Trying to revive the last of 4 Loco's my Dad left behind. It's a John English 2-8-2 he built from a kit. Anyone know how the right side power is picked up to the motor? I have a dangling tender connection. But I'm not getting any power to the motor unless I deliver it to the brush itself. I looked at the 4 pages posted at HOSEEKER as well as another 2-8-2 I happened upon and I can't get anything from those sources.
I know I can wire up a pickup, but I'd really like to know how it was designed for power pickup originally.
Thanks.
I don't think this will help, because you seem to know quite a bit already.
These locomotived picked up one side from the locomotive, and one side from the tender. That lead for the tender should attach to an isolated pin that accepts the tender drawbar.
I am pretty certain you knew this.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Yes, I wasn't seeing the power get from the wheels to the motor (typically thru the chassis). It now looks like there's a short where a support frame is touching some links both sides, creating the short. At least that's what the test track is showing me. My other English isn't shorting, it has the same support frame, so I need to ge the magnifying glass out to assess where the air gaps are (at least I hope that's the answer).
Thanks!
The John English locos (I have a couple) pick-up power from the drivers on the right side of the locomotive - the driver rims on the left side are insulated by a layer of paper between the tires and the wheels. The wheels on the tender are the opposite, with the insulated wheels on the right side (usually insulated at the axle where it fits through the wheel).The stock drawbar does not transmit current, but the usual practice is to connect a wire to the metal tender, then run it to the locomotive and solder it to the brush on the left side of the motor. The circuit through the motor is completed from pick-up on one side and return on the opposite side.
You can improve current collection using wipers made from phosphor-bronze wire (available in various thicknesses from Tichy), soldered to a piece of circuit board material that has the foil removed along the centre, to keep the two sides isolated. Here's an example, done for a friend...
I usually install wipers on the tender wheels, too, which improves pick-up and decreases stalls due to random areas of dirty track...
Mini-plugs like these are useful to make connections between tender and loco...
Wayne
may have found the short, front truck pilot maybe the culprit... working on insulating it and will retest
running... found that the solder that Dad used to connect the Tender wire would slide over and touch a screwed down piece that sent wheel side power to the other brush... lots of fun along the way (not)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlxjl21unp7xap5/John%20English%20test%20track%20IMG_1790.mp4?dl=0
RESOLVED... running "OK"