Robert L Miller Laboratory Alco S-4

Name

Robert L. Miller did business as "Robert L. Miller Laboratories", but at the time he was better known as "Robert L Miller Laboratory", and within the modeling community at the time it was known as "Miller Engineering". On this web site we use the original name, as there are a lot of Millers in the model railroading community.

Documents

September 1947 Model Railroader Magazine Ad (scan)

S-4 Instructions (PDF)

S-4 Brochure (scan)

S-4 Locomotive Trucks (scan)

Drive System

You can kind of visualize the Robert L Miller Laboratory truck system as something similar to the NorthWest ShortLine Stanton Drive, in that the entire workings are captured in the truck itself. The Robert L Miller Laboratory trucks were free-rolling, so reverse current needed to be applied to properly slow-down or stop the engine. The model contained a lot of weight for great tractive effort. The kit could be bought with no trucks, with one powered truck, or with both trucks powered.

The power trucks had only two operational modes, accelerate (forward or reverse) or coast, no matter what you did with the throttle. This was because the armature was wound around the axle and the segmented wheel treads were the commutators. No gears. So you had to give the engine a lot of juice just to start it. The faster the motor ran, the less current was required. The large lead weight that filled the entire hood provided an overabundance of inertia, thus overcoming any tendency for power-off regenerative braking to have any noticeable effect.