The Great Model Train Race

Just watched the whole thing. You will have to watch to see who wins.

That was great. Saw the first one and thought it was a great idea, though unsuccessful. This one was great. Would be interesting to pull this off in O scale.

Matt, it would be fun but the cost of ten miles of O gauge track? We used to have pulling contests at the local TCA meets in the bay area in the 70's. Lionel Trainmasters almost always won. Did you notice how they were making track as they went? I think that's what they were doing. Don

Don't think they actually made the track, but they used a custom machine to assemble fixed straight sections, about a meter in length. May had described the disadvantages of using flex track last time, in detail (love those details, you'd never get that on TV over here).

What was surprising as to why they bothered to run a double-line main.  All they needed was a simple rule change that would allow passing trains to stop and swap places.  They had no problem picking up and moving derailed or broken trains, so that rule wouldn't have changed the outcome it would have cut the track needed close to half.

I love how the sauerkraut-powered train exploded. I wonder what that smelled like...

Thanks for posting the video link!

-Mark

Here is a link to the 2009 video for the first attempt to run the trains 10 miles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gBftIrsFDY

They had to use the double main line because the Brits were using 12V while the Germans were running at 18V.

Additionally, as they were using DC battery power, it would have been very difficult to have two trains heading in different directions on the same track. (At least, not without some re-wiring of the locomotives.) 

Wow - nice.  Thanks. 

That link put me on this links to other shows of his.  I love the 1:1 scale Airfix Spitfire kit show best! 

Lee, if you enjoyed those, you must look out for the latest show, which was screened this past week. This time he builds a model glider and attempts to set a world distance record with it. It is certainly worth watching. 

Great Stuff!

Thanks again for sharing.

Cheers!

~MattS

That is great viewing - thanks for posting!

--Greg

It was fun watching.

Doug

That was great!

I watched it a few hours ago after seeing the link in the original post. Neat video. Perfect to watch on a cold snowy/rainy day. 

Interesting. I watched most of the video, which involved laying 10 actual miles of HO track along a paved bike trail on a former railway grade in England. On a previous race the entire track had constant 12VDC power throughout. On this occasion the track was divided into blocks and each train crew had two portable battery packs which "leap-frogged" along to power the track sections for their own train. A German crew used 18vdc for their train. The "experimental" category had some trains using fuel cells, on-board batteries, or other power. Some of the experimental trains were oversized for the HO track and had stability problems. Certainly an unusual event, especially with so much small-gauge track outdoors.

This following article is about 3-rail O-gauge train racing in a drag-strip format. Maybe someone can find video coverage?

http://www.trainfacts.com/trainfacts/?p=248

I was thinking the same thing, I just finished the video and think how cool it would be to try this in 3 rail  

Unbelievable, what a great video and well worth watching the full 59:00. Thanks for posting this, would be an awesome idea for someone to do in O Gauge

John-

That was awesome.  My son and I watched part of it a month ago and just finished tonight.  Thanks for the link!