Trolley Climber

There are some control packages out there to accomplish this as long as the trolley has a reversing unit.  I don't recall the manufacturers, but you could try "Scott's odds and ends".  I've seen these board pop up at shows and swap meets in the past.

Hi Patapsco Pete,

    If the issues you are having are due to poor wheel to rail contact for whatever reason, there are 2 solutions that come to mind.  In the UK, traction folks use high frequency electronic rail cleaning devices (which really prevent stalling rather than clean the track) to keep their equipment moving.  One device is the Relco, no longer in production, and the other is by Gauge Master, http://www.gaugemaster.com/modules.html which is currently available, but mostly in the UK.  I have a Relco that I use with some handcars.  There is a lot of misinformation about them, but if you run your trolley on straight DC and the unit has no circuit boards or rectifiers, it is magic!  The other solution is to use a large bi-polar capacitor across the motor as an electronic flywheel, DC, no rectifier.  It will provide coasting over trouble spots in both polarities/directions.   I use a Panasonic 3300mfd, 16 volt bi-polar electrolytic cap http://www.digikey.com/product...332U/P1173-ND/227614 with the handcars, no rectifier, but I keep the DC voltage at nothing greater than 9 volts, again only for DC.  Both of these solutions are DC only. 

    Hope this helps!   Good Luck!

Take care, Joe.

See this thread:  https://ogrforum.com/t...-reverse-loop-wiring 

Try the incredible Western Hobbycraft die cast trolleys.  Unfortunately I can't vouch for

the grades they can climb, because I have none on the layout.  They are not bump and go but they are double ended.  Here are some photos.

Lew Schneider

I think the Atlas/ Industrial Rail trolleys are bump and go and have two trucks. Don't know how readily available they are now though. 

J White

Have you tried an MTH bump-and-go?

Bill

What about adding some weight to the Lionel trolley? I also betcha the MTH will climb it better than the Lionel. I had an Atlas, for a while. I wasn't impressed with the running and sold it. The other thing I find and I could be deluding myself, is the Atlas 80 transformer, with it's pure Sine Wave drives the motors, on my trolleys better. By better I mean more smoothly and it seems to have the power to hit the bumpers and reverse at slower speed.

You could explore an auto reverse unit for back and forth operation, enabling use of the MTH DC motored trolley. I've had success with the Z-Stuff unit. Just requires some insulated trip rails on each end and and some wiring. Bonus over bump and go is adjustable time delay at the stops.

And I second trying to add weight. Always worth trying that on grades.

Two extreme solutions come to mind on the traction issue.

1.-cheating- Clear two sided tape on one rail, topside de-tacked with a rag. I have a severe grade 12' long with one rail taped for better traction. Same tape 4 years with a Virginian on it, no issues on visiting 0-4-0's.

2. It is possible to do a homemade Magnetraction maker of sorts. Some deep research into a company called MANCO may reveal something of use. I don't think he is producing anything anymore, but if magnetic traction strong enough to run a locomotive upside down sounds like enough traction, look around.

MANCO is/was run by a forum member Dale Manquen, I think he has retired from anything not fun for him at any given moment.

I found this in 2 min.

embedding not working for me http://youtu.be/7XD5mAunzjk

Hi Patapsco Pete, 

     Do you have a photo to share of your spiral track configuration?  

Take care, Joe.

I finally scored a Western Hobbycraft Johnston Trolley just like the red and cream color one Lew posted above.  It's 4 wheel powered truck is more than enough to traverse the loop.

Thanks for the advice.

Hi Patapsco Pete,

    Glad it worked out for you!!  Nice track plan and layout!  Thanks for sharing!

Take care, Joe.

I also abandoned the bump-n-go strategy I had been using in lieu of a z-stuff end-to-end controller (that would not work with the Western Hobbycraft).  Now I can run the really nice Johnston trolley.  Can you say "upgrade"?

It has been my experience that the MTH bump-n-go trolley cars are the best performers. They are heavier, and the car speed to operate the reverse unit is much lower. However, the MTH PS 2 Brill trolley can be programmed for out and back running in "AUTO MODE."

Glad it worked out for you.  BTW that is one heck of a track plan/layout.

Ed

I have an MTH trolley about 10 years old.  Works great and climbs seemingly any hill.