Weekend Update 1/22/23

[chuck geiger]

[btrain]

I love putting together those AMB wood caboose kits. I have both the NKP 1200s and NYC 19000s on their respective layouts, and they're just plain fun to work on. I'll admit that you did the smart thing of painting the models once the bodies are assembled.

I know I'm late to the party here since life has been pretty crazy as of late, but I did stumble onto something really good. I won a Key Imports L4b New York Central 4-8-2 during a recent auction last week. It's a real sharp-looker that looks equally at home pulling either passenger or frieght. Now I can recreate my version of David P. Morgan's famous story, "The Mohawk that refused to Abdicate." Albeit with a slightly different engine class and New London tower instead of Shelby.

Being that this is my first (and probably only) brass model that I'll own, I was wondering if you guys had tips for converting brass engines to DCC and how to solve the issue of the spotty electrical connectivity provided by the drawbar for one side of the track from the tender?

[peteski]

I know I'm late to the party here since life has been pretty crazy as of late, but I did stumble onto something really good. I won a Key Imports L4b New York Central 4-8-2 during a recent auction last week. It's a real sharp-looker that looks equally at home pulling either passenger or frieght. Now I can recreate my version of David P. Morgan's famous story, "The Mohawk that refused to Abdicate." Albeit with a slightly different engine class and New London tower instead of Shelby.

Being that this is my first (and probably only) brass model that I'll own, I was wondering if you guys had tips for converting brass engines to DCC and how to solve the issue of the spotty electrical connectivity provided by the drawbar for one side of the track from the tender?

That is one pretty engine!
As for the poor electric pickup and DCC, thankfully today we have small keep-alive units.  Should be no problem fitting along with the decoder and speaker in that large hollow tender.  Yes, that is sort of cheating, but it is easier than any other method. Well, you should make sure that the existing pickups are working well, and the keep-alive will keep the loco moving.   Only other worry is to keep everything isolated from the "live" brass parts.

[nkalanaga]

For the pickup problems specifically due to the drawbar, I'd simply run a wire between the loco and tender, around the drawbar.  There are enough small connectors available today that you could still disconnect the two easily.  And the wire could be disguised as one of the several hoses typically seen there.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That is one pretty engine!
As for the poor electric pickup and DCC, thankfully today we have small keep-alive units.  Should be no problem fitting along with the decoder and speaker in that large hollow tender.  Yes, that is sort of cheating, but it is easier than any other method. Well, you should make sure that the existing pickups are working well, and the keep-alive will keep the loco moving.   Only other worry is to keep everything isolated from the "live" brass parts.

A keep alive made a night and day difference in my dad's Key PRR 2-8-0 that was always a little wonky. The keep alive changed all that and it's now an amazing performer.

[nickelplate759]

+1 on adding a keep-alive.  I put a TCS KA2 in my repowered Rivarossi 2-8-4, and it will literally run over a good 6" of dead track (or even no track).

[chuck geiger]