Extra pickups for LGB "Chloe"

[ntpntpntp]

LGB?s ?Chloe? and ?Olomana? are delightful little locos, however I have noticed that they stall sometimes on my R3 point frogs at low speed. The pickup wheelbase is very short, not much longer than the dead-spot on the frog.

Both of my cane locos have had the horrible factory-fitted red plastic trailing wheels replaced with metal ?feldbahn? wheels soon after obtaining the locos (I?ve never understood why LGB didn?t fit metal wheel-sets in the first place?) For some time now I?ve been intending to add extra pickups to those trailing wheels, having come across some photos on the ?net where this had been done.

A month or so ago I was fortunate to obtain a set of Bachmann Davenport roller pickups from Mel (yb281), and it occurred to me that these would be ideal.

 

[ntpntpntp]

The trailing truck was removed from the loco and the wheel-set removed from the truck. The Bachmann pickups were cut from their connecting bar, leaving just enough of a lug to allow a 14BA screw hole to be drilled and tapped. Each pickup was then secured to the trailing truck using epoxy resin. Note that the pickups are ?handed? in that the sprung roller is at set at an angle to the metal lug, so it?s important to choose the correct pickup so that the roller will run correctly against the back of the wheel.

 

[ntpntpntp]

Connecting wires were then fitted, soldered to small brass tags and secured with short 14BA screws into the previously tapped holes. The wire was secured neatly along the edge of the truck pivot bar using super-glue, allowing a section to remain loose and flexible where the sprung axle-unit swings vertically.

 

[ntpntpntp]

The wheels were then re-fitted and the pickups adjusted to apply light pressure on the backs of the wheels.

The complete trailing truck was then refitted to the loco. The pickup wires were soldered to the pickup skates and secured to the underside of the chassis with super-glue ? again leaving loose looped sections for to allow the truck and the skates to flex as needed. Securing directly to the skates in this way means no need to drill a hole in the chassis block to attach wires to the motor or bus-bars. Very simple to un-solder if the trailing truck needs to be removed.

And that?s it! ?Chloe? now runs smoothly through my R3 pointwork at an absolute crawl. ?Olomana? will get the same treatment shortly!

 

[yb281]

Brilliant idea Nick. Glad the pick-ups have found a new use .

 

[trammayo]

That's neatly done - and given me ideas - never new such pick-ups existed.

 

[ntpntpntp]

"Olomana" has now had the same treatment. Here are both ladies out on test this evening. In the background is an example of the donor loco, although of course this one can feel quite safe and will be keeping its pickups!

 

[stevedenver]

clever idea
i simply have phosphor bronze wires riding on the inner wheel rim

they are mounted within the bunker, go thru the floor and bent to lightly sit on the rear wheel -wires travel under the chassis -they are about as thick as a horse tail hair-

you mounted your contacts nicely -i was afraid to monkey with the rear arm -seems delicate as well as unobtainable in case of error

wow bright lamps-did u change to 5v? or are you running digital?

i too have had occasional stalling issues at slow speed-but this actually happens on several of the short wheel base LGB engines in my experience

i too changed the rear wheel to the metal -did you paint your inner wheel that red? it seems to be an a perfect match

have you tried adding a bit of lead wool inside the smoke box -and even the stacks? helps a great deal too and prevents wheelies -which i used to see rather frequently when i first purchased mine

i fitted my chloe with a small Seuthe HO smoke unit, that has a rather large fluid reserve, but is slim that fits nicely within the Chloe stack, and I hollowed the stem to accomodate routing wiring to the light wires,
and I added working brass rear marker lights that light -almost identical to those on the prototype-
left my Oloman(i) alone but for rear metal wheels and added weight

the smoke unit works pretty well inside (where there is no breeze-as its a hefty 'wisp') -operates at about 10 volts -so the loco is moving pretty fast but not lightning speed-not sure if it was worth the effort ( but i have a good deal of spares so i can return it to as new if i tire of my mods)

i think thse are some of the most wonderful engines LGB ever produced -and now seem to command stupidly high ebay prices here in the US-i say an olomano last week sell for over 450 and a Chloe for 360 US

ill see if i can find a pic of Chloe with the bunker lamps-it may be from pre metal wheel change out

 

[ntpntpntp]

wow bright lamps-did u change to 5v? or are you running digital?

Hi Steve. Yes it's digital, and the photo was taken on a longer exposure with no flash which seemed to give a better colour than the same shot taken with flash.

i too changed the rear wheel to the metal -did you paint your inner wheel that red? it seems to be an a perfect match

Painted with a Humbrol gloss red that just happened to be in my paint box, onto the original black Feldbahn wheels which resulted in a darker colour. Yes, I'm quite pleased with the colour match.

have you tried adding a bit of lead wool inside the smoke box -and even the stacks? helps a great deal too and prevents wheelies -which i used to see rather frequently when i first purchased mine

I don't think I've seen much evidence of wheelies with these two as I think the sprung rear truck helps maintain balance. A friend has one of the 0-4-0 O&K locos and that seems a little butt-heavy. I've read so many comments about not overloading these belt-driven Feldbahn mechanisms that I do take care not to strain them.
Main duty is normally a batch of around 10 HLW hoppers which seems to suit them well.

i fitted my chloe with a small Seuthe HO smoke unit, that has a rather large fluid reserve, but is slim that fits nicely within the Chloe stack... and I added working brass rear marker lights that light -almost identical to those on the prototype

I might consider adding smoke units at some point. I'll be interested in seeing how Chloe looks with bunker lamps.

i think thse are some of the most wonderful engines LGB ever produced -and now seem to command stupidly high ebay prices here in the US-i say an olomano last week sell for over 450 and a Chloe for 360 US

Ouch! Both of mine cost me less than GBP 100 from ebay, around 3 years ago (different sellers). Chloe was mint unused, Olomana had light usage only. Definitely some of my favourites, and if I'm honest they suit my line much better than the big diesels that I also own!

 

[stevedenver]

 

[stevedenver]

 

[stevedenver]

in looking at these pics-i must not have gotten the top of the stack correctly aligned in my excitement to show off my new work
because it does fit flush to the lip of the stack with the smoke unit installed -and the stack is stuffed with lead weights surrounding the unit
and
the lamps fit within the original LGB packaging box with no pressure upon them
they are brass -i think Trackside Details -i have found that brass hold up much better than white metal for handling and running rigors
they are called engine lamps-possibly tender lamps-cant recall -they are cored
they were soldered to a short hollow piece of brass pipe and then set into the bunker on the corner,
the prototype has a three lens lamp-mine has only 2-side and rear-partly because i thought they would look better when running lighted and partly because they were slightly smaller than the caboose lamp, and i wanted that look since the engine itself is so small

the wires travel through the tubing and into the bunker and to the motor contacts-as i recall i just stuffed them in tight-as i wasnt sure about things-so they are pressure fitted and havent worked loose yet-when they do ill go back in

lens are colored faceted jewels-bulbs are i think, 16 v, and look quite 'right' at slower speeds in the dark or dim, not having an overwhelming brightness-these pics show it at rather high voltage to show everything off , especially the smoke unit-which doesnt really work at all at prototypical sensible speeds-and which does works at a good clip 'mainline' speed-the key is to fill it just right for max output with appropriate voltage

 

[JRinTawa]

Great idea, these are neat little locos
On my O&K and Jonny (which have the same motor block) I removed the skates and they then stalled less on turnouts. I think being such light loco's the skates acted like brakes on the plastic frogs. However to be reliable they still had to run to fast so they are now battery powered. Guess another option to reduce the braking power of the skates maybe to reduce the spring length so they don't press down so hard?

 

[stevedenver]

JR -notice my painted Johnny -with headlights front an rear -per your inspiration!