Northern 4-8-4 Questions

[Mdaskalos]

Last week, I purchased the Empire builder N set for my sons' and my use.

Question 1: Is the Santa Fe Northern that ships with this set the same model as that which  is sold separately? (not the N&W J-Class) I have read the Northern body shell review elsewhere in this forum, and observe some differences; e.g; that there is no power from the tender, etc.

Qustion 2. Is it possible to use the tender wheels to draw power? Is this reasonably feasible? ( I am more skilled than the average joe, having done some industiral electronics repair in times past, but since I did it for hire, I have no soldering/desoldering gun nor miniature soldering equipment; only a conventional soldering iron. If this is doable with less than heroic effort, can someone explain the procedure and parts needed?

Question 3. If the separately sold unit is different than the one in the set, does it draw power from any tender wheels? My unit stops or stutters a lot on joints in the EZ-track that came with the set; I would think that an additional power draw from the tender wheels would help with this.

Question 4. Does/has anyone else had the issue with the trailing truck (and fixed it)? The outer frame for the truck hangs so low that two downward projections at the extreme front and rear of the truck fram actually hang below track level. This catches and makes the lcomotive hang at the frogs of turnouts. Initially, I noticed that the  front of the trailing truck rode high, so that the front wheel pair wasn't really touching the track. I loosened the screw at the front of the tuck to get the front lower, hoping it also might raise the rear of the truck, since the aforementioned projection overhangs past the rear wheels. Alas, it did get the front wheel pair onto the rails, but now I have projections hanging below the track bo that the front AND rear of the trailing truck.

In summary, I guess I see that the latest generation of the Northern has, in the past, been considered a good unit, but I find this starter set unit problematic, and I wonder if if Bachmann makes better, or if it can be made better,

[skipgear]

1. The Northern in the set is the same as the one sold seprately. There have been at least 5 variations of this loco over its life span. The only version with tender pickup was the very first and that was because the loco was setup with half axle pickup if I remember correctly. The loco picked up from one rail, the tender from the other.

2. It is not hard to add tender pickup to the loco but it will take some fabrication. Richmond Controls sells a pickup kit to fit these locos if you want to make it easier on yourself.

3. See #1. Adding tender pickup does help the loco considerably.

4. It sounds like the sideframe on the trailing truck is not seated correctly. The side frames of the truck are a plastic detail part that clips over the actual truck. Simply twist/lift the back of the side frame till it is level with the wheels and that should fix it.

If you want to see the varitaions and versions of the loco over time, check here:

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/bach484.html

The boiler on the most recent version has been retooled and some other small details changed but the mechanism is basically the same split frame design.

[James in FL]

If you want to brew your own...

To wipe all the axles would be best, but you could get bye just using the center most axles on each truck.
You could cobble up some axle wipers from cutting thin copper shim stock, drill or punch the shim stock for the bolster hole before cutting it.
Offset T shape with the hole where the fingers come together, odd leg is your solder tab.
The drawbar connects to the bolster, so keep that in mind when you cut your wipers.
Drill a hole in the bottom of the tender directly over where your tab is going to be. Solder some light wire to the wipe tabs, and run each up through their respective holes.
Drill another hole in the front center tender floor to get both wires out down along the drawbar.
Drill and tap some small holes in the loco frames so wires can be disconnected.
Arrange your wheelsets to where the front truck picks-up from one rail while the rear picks-up from the other.

Easy, fun, one evening after dinner project.
Most of that time is trial and error on getting your wipers cut just right. After the first ones, the rest are piece of cake.

A heat sink might serve well.

Just one of many ways to do it.
Another way is to pick-up from a coil spring riding on top of the axles and going from there.

Bachmann has made a ton of these tenders so finding a cheap guinea pig at a show might help to hone skills before putting yours under the knife.

Good luck

[Mdaskalos]

Thank you both for your replies. I had already seen the spookshow review; it was what prompted me to ask.

I'll probably go with the Richmond Controls hardware. Not much time to roll my own.