Installing new pickup wires

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Greetings all,

I have a Miniatronic’s Phosphor-Bronze Electrical Track pickup pack that I’d like to install on a switcher to improve continuity. The thin metal pickups that came with the unit are somewhat flimsy and worn out.

One end of the pickup wire has a crook while the other end is straight:

Is this so that you can bend the straight end around the other wheelset? Or, does it just lay on top of the axle, on the backside of the wheel?

I’m also presuming that there is 1) one pickup for each side of a truck, 2) the pickup is trimmed to length, and 3) the track wires are soldered to the pickup? The pack didn’t come with any instructions at all.

Thanks for the help…

Tom

2

Tom.

From what I read on the link you posted it seems that the crook/hook would go around one of the axles that is NOT insulated from the wheel. Then you would bend the other end around the other axle and trim the unused portion. Just make sure the insulated wheels are on the same side. Metal axles are a must for these.

Axle pickups are less likely to get covered with lint and dirt like the ones that rub on the wheel backs.

Pete