I took apart my BLI 2-10-4 for a good clean and lube and to see if I could figure out why the Headlight stopped working. Couldn’t see anything obvious as far as the headlight goes so put the boiler back on and proceeded to clean the wheels on the tender.
I took the wheels out of the trucks on the tender one at a time to really give them a good clean. I was careful to put them back the same way except on one I got distracted and possibly turned it around. I notice the two wheels towards the centre of the tender seem to be insulated in the middle of the axle, while the ones on the end don’t.
I put every thing back together and it shorts the layout and there is a small click coming from the loco. So did I fry a decoder? Did I do something wrong as far as putting the wheels back in the trucks on the tender or did I screw something up in the Loco when I took off the boiler. I have taken it apart before and all has been well upon its return to the rails. But I sure must have messed up this time.
Gee you’re a smart guy Rich, That’s a good idea! Process of elimination. I’m just cooking dinner for the hordes, soon to return from the pool. I’ll get right on it in the morning. I hope it works.
I went down and too a real close look at my 2-10-4.
At first, I concluded that all the tender wheels were mounted the same way.
But as I look closer, it does appear that each wheelset has an insulated wheel on one side.
As you look at the loco from behind the tender, the wheels on the forward truck are insulated on the left side and the wheels on the rear truck are insulated on the right side. Or, so it appears.
I turned one wheel set around after Rich told me about the insulator position on the axles. There was still a short, but I determined the axle wipers were off and once I straightened those out, all was well.
Those are pretty slim tolerances on those axle wipers. I don’t see why they couldn’t make them just a little further apart so they left more space on either side of the insulator.
Now to get the headlight working. Thanks again guy’s, you’re the best.[tup][bow]
Brent, that is certainly good news. Glad to hear that the decoder is OK.
Let us know what you find out on the headlight. I have several BLI steamers, but I have yet to have a headlight go out. I assume that it is an incandescent bulb, but I cannot say for sure. I also wonder whether it is protected by a resistor. You might call Customer Service at BLI just to be sure.
Incidentally, is your steamer a Paragon or Blueline? Mine is the older Paragon. Great loco.
Mine is also a Paragon. Talk about a work horse! It can haul my eleven Rapido coaches up and over my Rocky Mountains without even breaking a sweat.[:)]
As far as the headlight goes, the # boards light up, but no headlight, go figure.
The T1’s are some of my favorites on my layout. I have 4 total. They are heavily weighted, and have excellent traction. I pulled 100, 55 Ton USRA coal cars before.with one.