the engineer's control car.

I put cast wheels on steel axles and added as much steel as possible for weight to keep it on the rails through the turnouts. Motive power is supplied by a steel six foot flat car by Bryan Prater at Plascut. Sam Pool at Plum Cove made the front truck made out of a shortened Generic Electric box cab with a similar dummy truck at the rear. Two AGM automotive batteries and the motor control reside under my seat in the cargo. In the Speeder I added a Phoenix sound card with a speed sensitive recording of a proper Speeder played through a 3" speaker.

I disguised the truck frames to look more like arch bar trucks and even included vinyl rims to look like the wheels of said trucks.

Connie Miracle provided the decals.
This is a proper Speeder in my mind and my dog agrees.

[chooch]

First picture look the little speeder caught my eyes. WHAT!! Shocked! That tiny thing pulling the load? Glad I read the rest of what you said.
Speeder looks Very Nice. Great work.
Clever car for you, the dog and hidden power.
chooch

[WJH]

The one I built resides at the GGLS. Bought a used electric scooter for 25$ and used the motor and speed control from it. Chain drive reduction for a max speed of around 8mph. Brushless motor with a lot of torque. It will snap your neck back.

[Harlock]

The smallest electric I have ever seen is not a ride-on, but you sit on a small car behind it. Seems to handle the grades just fine with a couple of kids.

This was from last weekend.

-M

[Pontiacguy1]

This wasn't a speeder, but it might could have been. Back in the early 1980's a guy used to come up to Mid-South from Florida and would bring his working model of the 'toonerville trolley'. That was taken from a very old cartoon. There was an article about it in Live Steam probably 25 or more years ago. It had a small vertical boiler, which I believe was fired from a small propane torch tank, a small stationary engine, which was geared to one axle, and I believe it was fitted with remote control for the throttle, although at this point my memory is a bit fuzzy. The whole thing was cute as it could be, and I think it was only about 15 or 16 inches long. I remember seeing it there, and looking at it, just as a curiosity at the time. Heck I was in grade school then.

Also, I remember in Live Steam quite a few years ago, a guy described building a very small locomotive in 7 1/2" gauge. It had a very short wheelbase, was a boxcab type locomotive, had no suspension, and had side frames made from an old maple butcher's block. It was electric and had one car battery sitting inside the box cab body. It worked fine, and would pull a gondola with 2 passengers around quite nicely. He'd done like many people getting started in the hobby and had figured out how to build this with as little an investment and with as little machining as possible. I remember reading that article, and it inspired me to do some of my first dabbling on working on motive power.

[DianneB]

Small IC engines, spinning at high RPM to make horsepower, be they 2 or 4 cycle would cause me to pack up and go home, as much as I like mode RR'ing of all types.

Battery drives are a lot more 'public friendly'.

Hear hear!

Nothing destroys the peaceful atmosphere of a live steam grounds like the sound of a lawnmower (or weed-whacker) engine! When it drowns out the chuffing of the steamers I can understand why some clubs ban them.

Of course I may be biased since all you hear of my (electric) streetcar is the wheels on the rails.

[ryanDeVries]

about six inches tall, 30 inches long, 13 inches wide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Har2Z1UTg Inside are 2 plum cove drive axles, controller, and 4 scooter batteries. It could be shortened by removing 2 batteries and one of the drive motors.