Some twenty yearsw ago I was given a beautiful brass engine, a 4-6-2 made by OMI. The detail is well done, and the mechanism was fairly good and it ran well. I have kept up maintanence, tightening things up occasionally, oil and grease when neccessary and I have been running it off and on for all of these years. Then for some strange reason it stopped. I checked everything, clean wheels, no binding, even checked the electrical hook ups. There are only two wires so it's not complicated. One wire, one on the right goes to the draw bar and the one on the left side of the locomotive was soldered to the floor of the tender, simple.
I checked the solder joints and they seemed o.k but I disconnected them to clean and re-solder them back. Nothing happened. So, I decided to leave the right contact wire attached to the draw bar and took the left sided wire and began to make contact with various parts of the locomotive and tender. Low and behold, on a whim I made contact with the track on the left side and the engine started running.
I held it in place and it ran smoothly for a minute, but when I tried again touching various part of the locomotive nothing. Then I made contact with the wheels on the left side and it worked. The insulation of the wheels is on the left side so I had to make contact with the wheels only, even the drivers made good contact but no place else.
Any suggestions as to where I could attach this wire would be helpful. Can't just solder it to the wheel tread or the axil. The insulated side prevents the electrical contact with the wheel. I thought about wipers, but you would think if you re-attached the wires just the way it was originally done it would work.
Thanks for any input.
Robert Sylvester
Newberry-Columbia Line
South Carolina
A better title like Brass Loco Electical Pick up Failure might jog some memories in the Electrical Forum that would over look this thread in the General Forum. Maybe Mr Otte will move it for you.
Your testing has determined that you have power in the rails and power at the wheels of the loco and power coming from the tender.
All those pesky electrons are trapped in the loco wheel with no where to go. You know where they are and you know were they use to go. How did they get there when it worked?
According to the first link I found on a google search of fixing a brass loco pick up, the tranmission is through the wheel bearings. That's where I would look for dirt, corrossion or too much lubrication. The article mentions other issues, but since it runs if you reposition the wire, I think they are less likely.
http://markschutzer.com/Brass_Clinics/TroubleshootingBrass2008a.pdf
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Sometimes it might be that the trucks on the tender are reversed. In them days the loco picked up power from rail one and the tender picked up power from rail 2.
Maybe all you need to do is to turn the truicks the other way.
LION runs trains with 48 wheel pickup
ROARING
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Lion:
I did do that but it shut down the system. I try again, the insulated wheels are on the left now, I am not sure if they will work on the right or not.
Thanks,
Robert
Henry:
Great idea about cleaning things up that may do the trick as well. I tried reversing the tender wheels but that shut things down. And you're right maybe Mr. Otte could put it on the other disucussion platform, did not think of that, appreciate the suggestion, I hope they will change it.
robert sylvester I did do that but it shut down the system. I try again, the insulated wheels are on the left now, I am not sure if they will work on the right or not.
You know that touching the wire to the left rail makes the loco run. The other wire comes from the tender or draw bar.
Therefore the insulated wheels on the tender have to be on the left side.
I think Henry has nailed it. But I'll say it a different way.
The tender normally picks up on the left rails. If you disconnected the wire from the tender, and touched the left rail, and the engine ran, THEN the tender is not picking up.
First, you must make sure the insulated wheels are on the RIGHT side, when looking down from above, and with the drawbar forward.
If that doesn't do it: You might have a "wireless" drawbar. All of my older brass engines had them. It might have failed, and is in need of repair or replacement. To find out, take the wire that you used to touch the left rail, and touch a bare metal part of the tender (after checking the insulated wheel placement). Does the loco run?
Ed
7j43k The tender normally picks up on the left rails. If you disconnected the wire from the tender, and touched the left rail, and the engine ran, THEN the tender is not picking up.
I believe this is correct. A Volt-Ohm Meter would be a useful tool, as well.
Gary
robert sylvester So, I decided to leave the right contact wire attached to the draw bar and took the left sided wire and began to make contact with various parts
I could be left right confused on the meaning of original post, or the OP could have mis-stated what he meant.
They do drive on the wrong side of the road in some of those brass manufacturing companies.