Power pick up on Bachmann 4-4-0

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Hey Guys [:D]

I have a Bachmann 4-4-0 that has erratic pick up. I have traced the problem to the brass that rubs the axles on the tender and possibly the front truck. Using an ohm meter and checking with the buzzer setting I determined that the brass makes a poor connection with the axles. I cleaned the axles with alcohol and saw an immediate improvement. The question I ask is there a better way to insure a good contact? I noticed there doesn’t seem to be a lot of pressure against the axle even though I did bend the brass strip to it’s best pressure.

I appreciate any help. [bow]

Lee

2

Right below.

http://www.55n3.org/cars/tender_wipers/

Keep the loco drivers clean and the axles clean on the tender. Harold’s idea helped a lot on my 4-4-0.

Keeping track clean is a priority. Do the cleaning, not just looks clean.

Rich

3

Thanks for the tip, My loco’s wipers run against the axle but I will for sure see if I can apply the Neolube and if that does’t cure the problem I’ll try to fashion new wipers
Just the idea I was looking.

Thanks [tup]

Lee

4

A suggestion is to save the page to your PC as an HTML document. Harold sometimes closes out his pages and then comes back many months later.

The page you looked at was gone for well over a year.

Rich

5

I also added a brass wire pickup to the loco for the 2 drivers that don’t pick up. Helped a bunch. I plan on adding a TCS decoder this week too. I’m not crazy about the motor, may replace it?

Richard