Solar Power Challenge                                Author Kieron McGeever             Last update: 21/11/2007 21:11:21

Solar Train

Design a solar powered train engine and to prove that your ideas work build a model of it to run on a standard “G” gauge railway track.

The engine must be powered by the solar panels and can be mounted on the engine or separately to it. A maximum of 4 solar panels can be used to power the train.

The engine must be able to pull a standard “G” gauge open goods wagon with a half kilogramme load. The model can be made form any suitable kit (e.g. Lego etc) or scratch built.

Judging Criteria

The engine will be judged on how quickly it can pull the truck along the track and the engineering quality of the completed model.

 

Track

“G” gauge track is 45 mm inside dimensions from rail to rail also known as the Rail Gauge.

All the wheels on the train must run on the track.

The train must be able to go round a standard curve of radius 600 mm