A couple of questions- why is the tender that Marx sold with the 999 steamer called a wedge tender? Also, I have two powered Marx 21 diesels and both will reverse direction when they pass over my manual Marx track switches when run at anything less than full throttle - none of my other Marx engines (490, 999) or my Lionel engines (2026, 225, 1061) have this problem. Can anyone offer some advice on what to do about this?
The tender is wedge-shaped, thus the wedge tender name.
Your diesels are reversing direction because they are experiencing a long enough interuption in power when they go over the switch. Marx trains only have a 2 position e-unit, so they reverse instead of stopping in neutral. It’s most likely due to the configuration of the pickup sliding shoes, or perhaps the shoes are rising too high when they go through the switch.
Jim
Thanks for your response. It seems the tender that a seller said was a wedge tender is not a wedge tender at all. I’m still a little confused about the way the diesels perform over swithces- my other Marx engines have the same sliding shoe pick-up but perform as they should.
I have 2 Marx 1666 locos. One goes through switches smoothly. The other either reverses or hops off the track. It’s the sliding shoe on that one that is the problem. It doesn’t go up or down as smoothly as it should. Look to see if there is any difference in the operation of the shoes on your bad locos and your good ones. Poke around and see if you can determine what the issue is.
Jim
Try polishing the shoe to try to improve its conductivity. Another possible problem is the spring tension on the shoe. Stretching the spring out a bit can help.
Also, try cleaning the drivers. It sounds simplistic, but it’s so unusual to find Marx locos with really clean drivers that I always clean them whether it looks like they need it or not. It helps.
Finally, check the copper wiper inside the motor that touches the axles. Sometimes that wiper is dirty and I’ve even seen it get bent away from the axle. Adjust the tension, clean it, and you can even try putting a dab of CONDUCTIVE (not di-electric) grease on the wiper. If you can’t find conductive grease at your hardware store in the electrical section, you can get some LGB or Aristocraft conductive grease intended for G scale track pins at a hobby shop. I had one Marx loco that wouldn’t run, no way, no how, and it just turned out that this wiper was dirty, probably due to overzealous lubrication at some point in its life.
As for the wedge tender, it’s a little bit wider on one end than the other, to disguise the width difference between the 999 loco and some Marx cars. I think it’s the 6-inch cars that are thinner than the 999. The difference is slight, but enough to make a difference.
The 999 is nice because it looks good with anything and everything Marx produced, just by changing the tender.