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 Posted - February 20 2007 : 12:28:24 PM
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Could anyone list the different power units used in HO trains;
Official name of motor:
Nickname:
Era of use:
Who utilized them (company):
Degree of reliability:
Best - Why ?:
Worst - Why:
The way ya'll refer to different units has made we curious...Thanks
IAMFISH.
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Posted - February 20 2007 : 5:18:25 PM
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IAMFISH,
You might want to be a little more specific. Locos from which manufacturer? Most makers use/used several different motors at any time. For example, Athearn currently uses atleast 4 different motors. Genisis series locos have a can type motor.
Standard blue box type large large locos use a 5/8" hybrid motor.
Standard blue box type switcher locos use a 1/2" hybrid motor.
The GP49 or 40X have an upgraded 5/8" hybrid motor.
The hybrid motor is a skew wound, 5 pole, flat sided motor. It's part can and part open frame motor. It's very strong, but needs a lot of current to run.
The hybrid motor has changed over the years. It started as a wide, round shape with straight wound poles. At some point the magnets were changed and the motor became narrower and flat sided. This was followed by the poles getting skew wound. I'm not too clear about the changes on the GP49 motor.
So that gives atleast 4 current production motors and 4 old style motors. I am not sure if the rubber band drive motors are the same as the round motors.
Edited by - Hypoponera on February 20 2007 5:50:04 PM
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Posted - February 20 2007 : 5:32:03 PM
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As it applies to Tyco, you need know only two, primarily:
PowerTorque, 1975-1993. Vertical truck-mounted "pancake" stype motor. Runs decent as a "toy train set" motor but notorious for being unreliable and inconsistent - your results with these can and will vary. Easily spotted by visible thin plastic gears that often strip.
Mantua MU-2, 196x (?) 1974/75 - truck mounted-motor, lower profile, small, high-current draw. Noted for being riveted together, preventing simple maintenance and disassembly. Doesn't really outperform a PowerTorque per se, but is 1000x's more reliable.
Mantua MU-1 - so-called by me. Earlier Mantua truck-mount motor, as seen on diecast sharks. Shares similarities to the more common MU-2, but is different. Can be serviced (assembled with screws instead of rivets).
As Hypoponera said, the other manufacturers have all used various and sundry designs over the years. Tyco was possibly the only one to heavily promote theirs with a name, hence the references to such here. Most manufactures use generic terms ("With 5-pole motor and dual flywheels!") while constantly refining the specific designs.
Life-Like did use some corny terms for their drives, but I could never pin them specifically.
I use the term "Kader Cake" to refer to the specific kind of sealed, pancake-motor power truck that Lionel HO (70's), Bachmann, and Life-Like all used throughout the 80's and 90's, and even today. It is cheap, not as strong as powertorque, but can run a little smoother and can last longer.
Powertorques and KaderCakes are all generally poor drives, though. Even the MU-2 sucks for outright power, but at least it can last forever.
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