Quick question for anyone out there, I have a moderate size O guage layout in my basement and I use Atlas nickel silver track . I have-2- 72 inch radius curved switches on wich all of my diesel engines have no operational problems on them but when I run my 2-8-2 across, it dies (shuts down) The only thing I can figure is that the gap between the middle rail is greater than that of the pick up rollers on the engine. If or (can) I add another isolated pick up roller on the rear of the tender to help this problem???
If your tender doesn’t have a pick up roller call jeff kane at 585-229-2050 and he should be able to get you set up with a roller that probally will snap into place that then you could run a wire from to your engine and put in a small male and female plug to disconect the 2 when tou want to pack away or take off the trasck it makes it easier and jeff may even have some teather set ups you can get but sounds like you figured the problem out correctly to me.
Thank you. I will call Jeff Monday and see what he says. THANX again!!
You might use a multimeter and check to see if there’s continuity between the two pickup rollers.
It could be that one has become internally disconnected, and thus your engine only has one functional pickup roller.
Jeff there sunday afternoon normally.
I agree with all of what’s been said. But your mention of “an isolated pick up roller” specifically makes me wonder whether you already have a roller on the tender, perhaps for a whistle. If that is the case, there is no need to add another for this purpose–all you need is the tether to connect the existing roller to the locomotive.
You can make an easy and unobtrusive single-wire tether connector from a male-female pair of connector pins (not the connector–just the pins). Solder them to black wire and cover all but the business end of the male pin with black shrink tubing. Put the female on the locomotive so that you can test-run it alone with out having the loose end fall on the track and make a short circuit (as I found out the hard way).
Some types of connectors have loose pins which are intended to be soldered or crimped onto the wires, then inserted into the connector shell. I’m talking about a pair of these loose pins, used without any shell. Molex types are probably the easiest to find. However, I use high-quality gold-plated pins from a large stock that I salvaged years ago. If you would like a few, just let me know.
Brilliant solution because of its simplicity. [bow]
Jack
Hello, This engine is a rail king 2-8-2 (ps2) with center rail pick ups on only the engine.Last night I got out an old set of calipers and found that the spacing of the rollers are almost 1/2" shorter than the center rail gap on the switch. By isolated I guess I meant from the tender floor since it and the bolster are both metal. And yes I will take you up on those pins! So I can see what they are, Cause I do have other small engines that have not been on the track yet, and might have the same problem. Layout in the works. Mostly a winter time hobby. Thanx for the help. How do I contact you about the pins?
Click on the e-mail gizmo in one of my posts, then send me your e-mail and postal addresses.
Bob, three pairs of pins are on their way to you.