It is often hard for me to connect/disconnect the DCC cable that connects a steam loco to its tender. The combination of fat shakey fingers, confined dark spaces, delicate parts, little slack, etc, all seem to conspire to make achieving a 'good' connection difficult. Without a good connection either you have a dead locomotive or worse random operational glitches. In a perfect world you would make the connection once and leave it alone, but it isn't a perfect world and there are many good reasons to have to break the connection. The manufactuers use lots of different designs of connectors, some are more troublesome than others.
I'd like to hear if anyone has good ideas, tools, techniques etc. for connecting/disconnecting steam loco DCC cables. In some cases it may be specific just for a particular design, like for the 2 plugs on a Bachmann 2-8-0.
I've used an Optivisor, Mag lite, tweezers, tiny screwdrivers, bamboo skewers (on Proto 2000, Bachmann, Sunset, Genesis, and BLI steamers) and still don't have a good technique for making a reliable connection.
Any good ideas?
Grinnell
Grinnell.
I used all the tools you have listed but my favorite is a pair of real thin needle nose pliers with smooth jaws. I can not recall where I got them they are about thirty years old now.
My Proto 0-6-0s have the wire connector as a draw bar but it has had its share of issues. One of them broke a wire from the connector and the other had just fallen apart one day while pulling a cut of hoppers from the gravel plant. I have been using a 6 pin JST harness when setting up my brass locomotives.
On the BLI locomotives I open the tender and cut the wire tie that is usually too tight to begin with and this will give you another inch of slack in the tether. It helps out a great deal.
On the Bachmann locos I try to separate the wires from the wrapping to give it some more flexibility.
As an aside I try not to separate loco and tender unless it needs maintenance. Even when transporting to the club and back. Get yourself one of those foam lined boxes (A-line I think). They work great for keeping them together.
JST harness.
http://www.traintekllc.com/TCS-Train-Control-Systems-1309-6-Pin-JST-In-Line-Connector/productinfo/TCS-1309/
Foam lined box.
http://www.ppw-aline.com/hobbytote.htm
I feel your pain.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
The A-Line totes is what I have taken to, instead of disconnecting my steam locos, I keep them connected and just put them in the tote for transport, the original boxes are stored away on the shelf. Saves wear and tear on the connector, plus all the frustration - especially the frustration that comes when you THINK you have it securely connected and then 10 feet down the track it stops because it wasn't.
Unlike some other storage totes, the A-Line ones store the locos and rolling stock upright on the wheels, this minimizes any chance of damage. I previously had some other brand of tote system that laid everything on its side. That was fine for my large fleet of 55 ton hoppers, which for the most part have little freestanding detail, at least until i got loads for them, then the loads fall out when laid over. But other cars and locos, with nice grabs and ladders, were getting broken or distorted from being on their sides. Since switching to the A-Line system, no problems. Highly recommended.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Gidday, Grinnell, I use two small screwdrivers to (hopefully) gently prise the male plugs from my Bachmann EM 1 and Proto Heritage 2-10-2. To be perfectly honest I find that it is a less than satisfactory procedure, that I haven't broken any wires is more to Good Luck than skill, so I am going to make a well supported carry case so that they remain coupled.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I use elbow-tined needle-nosed pliers. I splay the tines enough so that they fall on the 'shoulders' of the plug and force the plug home that way. Takes some practice because the natural tendency is to close the tines by squeezing. I guess one could make a wooden block to fit between the tines to prevent the squeezing because it does jeopardize the wires closest to the tines.
I tilt the tender and loco on their sides, rear of the tender 'high' relative to the two items so that I can bet my hand near the cab of the steamer. I grasp the steamer where it is safe to do so, and press the plug home hard, being careful not to let anything slip.
-Crandell
I see that lots of people are in the same boat I am with this issue, either try not to take them apart or struggle to get them back together. I have a 40 year old 'chip puller' tool that should help with the disconnect and just possibly might work for assembly. It looks like a pair of tweezers where the throat is about an inch wide; at the end of the arms there are inward facing prongs that can grab the lip (if any) on the connector.