Do wheels pick up current?
- Thread starter Mobi
- Start date
Willem WDLS
Registered
Yes, the wheels usually also pick up power from the track. For example, LGB locomotives typically use carbon brushes which are pushed against the inside of the wheels.
ntpntpntp
Registered
Yes the wheels are very important for pickup, the skates are a bonus! Not all brands of loco have skates. If it were only the skates then a short loco like a Stainz would stall on plastic point frogs etc. The objective is to have as many wheels picking up, over as long a wheelbase as possible.
For LGB locos there are usually "bullet" or "plunger" pickups that contact the back of the wheels. That's why it's important to keep the backs of the wheels clean, and also to check the spring tension on the bullet pickups when you service a loco.
For LGB locos there are usually "bullet" or "plunger" pickups that contact the back of the wheels. That's why it's important to keep the backs of the wheels clean, and also to check the spring tension on the bullet pickups when you service a loco.
Neil Robinson
Registered
Mobi said:
Even those with traction tyres often have pickup brushes. Personally I doubt the pickup on these is much good on the straights but works O.K. on curves when the flange contacts the rail.
stockers
Trains, aircraft, models, walking, beer, travel
it will, up to a point. Wheels get dirty, skates tend to scrape themselves clean. My LGB Mallet (no skates by design but 12 wheels with pick ups) starts to hesitate in the evening as the rails get damp.Now that the chrome is wearing through the running is poor unless wheels and rails are recently cleaned.
We have the large Piko diesel on the 'Harz' layout.. No skates. This ran terribly until the wheels were given a thorough clean. - They are an 'alloy' of some sort, and seem to pick up the dirt.. The loco had been weathered as well. Paint on the wheels! ???
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
The very first LGB Stainz locos from around 1968/69 - the so-called "Growlers" because of their very noisy gearboxes (which had the motor at the back of the gearbox) - had no skates, only wheel pickups. Very soon (certainly within a couple of years) LGB re-designed the basic 0-4-0 gearbox to the "modern" configuration still used today, with the motor mounted between the two axles and driving both via worm gears on each end of the motor shaft, and at this point they added the skates for the first time - I'm assuming that the reason they did this was to improve currnet collection in outdoor running conditions and reduce stalling on anything but spotlessly cleaned track.
Yes, locos WILL run without skates - but unless you have something like a Power Buffer fitted to help them over any dirty spots on the track, they may be very temperamental. The skates are there for a good reason!
Jon.
Yes, locos WILL run without skates - but unless you have something like a Power Buffer fitted to help them over any dirty spots on the track, they may be very temperamental. The skates are there for a good reason!
Jon.
[quote author=Mobi link=topic=301289.msg351942#msg351942 date=1432755268]
What is Harz layout?
[/quote]
Google `Shades of the Harz`..
I volunteer at Chasewater Light Railway, and was rash enough to offer this layout of the late Michael Heaven a home..
We have spent the last year shoe-horning this large (38 x 50 foot) exhibition layout into the `loft` above the station at Chasewater Heaths..
For shorthand, I use `The Heaths`, `The Harz`, or `The Harz layout`.. We are open Sundays, Bank holidays, and (most) gala days..
We were `given` the layout, and scenic items, and bought some of the original stock from the auction of Michael`s (many) railway interests.
`Rule 8` does apply though, and we will run anything really!
We now have it connected end-to-end, and a `main-line` (still G) as a continuous loop round the outside.. It has come on a lot since this one was taken..
What is Harz layout?
[/quote]
Google `Shades of the Harz`..
I volunteer at Chasewater Light Railway, and was rash enough to offer this layout of the late Michael Heaven a home..
We have spent the last year shoe-horning this large (38 x 50 foot) exhibition layout into the `loft` above the station at Chasewater Heaths..
For shorthand, I use `The Heaths`, `The Harz`, or `The Harz layout`.. We are open Sundays, Bank holidays, and (most) gala days..
We were `given` the layout, and scenic items, and bought some of the original stock from the auction of Michael`s (many) railway interests.
`Rule 8` does apply though, and we will run anything really!
We now have it connected end-to-end, and a `main-line` (still G) as a continuous loop round the outside.. It has come on a lot since this one was taken..
