So today I got rambunctious and decided to try hard-wiring some tenders on some Mantua loco’s I have. Out came the weights that were added along with the #whatever drill bit I have for tapping 2-56 screws, and the 2-56 tap. I disassembled the tenders, removed the weights, drilled a small hole in the trucks right behind the mounting hole, wrapped wire around the screws, drilled larger holes through the tender underbody for the wires to pass trough, and another #whatever hole to tap in the center of the tender undercarriage.
After connecting the wires to the trucks, then through the underbody to the aforementioned new screw, I reassembled the tenders (without any additional washers, weights, etc) and re-installed on the loco. The tenders were now in pure stock form with NO additional weight. Next came the test.
WOW!!! The loco took off like a race horse!. I had tried it and another Mantua a few inches apart before starting, and afterwards the loco w/ modified tender took off like a race horse compared to the “sotck” Mantua (with previous years of added weights)). So much so that I spent the day re-working the rest of my Mantua fleet.
All I can say is WOW! Hardwiring those trucks to the tenders makes a HUGE difference. I can only imagine that the same principle would hold true for any locomotive with tender pickups. On a side note, I did discover that one of my Mantua Mikes has had magnets replaced in its prior ownership!.. no wonder it is stronger than the rest of the fleet! As for the now “lightweight” tenders? They posed no problems with any derailing/stringlining issues with 36 car mixed freight consist on 3+% grades and 24" curves!
I prefer my tenders ballasted on the heavy side, as it improves pick-up and is useful when pushing heavy drags or doubleheading. Most of my trains run as doubleheaders.
This little Mogul’s tender weighs 8oz.:
…and the one behind this little 10-Wheeler tips the scales at 7oz. when its bunker is full of coal:
If a locomotive is habitually balky due to electrical issues, I like to re-wire them for all-wheel pick-up as on this old United 0-8-0:
…then the tender is connected directly to the motor using mini-plugs:
As long as there’s a wheel on each rail, the loco will run. [swg]
Sounds like those Mantua have a design issue with their drawbars. But hardwiring a tender will improve even a well-functioning insulated drawbar setup.
As Wayne noted, weight will definitely help with contact, even if you’re hardwired and it’s not needed, enjoy the extra tractive effort.
I agree with the dissenters. Maybe hardwiring the tender to the engine improves performance over the traditional harness, but I prefer weight in the tender.
I am not so sure that I want my steamer taking off like a race horse. I prefer to add weight, not remove it, from the tender to improve tracking.
For clarification, when “taking off like a race horse”, what was meant is they now take off at much less throttle than before. I attribute this to two things, A) dragging less weight, B) much improved contact. The Mantua tender contacts run rails to wheel, wheel to trucks, trucks to (metal) underbody, underbody to motor through wire from motor screwed into underbody. There is no connection through the drawbar, as in a Rivarossi; the factory drawbar is plastic. This is the factory arrangement, which leaves a lot of room for intermittent breaks in contact as the tender moves around, even weighted- some of my tenders had 3-4 ounces already in them, plus the weight of the metal underbody. Hard-wiring the trucks to the underbody, in essence creating a wired connection straight to the motor, eliminated this. An added bonus is the SLOW speed operation of these old engines is drastically improved!
No tracking issues have been experienced- yes, I expected some, but none. With 36 car consist with IM wheels all being on 3% grade and wrapping around two 24" curves, the tenders stayed put. I run double-headed, sometimes triple, though not with the Mantua’s as there is too much power draw. Sudden appplication of power to the consist would stringline the consist off the tracks (kind of like real world) but tenders stayed put. Backing the entire consist may be an issue; the tenders did stay put while backing 11 Athearn heavyweights up the hills, but I’m not using my road engines for a lot of backing or switching.
Anyway, I too was one of those that would add weight for increased connectivity, and I hated it everytime. I will now only add weight for tracking issues as some of my newer plastic locos with light tenders require. On tenders with wipers and plastic trucks, I may find a way to wire to the wipers straight to the drawbar pin. Hmm…
Thanks for the clarification on the drawbar. I didn’t realize that was how Mantua did these.
I do sort of the same thing on my DCC installs. I wire to the truck itself, using some superflexy 36 gauge wire or the wire found in mouse cords can also be used. Then I use a wiper made from 0.010 phospor-bronze wire tacked onto a small piece of PC tie attached to the truck where the wire comes down from inside the tender. This makes a good, clean path all the way to the back of the wheel.
And if tender weight isn’t needed, then it’s just not so long as things are running reliably.
