powering tender wheels

[union pacific 844]

i want to power my 4-8-4's tender for more power to engine the tender has 6 wheel trucks  any ideal how?

[rogertra]

Add weight to the engine, it's much easier than powering the tender, but keep the weight centred on the drivers.  To test, put the engine on a simple balance beam, a 12" ruler and a pencil will do, and ensure that all the engine weight is centred on the centre of the driving wheels.

[union pacific 844]

i want to power my 4-8-4's tender so i add dcc  sound tender has 6 wheel trucks   any ideal how?

[jonathan]

You have a couple of choices; you can use some brass or bronze strips across the axles. stringing wire into the tender, or you have use some kadee centering springs to brush current off the backs of the wheels.





or



Four wheel, or six wheel trucks, the principal is the same.  Pay attention to which side of the wheels are insulated.  This is all assuming you have metal wheels to start with.

You will have lots of small wires to deal with on this project.  Practice a little fine soldering first, if you are not use to it yet.

Reagards,

Jonathan

[union pacific 844]

ok

[richg]

http://www.nmra.org.au/Hints/Pickups/Pickups.html

http://www.westportterminal.de/tender080.html

http://members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn1/ExtraPickUps.htm

http://www.model-railroad-infoguy.com/Proto-pickup.html

http://www.alaskarails.org/modeling/PD-electrical-pickup.html

Rich

[union pacific 844]

ok cool was thinking of buying this http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-SPECTRUM-89912-VANDERBILT-HICKEN-STYLE-TENDER-DCC-READY-SOUTHERN-PACIFIC-/150835335526?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item231e7c9166 and putting the parts in may bachmann  union pacific 4-8-4 tender  and using the southern pacific tender  for  a water tender for my bachmann dcc southern pacific gs4  4-8-4 war baby

[rogertra]

So, you don't want to power the tender wheels, i.e. add a motor, you want to add electrical pick ups to the tender wheels?

Perhaps if you'd said that in the first place.........................

[union pacific 844]

yeah i was not thinking when i posted this yes i want to add electrical pick ups to the tender wheels

[utdave]

jonathan
  sure like how those pick-ups are made for the tender    i was wanting to add lights to a caboose  and thats the answer  or any other pick up    a sound decoder in a box car without connecting a wire between a unit and the car.   i have a 2 -10-0  deccapod/sound  on one switch it looses power and i think i need to look at it also to add more wheels with power to the tracks .    does that void the warranty on the bachmann line?   

[rogertra]

jonathan
  sure like how those pick-ups are made for the tender    i was wanting to add lights to a caboose  and thats the answer  or any other pick up    a sound decoder in a box car without connecting a wire between a unit and the car.   i have a 2 -10-0  deccapod/sound  on one switch it looses power and i think i need to look at it also to add more wheels with power to the tracks .    does that void the warranty on the bachmann line?   

Who cares about warranty?  We're modellers, we fix things ourselves. 

I've never sent back any locomotive for warranty work, always take on the challenge and fix it myself.  Even when parts are broken.  Last thing I want is some hamfisted repair tech damaging all the extra details I've added or, worse yet, simply replacing my carefully detailed and weathered locomotive with a brand new one because it's cheaper for Bachmann to replace it than fix it.

[utdave]

Who cares about warranty?  We're modellers, we fix things ourselves. 

just what i do        i havent sent anything in yet  i have asked for help on  one athearn steam  to figure out how to take it out and replace a gear on the wheel shaft which he did for me ( dont have the gear puller for that yet).   i do like working on them myself and making a mistake here and there  but dont follow it on the next project  learn by doing  and going blind at the same time.  and i do make my living being a building engineer doing repairs on all equipment  that has to do with water ,gas ,electricity high efficent biolers  and so on  im still in some learnning curves   thats why i asked if it void the warranty.  even at my work sometimes its better to let the factory mess with something than do something myself.      also i liked the pickups  and was very good thinking using something i have few extra of to solve what i wanted to do to to lite up a caboose and even xmas light a few cars and stuff for xmas at a low cost but at modellers way of doing it .    i got my #50 drill bit , my #2-56x3/8 screws,#2-56 tap  a silver series caboose i paid $.01  on ebay  and some kadee coupler center springs. now just finding the right time to try this and adding to my layout.

[jonathan]

I cannot take credit for the current pick up idea.  I copied these from other websites and forum posters in the past... like hminky and others.

Sadly, I too, do not give much thought to the warranty.  I modify my locomotives so much, I wouldn't consider sending them in.  If something breaks that I can't fix, I would rather buy a new locomotive and put the old shells on the new mechanisms.  I spend enough in detail parts, and work time, that it's more economical to just replace the guts if broken.

Regards,

Jonathan

[hminky]

http://www.55n3.org/cars/tender_wipers/



Thank you if you visit
Harold