Hello folks, I,m starting to get into restoring old locos that I have been able to purchase lately and need some help with simple wiring. This is a Model 23? Mantua solid metal dating from who knows when? After I resoldered the wires where I thought they should go and hooked it up to my tester the motor runs like a scalded cat but now I have two wires that need to be attached some where.Do I just wire them to the chassis ? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Chrlyhrs46
Where are the wires coming from? What sort of engine is it? Steam engines are named by their wheel arrangement (so a 4-6-0 would have 4 wheels in the front, 6 drive wheels, and 0 rear wheels).
Most Mantuas only had a single wire going from the tender to the motor. One brush of the motor was grounded to the frame, and the other brush had a wire going to the tender frame. Some Mantuas also had headlights, which would have two wires. They were most likely soldered to each brush of the motor.
Assuming you’re talking about steam models, the really old Mantuas are pretty straight forward to wire. There’s a wire coming from the front motor terminal that connects back to the tender (or the pickup on a non-tender type). Some have a second, smaller diameter wire coming from the same spot going to the headlight. Anyting more than that was added after manufacturing. Or this isn’t a very old Mantua, they’re still being manufactured under the Mantua Classics name by Model Power.
Thanks Darth, I now have the tender apart and can see where the wire has to go ! It is a 4-6-0 , and I think my problem is solved thanks again for such a speedy reply Chrlyhrs46
I have one of the newer Mantua 0-6-0T locos and one motor wire goes to the frame. one motor wire goes to a driver pickup on the fireman’s side.Two wires come from the head light and connect to the same points.
I am not familiar with Model 23.
Below is a link to Mantua diagrams.
http://www.hoseeker.net/mantuamiscellaneous.html
Rich
Thanks Tom, that seems to solve my problem! Do they even have a sanitation dept. in Poconos? lol Thanks again Chrlyhrs46
It is a 4-6-0? Wow, that was a good guess!
I hope you can get it all working like new again.[:D]
No, the title goes back a couple years to some “colorful” conflicts on this site.