Changing Tender on a Con-Cor N-scale 2-10-2

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I am trying to make my new Con-Cor 2-10-2 look more like a Southern Pacific F-1 “Dec” by susbstituting a Bachman 6-wheel Vanderbilt oil tender for the USRA coal tender supplied with the locomotive. I have completed the mechanics of the covenversion and, although it looks nice, I cannot get it to run. When I replaced the tender, I had to cut the wires leading to and from the circuit board in the tender under, what appears to be a false assumption, that they could simply be spliced together since I had no intention of adding DDC anyway. I asked Con-Cor for help, but no one there seems to be knowledgeable about the electrical circuit(s) involved.

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated. It was a sweet running locomotive and I hate to just use it for a static display.

Happy Rails,

Diane

2

Diane, since I’m in HO, I’m doing some guess work. Given that the engine was designed to be DCC capable, the motor is isolated from the frame. If I understand this correctly, the pickup from the loco frame would have had to have a wire going back to the circuit board in the tender. The circuit board in the tender would have had an internal connection to the tender pickup. IOW, of the wires in the harness between loco and tender, 1 would have been the loco pickup connection from the loco frame to the circuit board and 2 would have been the feed from the circuit board back to the motor. My assumption is that there were at least 5 wires in the wiring harness (3 to complete the motor circuit and 2 for the lighting circuit).

I think you’re going to have to take the locomotive itself apart. The wire off the loco frame would go to the motor brush on the same side of the frame. Then you need a wire from the tender to the other brush, making sure that the tender pickup is from the rail opposite that of the loco frame. If that’s the case, you should be able to connect things so that the loco

3

You could try going over to the Atlas forum & posting this question there. The steamers there may be able to help you.
It appears that you cut off the tender wires, cutting 1/2 of the pickup in the process. I wonder if you could swap tender trucks from CC to BA & reestabli***ender pickup. Be careful to isolate each side of the tender, so you don’t cross wires.

4

I do not own this locomotive. Further, I am not quite sure what you may have cut.

Be that as it may, I am not unfamiliar with current construction methods in N scale steam models.

Judging from what I have read about this animal, it appears that C-C designed it so that the wheels on the engine and the wheels on the tender picked up electric. Due to overgreasing and a few other factors, it appears that the only reliable electric pick-up comes from the tender. If you put the Bachpersonn oil tender and did not make it live, that is probably the source of your difficulty, as the B-mann oil tender is not live.

Try either re-connecting the USRA tender or making the B-mann tender live. If it runs, that was the source of your problem. If it still refuses to run, you have another problem. Let us know and we can try again to help you.

On another note, if you like smaller SP steam, take a look at the MP eight-wheeler and mogul that are on the way. They look much like E-23s and M-4s (the latter with a box tender instead of Vanderbilt–they seem to have had both on the SP), respectively. The cabs are not quite correct, but you could modify them.

I would not complain about more SP steam in N. I did SP steam when I had HO–the Varney pacifics were based on the P-10 (now you know when I had HO). SP steam has always been my favourite, but it has just not been available in N, in fact, there has not been much decent US steam available in N until recently. Instead, I chose the non-historic route.

I would consider comitting certain crimes for a good Mt-4, Mt-5, P-10, P-8, A-3, T-28, T-32, C-9 and Mk-4.

Not likely to occur in N , though. Too bad.

5

Diane, you will either have to re-establish all wheel (two rail) tender pick up or do a complete rewire job for the loco. The former will be the easier.

Take a look at the following topic on the Bachmann forum for additional information:

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/read.php?f=1&i=77569&t=76173

Ben