Heads up! Arnold/Hornby BOGO sale

[cbroughton67]

Already stripping and repainting my U25C's into on a more civilized shade of L&N gray, as well as updating them to a post-1974 version of the gray & yellow paint scheme.


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[powersteamguy1790]

The one variable between the 9v battery and the loco sitting on the rails is the angle of the truck. It could be that when using the 9v battery, the truck is at a pronounced angle compared to straight & level on the rails, which could change the way the pickups contact the tabs on the board. The pickups on the trucks are longer on these than on Atlas locos, so the truck angle results in a wider range of movement at the top where it touches the tabs. You may need to tweak the tabs a bit, so they angle down more and contact the pickups more reliably. It's a shot in the dark, but a potentially easy resolution.


Chris

Chris:

When I tested the UBoat with the battery, the locomotive was first placed on several sections of test track and the battery anode and cathode was placed on the rails of the track causing the Uboat to run on the track.

Take care.......

Bob ..................

[cbroughton67]

Chris:

When I tested the UBoat with the battery, the locomotive was first placed on several sections of test track and the battery anode and cathode was placed on the rails of the track causing the Uboat to run on the track.

Take care.......

Bob ..................

Well... huh...


So, a different locomotive ran okay with the same setup, but using a power pack, when the one in question didn't?


Chris

[peteski]

Chris:

When I tested the UBoat with the battery, the locomotive was first placed on several sections of test track and the battery anode and cathode was placed on the rails of the track causing the Uboat to run on the track.

Take care.......

Bob ..................

That makes even less sense then.

[newt749]

Lo and behold I found a pair of Boston & Maine SW1s under the tree this morning. I guess I was a good boy after all.

Merry Christmas to all!

Rob
Hampton, New Brunswick
Canada

[DeltaBravo]

I got a bit of time to play with my new SW1 toy. It's quite impressive.
As someone already noted, it stalls on Atlas turnouts, the gauge is a bit tight. I'm conflicted about the beautiful new couplers. They look great, but don't play well with MT's so unless they become widely available, I need to swap them. Too bad, pics below show their diminutive size compared to MT's, Kato, Accumate, and "box glove" Bachmann. Interestingly, they seem to mate with Accumates, although I didn't do any real testing.
Otto K.

I tested the couplers on my U28C and had no problem coupling with MicroTrains Couplers.

[peteski]

I tested the couplers on my U28C and had no problem coupling with MicroTrains Couplers.

I had a problem with MTL couplers not easily coupling to the Arnold couplers (on 2 SW1s). They will mate, but they need more than a gentle "kiss" to connect.

[drgw0579]

Anyone working on putting a LokSound Decoder in the U25C?  It would like to put the decoder on top of the motor area, without milling the frame.  But it is about 1/16 too thick to get the shell to fit properly.  I wonder if the new ESU decoder is thinner in that regard.

Bill Kepner

[Cajonpassfan]

Bill, I don't have this particular  loco, but in other installs I was able to avoid frame modifications by thinning the shell a bit, using a hand held mini rotary tool and a grinding or sanding head. If it's truly just a 1/16" in a couple of places, you might be able to get away with it (very carefully). Helps if you have a way to measure the thickness of the shell.
Good luck!
Otto K.

[tom mann]

FYI - I took Peteski's suggestion to move out some DCC troubleshooting posts that were within this thread. You'll find them in the DCC section. 

[drgw0579]

Otto,
I haven't had a lot of success thinning the top of a plastic shell.  For the sides, I built a tool out of an electric tooth brush, but I am afraid if I try to go in with a motor tool, I will punch holes in it.  I am asking around to see what the height of the LokSound decoder that is in the SD40-2, but even if it is thin enough, there's no information if/when a derived LokSound product would be available for the masses.    I may decide to go after the frame after all.  I guess I'll find out how easy it is to disassemble.

Bill Kepner

[MichaelWinicki]

Added a decoder to one of U25C's tonight... What a miserable operation that was! 

Plugging in the decoder is the easy part– It's the having to take off the coupler boxes to remove the shell that creates the issue... Oh and the handrails falling off left & right.

The coupler boxes aren't like MT's where the top will kind of stay in place– Not these guys... As soon as that screw comes out that holds the coupler box in place, the coupler parts explode all over.

Why any company would design a loco like this... Geez.

The job was made worse by attempting to re-gauge the wheel set to work with Atlas code 55.  As they come the width is too narrow. 

I thought, well instead of using my "Stick a narrow-headed screwdriver in between the back of the wheelset and the frame, and give it a twist" I figured well I'll take the truck apart, take out each axle and used my gear-puller to gently pull out the wheel...

The cruel joke is the brass wiper strip that is held in place next to the truck frame.  Trying to get the axles back in place so wipers are behind each wheel without the brass strip popping off the side of the truck frame– I wish anyone else trying to do the same thing "good luck!"  It was miserable trying to get all 3 axles back in place with the wipers staying behind each wheel set and the brass strip staying in its assigned spot along the truck frame.   That was awful.

I fought with one truck for more than an hour... finally got it back together and decided to do the other truck with my trusty screwdriver.

I learned my lesson, I won't take any more of these trucks apart.

[peteski]

Added a decoder to one of U25C's tonight... What a miserable operation that was! 

The coupler boxes aren't like MT's where the top will kind of stay in place– Not these guys... As soon as that screw comes out that holds the coupler box in place, the coupler parts explode all over.

Why any company would design a loco like this... Geez.

The job was made worse by attempting to re-gauge the wheel set to work with Atlas code 55.  As they come the width is too narrow. 

I thought, well instead of using my "Stick a narrow-headed screwdriver in between the back of the wheelset and the frame, and give it a twist" I figured well I'll take the truck apart, take out each axle and used my gear-puller to gently pull out the wheel...

The cruel joke is the brass wiper strip that is held in place next to the truck frame.  Trying to get the axles back in place so wipers are behind each wheel without the brass strip popping off the side of the truck frame– I wish anyone else trying to do the same thing "good luck!"  It was miserable trying to get all 3 axles back in place with the wipers staying behind each wheel set and the brass strip staying in its assigned spot along the truck frame.   That was awful.

I fought with one truck for more than an hour... finally got it back together and decided to do the other truck with my trusty screwdriver.

I learned my lesson, I won't take any more of these trucks apart.

That is odd. I don't own any Arnold U-boats, but the Arnold couplers in my SW1s have the boxes welded together, so the coupler doesn't fall apart when you take the mounting screw out and pull out the coupler box.

As far as the pickup wipers go, I agree that it is a pain. Arnold chose to use what I call "old school" electric pickup system. I took my SW1 truck's apart to re-gauge them, but the trucks only have two axles to keep aligned. 

[nkalanaga]

I had to take the axles out of my U25Cs to fix the wipers, but putting them back in wasn't THAT hard.  A nuisance, but not "painful".  Maybe because I did that for years before split metal gearboxes, and then axle-end pickup, became "standard"? 

As for regauging them, I did use the twisted-screwdriver method, and if the wipers had worked to start, would never have taken the trucks apart.

You can take the sideframes off without taking the truck apart, which is nice, especially for painting them.  On the other hand, the sideframes also hold the wipers on, on the same pins, so one has to be careful.

[DeltaBravo]

So today i went to add decoders to my two U28Cs and when I took the couplers off the couple box exploded and the spring went flying. It is now lost forever. Has anyone found a MT couple that can easily replace the stock coupler?