I have recently started my HO railroading activities again. I have a Riverossi 2-8-2 steam loco that ran fine when I put it up several years ago. My guess is that the engine is at least 15 years old. The trucks on the tender where broken and when I put new trucks on the tender they sparked and the engine would stop and start. I believe I must have the wrong trucks on the tender. Thanks for any advise.
Thanks
Welcome to the forums.Perhaps you accidently reversed the trucks when you installed them ? They probably have a insulated and un-insulated side. Putting trucks on the wrong way will cause a short circuit,I have made this mistake a couple times.The insulated side might have plastic to seperate the metal wheel from the metal axle. hope this helps, Joe
Hi Joe,
Thank you for your quick assistance in solving my problem. The next question is what trucks should I buy and from what company? There are no hobby shops in my area so I must do almost all my purchases via internet, and therefore I am unable to determine which trucks to buy. For example, I have pulled up the Kadee trucks list but I see none listed for use on tenders and I am unable to find any with one side hot and other side insulated.
As you probably have determined, I am out of date in dealing with HO scale (had a layout about 20 years ago). I do have a G scale outdoor layout, but wanted start back in HO and build a new layout.
Any additional help, or suggested resources would be a great help.
Bob bmccrack@acs.ac
When I hold a tender upside down to look at the trucks,the insulated wheels all have to be on the left side for the electricty to flow proper. I just built a Bowser kit,maybe if you google Bowser,get their website,and see if they sell tender trucks or parts.Perhaps if you change the subject title to " tender truck help needed" you will get more answers.I will admit I don’t know as much as a lot of the modelers on this forum. Best wishes, Joe
Is it possible that the trucks are just standard freight car trucks?
Do you need metal trucks to conduct electricity or are there metal contacts rubbing the axles? If the latter, plastic trucks should work.