Con Cor 2-10-2 help

[mike_lawyer]

Hi guys,

I picked up a used Con Cor 2-10-2 for a steal, and it runs well except it has intermittent electrical contact.  I see that the front tender truck is really the issue.  If possible, I would like to hard wire the tender to the motor using Ngineering flexible wire.  Can i just remove the PC board from the tender and solder the flexible wire to the contact strips and run it to the motor? Or do I also need to modify the tender truck tabs to make better contact with the contact strips?

Any help to make this loco electrically bulletproof would be helpful.  Thanks!

Mike

[nkalanaga]

I'd recommend making sure the tabs and strips are both clean.  That might solve your problem.

If you're going to hardwire it, could you solder the wires directly to the truck tabs, and eliminate the tab/strip contact?  you'd probably still need the strips to keep the trucks sitting right, but the only moving contact would be between the wheelsets and the truck contacts.

[randgust]

You might want to look at the TCS connector plugs if you're hard wiring.

The wire in those is super flexible and soft and then you can get the tender off.   Super small.

[mike_lawyer]

Thanks, I have been wondering as well whether to try and do surgery on the Con-Cor tender or maybe swap a Bachmann Spectrum tender in its place. 

[u18b]

You might want to look at the TCS connector plugs if you're hard wiring.

The wire in those is super flexible and soft and then you can get the tender off.   Super small.

I partially agree.

On the plus side, wires are light and flexible.  On the down side.... wow, they are expensive.

A much better option if you can do your own soldering, is to wire your own.
I buy 50 at a time.
Same plug but cheap.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804736730494.html

If you don't do fine soldering, these are also cheaper, but the wires are stiffer.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832658471131.html

But Randy is right-  use a plug.   You will thank us later.

[mmagliaro]

I think if you solder your bypass wires to the floor strips in that tender, it will work, but it will not solve your problem.  The problem is between the strips and the trucks.  The thumbs that come up from the trucks to the floor strips either don't make reliable contact, or make reliable contact, but put too much stiff pressure on the thumbs, which causes the wheels to not roll freely.   Victor Miranda put up a fix for this years ago, here:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=35046.msg409286#msg409286

It requires some deft trimming of the top of the thumb, as you can see, essentially reducing the tip a bit so you can slip a small phosphor bronze spring over it.  Either that, or solder directly to the truck thumbs, not the tender strips.  If you do that, make sure you leave a loop of wire inside the tender so there is NO flexing of that solder joint to the truck, or it will keep breaking off.

Now... aside from this... v=before you invest a lot of effort in that engine, run it for a while, forward, reverse, through curves, and over turnouts.  Make sure you don't have any unpleasant behavior with it derailing coming out of curves or through turnouts.  Those 2-10-2's had issues with the front pairs of drivers getting hung up, failing to slide over as the engine exits a curve.  Sometimes you can hear a distinct "click" as it comes out of a curve.  And it can derail.  It stems from a poorly designed axle/driver shoulder design where the plastic axle tube between the drivers is a tad smaller diameter than the shoulders on the backs of the drivers.  As they slide back and forth through the bearing holes, the axle can get hung up on that little "lip" between the axle tube and the driver shoulder, so the axle cannot slide over, and the engine derails. 

This is more of a problem if you gauge the drivers correctly.  They are narrow from the factory, but if you leave them that way, you may have derailment problems at turnouts.  And if you widen them to the correct gauge, that can make the hanging up/clicking problem worse, because the axle can slide back and forth more.  Ultimately, I pushed the drivers off the axles on the front driver set, and slipped thin washers behind each driver, so that when reassembled, the lateral play was reduced.  It could not negotiate as tight a curve, but it could still make an 18" radius easily, so I didn't worry about it.  And by reducing that side-to-side sliding, the front axle can't get hung up.

[nkalanaga]

Prototype 10-coupled steam didn't like sharp curves either, so it's prototypical!