Drumm Battery Train footage

[Garfield]

This gem was among the 80,000+ British Pathé newsreels recently uploaded to YouTube:

 

[Broithe]

Excellent.

 

This sort of system will come back into use in the future, I'm sure.

[Dave]

Great find, excellent video.

[heirflick]

beautiful! i wonder has anybody ever modelled that train?

[Warbonnet]

beautiful! i wonder has anybody ever modelled that train?

 

Was thinking that myself earlier Shem, the Drumm trains were elegant designs. Any of them would make a nice model.

[murrayec]

Hi

 

My Dad was fascinated with this invention at the time and regularly mentioned it when we talked train. When he heard way back that I was going to make a model DART, he asked me to make him one of these for the display shelf. He had taken photographs of the train and he even did two sketches of it, but we never could find them in his collection.

 

Sadly he past away 3 years ago, but in his memory I have added this train to my list of models to make before I move on to the big train in the sky.....

 

murrayec

[Broithe]

I have added this train to my list of models to make ....

 

murrayec

 

I'll look forward to that - electric trains without the 'knitting' - it's the way forward.

[burnthebox]

Free State Ministers crowding on board, this anything to do with " Paddy's Day " the more things change, the more they stay the same, :ROFL:

[heirflick]

Hi

 

 

but in his memory I have added this train to my list of models to make before I move on to the big train in the sky.....

 

murrayec

 

keep me in mind before you go - would love a model of her!

[Maitland]

A model in 4mm or 7mm scale could use the right battery technology too - nickel-zinc batteries are slowly being rediscovered. They don't seem to be as good or as robust as Drumm's batteries yet though.

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/nickel-zinc-aa-rechargeable-batteries-4-pack-n37ka

[jhb171achill]

Showed it to Senior this afternoon. He remembered it - he was hovering in the vicinity with his dad, but neither appear in the film. His father designed the carriage-body-work.

[Garfield]

Showed it to Senior this afternoon. He remembered it - he was hovering in the vicinity with his dad, but neither appear in the film. His father designed the carriage-body-work.

 

Wow, that's quite the connection, JB!

[murrayec]

beautiful! i wonder has anybody ever modelled that train?

 

Hi HF

 

While doing a bit of reference reading last night I came across some Drumm Battery Train info in 'Locomotives of the GSR' by Clements & McMahon;-

 

Mr Fry built a model of Train C, it's a bit more modern than Train A & B, with streamlined ends. Though apparently the actual train was built differently, according to C&M Mr Fry was an employee of the GSR at the time and had access to preliminary design drawings.

 

The batteries in one coach weighed 15 tons!

 

It would seem the demise of the system was due to charging time and not enough seats at peak hour traffic. They tried different configurations by connecting Train A & B together with a Compartment brake third in the middle but again charging time at 30mins held up the platform- they decided to pull the train by steam loco's at peak times.

 

It was found that the trains were more expensive to run than steam. Power shortages meant the trains could not run

 

In the end they dismantled the drive system of Train A & B, removed the batteries and used the units as coaches. Some of the equipment was used in Train C & D, but this proved to be a mistake.

 

It all ended in 1949

 

Interestingly C&M note- the trains were so quiet when running, there were a number of collisions with people trespassing on the track!

 

I personally like the A & B trains, they have a kind of Victorian elegance and though modern at the time.

 

murrayec