Kind of an update today - just got back from running the GP-35 again. Last week we ran an operating session in which the loco spent two and a quarter hours hauling/switching. The train(s) were short, the track level but with sharp curves. I did not charge the unit when finished.
Today I took her to another layout, this time with almost constant grades, most quite steep (in the three percent neighborhood) and sharp curves. The train was a constant 11 cars. Without any recharging the loco went another hour and a half. I think I can see some slowing, but at this point I know I can still operate without difficulty. I won’t have a chance to run for a couple of weeks or more so tomorrow I will do a storage charge and put the workhorse away for now.
The two 500mah LiPos give a total of one amp hour at 3.7 volts. The Ready to Run Athern GP-35 has a pretty good motor, as do most all locos nowadays, I suspect you could look forward to similar results.
On another note - I don’t think I did a very good job of answering Alan’s excellent post asking what the advantages of battery over track power were. Thinking over some of the posts I have seen on Dead Rail, I was reminded while we always are striving for more realism in our modeling rolling stock, scenery, operations, sound, and so on, we are just beginning to look at how our motive power actually works.
Self contained motive power does make a difference - simply because it IS self contained. Once you wrap your head around that, things change. For instance, just like the prototype, you can strive for better traction, economy, smoothness, distance and so on in the same way the real guys do. It’s another point of pride you can accomplish - and do so within the unit itself. It’s another attachment to the real world, another goal toward railroad realism.
(Cue scraping sounds of me dragging my soap box off the page.)
Terry
