Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam locos - Printable Version +- (https://bigbluetrains.com) +-- Forum: The Back Shop (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=52) +--- Forum: DCC (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38) +--- Thread: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam locos (/showthread.php?tid=5640)

Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam locos - twilight - 12-14-2012 Was wondering how some of you guys did your pickups on some of your older steam locos(Bowser, Pennline, Varney, Mantua)? Right now I am relying on the steam locomotive frame and the tender frame. Both picking up the decoder signal through the driver wheels and tender wheels(opposite rails of course). I affixed a pickup wire from the decoder to the tender frame and I am relying on the signal coming through the tender wheels to the screw that holds the tender trucks on. Sort of the same under the boiler, I have a decoder wire screwed to the frame of the loco. The decoder is living in the tender right now. Though I can't say I am have a true problem with this, I am not sure it is the best way to do it. So I am looking for other alternatives, such as wipers or something else I haven't thought of yet. Thanks for your input. Mark Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - ray_m - 12-14-2012 I usually add wipers to pick up from the back of the drivers and all the tender wheels. Mounting the wipers can be done a number of ways. I have been using printed circuit board mounted to the bottom of the frame to solder wipers to. I use strips of .003" phosphorous bronze soldered to wires that are feed through holes drilled in the tender trucks and glued in place. Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - ray_m - 12-14-2012 These are wipers and the mounts I made to install on Varney 6 wheel tender trucks. Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - twilight - 12-15-2012 Ray, a couple of questions: 1. where does one obtain the bronze you are using for the wipers?, 2. Where do you turn up the printed circuit board material? 3. I am assuming that by the way you used the colored wire you are using both sides of the loco and tender to pick up the dcc signal, respective to each side. And finally, have you noticed that your locomotive is maintaining good speed and pulling power? Also, Ray, thanks for the awesome pictures! Thanks, Mark Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - ray_m - 12-15-2012 I got the .003" phosphorous bronze sheet from Scale Shops.(walthers may still sell it) and I cut it into strips using a paper cutter. The printed circuit board can be gotten from an electronics supplier. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_169309_-1">http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... _169309_-1</a><!-- m --> I have seen it listed on Ebay once in a while. With all the drivers and all the tender wheels used for pickup, the likelihood of power and signal interruption is greatly reduced and is a big improvement in performance over the original pick up arrangement. Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - e-paw - 12-16-2012 Here is how I did it on my Boswer LNE (ex PRR) L-1.         I had also reversed the polarity of the tender to match the boiler, this eliminated the problem of the loco shorting out if the cab and tender touched. The loco picks up power through the frame on the right side, and with the pickups that I added on the left. This here is the finished product.     Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - twilight - 12-16-2012 Guys, I have one more question for you. I am unable to tell from your photos how the tender pickups are passing through the tender base. I know on some of my Bowser tenders the floors aren't totally closed. So I guess the wires can pass through there. I assume the wires for the pick up is not interfereing with the way the trucks move. Also, this one is for E-paw, Is that Mikado dcc or dc? Mark Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - ray_m - 12-17-2012 I usually drill holes in the tender floor to run the wires through and leave enough slack in the wires so they don't interfere with truck movement. Re: Pickups for Bowser, Mantua, John English,&Varney steam l - e-paw - 12-17-2012 Well Mark she is a straight DC loco.. I am a tried and true DC hold out with no intentions of ever changing..