Folks,
As a “fun” project, I took an old - but physically excellent shape - Rivarossi 2-8-4 and rebuilt it. I cleaned it up, installed a Sagami can motor, and sprayed the whole thing engine black. It lacks only decals and possible details specific for the road to be modeled.
On the test stand (Aristo rollers) it runs pretty good, meaning the loco and drive wheels and side rods, etc. are ok. When hooked to the tender, where it gets the negative track charge, it works sporadically, if that.
I cleaned up the wheels and brushes and added weight to the tender, with not much improvement in results. My take on it is that the electricity from the track to the wipers is where the problem lies.
Would you all have any ideas? Also, do the Rivarossi wipers sit between the tender body and the axles, or between the axles and the track?
Thanks,
Mobilman44
The wipers should be pressing down on the axles. Are the wipers clean, or do they have dirt and oil on them? Are the wipers putting enough spring tension on the axles, or are they just barely touching? Is the metal drawbar making good contact with the engine and tender? There should be a steel wire on the drawbar that contacts the metal pin on the tender.
You can do this 2 ways:
Use a DMM to check for continuity between the wheels and draw bar conneciton to verify the condition. Hook up the meter and then move and probe the pickups and trucks until you see the resistance drop. Bend the truck wire also and monitor the DMM as you do.
Use a jumper wire with the loco in a cradle and provide power to various points until you have good performance.
Either way you should find your problem.
I am not sure on your model but usually the wiper goes between the axle and tender body so the weight of the tender pushes down on the wiper.
What size Sagami did you use?
Jim
check that tesion wire on the locomotive
make sure it is pushing on the tende pin
Ken
hope this helps
Thanks!
I had the wipers under the axles - so the extra weight in the tender only pushed them away from the axles (I assume). All the other connections are clean, so I will make this change and adjust the tension on the wipers.
The Sagami motor is about 1 1/2 inches by 1 inch. I had to cut out some interior plastic to get it to fit and then set it in a bed of epoxy. That may not have been the best thing to do, but it definitely worked.
Once I get this running decently it will go up on Ebay in my annual winter sale. Actually, if I can’t get it running decently it will still go up on Ebay - but of course with that situation spelled out.
Years ago I had a number of Rivarossi locos (this is the last one) and for the price you got a very realistic (for the time) loco. Sadly, the motor and running gear didn’t hold up as well as the bodies, and installing KD couplers was often a major chore.
Thanks,
Mobilman44
I have a 2-8-4 I picked up on ebay for $30.oo with shipping. Gentalman had cleaned and painted the whole thing black and left off the lettering. Just what I wanted. He claimed it ran rough and in spurts. I got it cleaned the wheels and replaced the tender wheels so the grounded side of wheelsets were all on one side. It runs awesome now. Try that. Don’t know. What are you gonna sell on ebay i may be interested.
mike
Hi,
For the past 4 years I have sold a plethora of HO (and some postwar Lionel) and train books on Ebay. The reason is simple, I just have way too much “stuff” and/or am upgrading.
I have a bad case of “collector genes” and with the kids and first wife gone I actually had the money to buy what I just had to have. So I’ve sold off all those wonderful Athearn locos and upgraded to Stewart, sold Rivarossi and upgraded to BLI, etc., etc.
This year most of the stuff will be about 30 Accurail kits, Rivarossi IC passenger cars, a about 12 ATSF Walthers passenger cars (new in box), and several other out of production kits, etc.
I use the same Ebay name as on this forum and usually start listing at Thanksgiving and pace them thru early January. Ha, I learned the hard way not to do them all at once!
ENJOY,
Mobilman44