I finally installed my Bluerail receiver in a locomotive that seems small enough not to overload it. This is a model of a UK Wisbech and Upwell tram loco - this railway branch ran along the road, so they hid the steam bits inside a square body.
It’s also the prototype for “Toby the Tram Engine”, obviously.
I acquired a beat-up used model from the UK with a Bachmann 4-wheel tram truck under it. [It saved me having to cut out all the bodywork.] The model has a boiler inside but needs freshening up, as they say in the real estate business.
I squeezed 4 18650 Li Ion batteries around the sides of the boiler, and put the Bluerail board on top of a couple of crossbars, as you can see in this pic. The whole install needs a re-think, as the truck has to be removed to get the boiler out, and you can’t remove the batteries to charge them unless the boiler is out. And the boiler holds the roof in place. . .
Anyway, I can report that it works. I can also confirm that the sound is quite interesting when you run it to a bluetooth speaker - that blue cube in my first pic is paired to my phone before I start the Bluerail app. Here’s the result:
Range was about 50’ across the garden. It did keep dropping the connection as I was sitting and watching from the other side. Total cost was $90 for the Bluerail board (Original Blue Horse version) and $15 for the speaker.
