Human Powered Night Train

by rggb

14K4117

Intro: Human Powered Night Train

This is a human powered parade float for a Christmas night parade. It was built by the Human Powered Vehicle Operators of Ottawa (HPVOoO) http://hpv.tricolour.net . More details can be found on http://hpv.tricolour.net/train.html .  The base platform is a human powered tandem recumbent tricycle towing a home made 4'x8' tandem axle 3/4 ton flatbed cargo trailer which in turn is towing a kid's wagon.  The trike lies entirely underneath the bottom locomotive boiler line.  The rest is added superstructure.  The red, green and blue lights are 130m of 2.5mm electro-luminescent wire.  The horn is a real diesel locomotive air horn.

17 Comments

BillCraft 12 years ago

I would love to build this for Christmas time!!! I was just wondering where you bought all of the EL wire, inverters, and connectors.

rggb 12 years ago

Here's a description of the wiring:

http://hpv.tricolour.net/train-elwire.txt

tanmanknex 12 years ago

Approximately how much did it cost?

rggb 12 years ago

The EL wire is about $1.20/foot and there is about 400'. There are also 8 inverters that are $10 each? Connectors all told were maybe another $50?

The wood was almost all recycled. The bike rims were in a scrap heap, as was the stove pipe.

A friend gave me the diesel locomotive air horn, but those can fetch anywhere from $300 to $900. The air tank and connectors were $75-$100.

The tandem recumbent trike you can find here: http://greenspeed.com.au/gtt.html

The trailer was about $200 in metal plus labour.

katerlyn 13 years ago

Can we see it in daytime? I would like to do this to my Rhoadescar.

rggb 13 years ago

Sure, there's lots more photos linked from here in a number of levels of detail: http://hpv.tricolour.net/train.html

2qwe 13 years ago

An interesting article. Thanks)

TheBlackSharpie 13 years ago

At first I thought this was a light-painting but this is way cooler!

Charlie13 13 years ago

how heavy is this thing?

rggb 13 years ago

Here's a rough guess:
tandem: 80 pounds
trailer: 100+ pounds
kid's wagon: 25 pounds
diesel loco air horn: 20 pounds
On top of that is three 10' sections of 2x6", a bit of 2x2" and smaller lumber, 1/2" conduit and the lights basically weigh nothing compared to the rest of this.
So, 275 pounds as a guess? Then you have two adults pedalling, 12 kids in the big trailer and a couple of kids in the wagon. The big trailer is good for 1500 pounds (3/4 ton).

JasonYMN 13 years ago

That's incredible. If I had the time I would so make something like this.

CrazyHowiesBikes 13 years ago

I was searching for the right words to sum up my thoughts, but all I could come up with is "WOW!"

JerryMopar 13 years ago

On eof the most awesome thing ive seen someone make in awhile