One of the more interesting ways to power model trains involves not using gears.
Confusing, yes?
It can be done, however. The trick is pulleys and rubber bands.
In the early days of American H0, some manufacturers used a pulley system combined with gears to transmit power from the motor down to the wheels. Varney is a notable example for some of their early F unit diesels.
But that isn't what I wish to discuss today. In this segment, we'll look at pure rubber band drive.
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| Top to bottom - Athearn F7 Athearn Hustler Distler "American" switcher Marx 0-4-0 |
Look, Ma! No Gears!
There are a number of advantages to rubber band/belt drive. From a consumer standpoint, they tended to be less expensive. From a manufacturer/accounting standpoint, they were less expense. From an operational standpoint, they were quiet.
Disadvantages? Well, speed control was lacking. Their top end was usually pretty high. They could be "jerky", and eventually the rubber band will break. Also, if you accidentally got lubricant on the rubber band, it lost power, and sometimes sped up the degradation of the elastic.
Yet they were common for a long time. More on that in a bit.
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| Top to bottom - Athearn F7 Athearn Hustler Distler "American" switcher Marx 0-4-0 |
Where To Begin
Athearn acquired the Globe line of kits in 1951, and with it their nascent F7 plastic diesel model. These were initially sold unpowered, but soon folks starting acquiring motorized chasses for them. In 1956, Athearn introduced "Hi-F", a rubber band drive for their models. By the way, Hi-F apparently means "High Friction". Their F units were the first recipients of these, of course, but in 1957 Athearn introduced their Hustler switcher. Both proved popular and enjoyed long production.
This appears to be where this method of drive became popular, though again, I admit there were probably previous examples, though somewhat forgotten.
Not long after Athearn released their models, the West German toy company Distler made their own version for their sets. Distler sold toy trains in North America under the Cragstan label, and up to this point had been making them out of tin and with spur gear drives. These new Distler trains were now plastic, with locomotives sporting diecast frames and rubber band drives. Being battery powered models, the company wasn't concerned about top end speed for such low voltage, so the drive axles, which a pattern that companies such as Marx had used on their O-27 switcher, were smaller in diameter. To slow things down, you want larger in diameter axles (see the Athearn examples above). As a result, the Distler locomotive would take off like a rocket at power over 4.5 VDC, which it really isn't meant to operate at.
Marx followed in the 1960's when they began introducing their line of battery powered train sets. After briefly making a nice little gear driven 0-6-0 (with smoke!), Marx switched over to a simpler design, an 0-4-0, that used rubber band drive. Again, the motor was designed to take no more than 4.5 - 6 VDC to run smoothly, but once more went down to smaller diameter axles, or in this case, actual pulley wheels. This model had a rather short run as well, being replaced by a gear driven version a short time later.
The End?
Eventually, rubber band drive would give way to gears. Athearn retired the Hi F drive in the 1970's, even though as late as 1974 they were still introducing models that ran on it. So you would think that would be the end of rubber band drive.
Nope.
The East German model train manufacturer Piko introduced a Hustler clone, right down to the rubber band drive, sometime in either the late 1970's or early 80's. They used the same chassis for a center cab locomotive as well, both being sold under the "Piko Junior" line.
They are still being produced, now under the "Piko MyTrain" banner.
Long live rubber band drive.
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