Would an OTC lockon work in place of the track trip for an 027 tell tale to operate the automatic brakeman? It looks similar & I thought it might work, somehow.
If so, where can I find them? I’ve checked ebay, Olsen’s, & several others with no results. They don’t even recognize the OTC item.
A pole support & track trip cost $11.50. That seems pricey. Maybe the OTC would be, too. I can’t even find one to get a price. Anyone know of a source?
wyomingscout
call jeff at Train tender his web site is www.ttender.com best person to ask that I know.
went to Jeff website and looked up the part for you has 2 listed one used one new
| OTC-1L | OTC track lockon new LTI LIMITED | 9.50 new |
|---|---|---|
| OTC-1U | OTC lockon original used with rails used w/ rails | 7.00 used with rails |
I see some newly listed on ChooChooAuctions:
http://www.choochooauctions.com/cgi-bin/ua/item.pl?item=79571
I have delt with Choo Choo a number of times and like their service.
Dennis
10-4 to that. Get most of my internet train “stuff” there.[tup]
Great. Good sources. Thanks, guys.
Now, although these don’t seem much cheaper that the real thing, does anyone know if the OTCs will work as a tell tale track trip?
wyomingscout
repeat lol call jeff he will tell you hes a great guy to deal with
Called Jeff this AM & he thinks the OTC won’t work because the shoe is different on the brakeman compared to the horse car. I dunno; seems like my cattle loader sometimes activated the brakeman. Anyway, the OTC isn’t much different in price than the original tell tale setup.
I’ll keep an eye out for some tell tale setups. Jeff says he might have some rusty ones at a cheaper price. When I get serious about buying, I’ll call him back.
Thanks for reminding me about him. I’ve talked to him before, but forgot.
wyomingscout
The thing to remember with the brakeman car is that the “control” rail is connected to the ground, outside rail. The car has a rololer that picks up power from the center rail and when the pickup shoe goes across the control rail it gets the ground feed. The brakeman activates on the cattle car corral because the one control rail on the corral is permanently grounded. If I remember correctly, the brakeman would work if it passed over a UCS section when the control rail was grounded. Hope this helps.
Thanks, Mel. Now that I have found sources for the OTC, I find it is not much cheaper, if any, than the tell tale setup. i’ve already found a set on ebay for $12.00. Unfortunately, they are 0 gauge track trips, not 027.
I’ll keep an eye out on the auctions & the two train stores in Denver I know of.
Charlie
No, you cannot use an OTC lockon. As you have already been told, the brakeman car has a specail shoe, with a very narrow slot, that is designed to be contacted only by the narrow blade of the tell-tale base. If you want to use an OTC lockon, you would need to replace the shoe with a standard one.
Several Lionel accessories have a narrow ground blade built into their base, and will actuate the brakeman. Off the top of my head, the cattle platform is one of them. Lionel’s solution was to use an extra tell tale assembly to get the brakeman back in sync.,
Original OTC lock-ons worked fine with both 0 and 027. The OTC blades match the height for 027 track. In order to use them with 0 gauge, brass colored clips are inserted into the blades to add height to them.
cw,
Oh, come on. I can’t believe this. Not without a photo of the top of your head.
The 497 coaling station is the other. You want to be very careful running the brakeman car on a route with a 497 on it. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Rob
Thanks. As I mentioned, I’ll stick with the telltale setup. I’ll put my cattle loader on a sidetrack. No coal loaders of any kind.[:(] Hope to get a 164 lumber loader to set next to my 464 lumber mill.
wyomingscout