Kokuden power

[railsquid]

I was messing about entertaining the Squidlet the other day and ended up trying to find out how much a humble Kato Kokuden unit would pull. I got up to 12 (very mixed) cars in total before giving up and finding something more useful to do. Not too shabby even though the track is very temporary and it has to go round a slight gradient on a curve.

 

[Welshbloke]

Glad to see that others have some random coaches too!

 

The Kumoha/Moha pair from one of my Kokudens is currently running between a pair of Kumoyas with a Saha 115. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any 4102 Shonan Moha 114s to be had, so the Kumoha, Moha and Kuha 115 don't get out much other than being dragged by Kumoyas.

[kvp]

Modern kokuden units are actually almost equal to normal motors, except the lack of flywheels, which is not a problem with good power pickup and a steady speed. Only the shells and trailer trucks are of lower (older) quality.

 

For the 115-s, it's possible to try to get a Tomytec Shonan kumoni with a motor and run them that way as it would allow a prototypical in service operation. (kumoni+kumoha+moha+kuha) http://kenmatsu.blog.fc2.com/page-11.html

[Welshbloke]

Yep, I have one of those. Only snag is that my random selection of 115s doesn't include a Moha with a pantograph...

 

They came from bidding on ebay items everyone else had overlooked, which were therefore going cheap. I paid £10 each for the Kumoha and Kuha, for example!

[kvp]

 

 

Only snag is that my random selection of 115s doesn't include a Moha with a pantograph...

I think on a flat enough line, it would be possible to have only the kumoni propel the whole consist. (a kumoni+kuha combo might even be technically realistic without cheating) Anyway, you could try and see if it looks wrong for you or not. Also a bit cheating because of the underfloor equipment, but you could try to add a pantograph (or if it's a separate part, a whole new rooftop) to your moha car.