Well I jumped in…both feet and got a particularly nice F-19
It was missing a build sheet, so I’m going to have to wing this when I take her apart to convert her to DCC…and that has me a lil nervous. There’s also one pin to the tender. So I imagine the drawbar is the ground and I’ll have to separate the motor from the frame. with some electrical tape and plastic mount screws.
Don.
Thats a nice looking loco. Yes the tender draw bar is the way it receives power from one rail. The other rail is from one side of the loco. The only thing that needs to be insulated is the motor brushes. There is usually one wire soldered to one brush that is attached to the draw bar screw that is insulated from the frame of the loco.The other brush if it does not have a wire attached will be grounded by the brush spring. What I do is slip a piece of wire insulation on the spring. Some open frame motors will have wires soldered to both brushes. These motors are already insulated and nothing further is needed to insulate it. This is an old open frame with just the one wire. You can notice the insulation (red) on the spring with the wire soldered on. http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/locoi1sa/F3c%202-6-0/SAM_0407.jpg
That is if you plan on keeping the open frame motor. I would strongly suggest tuning it up with some super magnets before you go DCC with it. This is an old KTM motor with wires on brushes and super magnets added. http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/locoi1sa/K5s%205698%20project/SAM_0503.jpg
It may just have a can motor already installed. If so then just add decoder and your all set.
Pete
