Adding a pickup to an MTH MT-3018LP

I've done the same thing to the tender of an MTH Rail King Imperial Northern. I added a pickup roller assembly from a K-Line caboose. It fit into the truck bottom with only minor alterations, and no modification at all to the truck itself.

The hard part will be finding the K-Line pickup roller.

gunrunnerjohn,

I gave up on this one ( early MTH K-4) since the tender truck bolster did not afford an easy installation. Instead, I wired the engine to allow using the pickup rollers from a Weaver baggage car. This also allowed me to install a large auxiliary "Fat Boy" speaker in the trail car. This solved the problem for me and now there is no more stalling on long switches or anywhere else.

Probably looking for a K-Line caboose pickup will be akin to a needle in a haystack.

What do the pickups from a Weaver baggage car look like, how does that solve the problem?  Are they readily available?  Any specific part number handy?

Actually, I made a mistake in my earlier post. It was a RK Imperial K4 to which I added the K-Line pickup, not the Northern.

Sorry about that!

Well, the problem is finding the pickup in any case.

Barry, I also thought I was wrong one time, but I was mistaken.

LOL!

Gunrunnerjohn,

The pickup rollers that I used are ON the Weaver baggage car. So the baggage car is semi permanently attached to the engine. The benefit is two additional pickup rollers a long distance apart.

Many MTH tender trucks are capable of accepting an MTH pickup roller.  There are a few variations in the MTH pickup roller parts, but if you check a few tenders that do have pickup rollers, you can see what I mean.  Maybe your LHS will let you look at a few.

I've added pickup rollers to a couple MTH tenders using MTH parts that I bought from MTH at York.  Not knowing in advance what would work, I picked up a couple different assemblies and one of them fit perfectly.

I know this isn't very specific, but if you invest a little time doing some hands-on research, you can solve your problem using all MTH OEM parts, which I suspect are very similar to the K-Line parts Barry used.

That's not an option that I'd like to go with right now, I'd much rather put it on the tender.

I guess I'll check with MTH and see if there's a pickup that will fit this.  I don't have a local hobby shop that has lots of parts stock, so that's not typically a good option.

John, Can you post a picture of the sides of the truck and one of the bottom. I can check my supply of trucks and pickups to see if I have anything that might work.

Gunrunner john,

I am with you. I don't particularly like trail cars.

I have installed numerous pickup rollers on MTH Premier Steam engine tenders using MTH parts provided by Midge. However, This particular tender truck does not lend itself to an easy or difficult modification.

So, if you succeed, please post pictures of how you did it. Good luck.

Here are pictures of the truck from various angles, and a measurement between the axles.  Since the side frames are screwed on, I suppose it's possible to suspend something from them to hold the pickup.

I figured the leading truck would be easier to modify, since it doesn't have the electrocoupler on it taking up more room.

I'm wondering if I'd have any adverse effect taking that spring and stud out and replacing it with a screw with a short washer to allow the truck to swivel.  It's not like most trucks have such an arrangement.

gunrunnerjohn,

As you can see in the pictures, the mounting screw is a challenge because it protrudes so low and interferes with any potential pickup  roller assembly.

It seems to me that the best solution is to mount the tender truck from the inside. This was more than I was willing to undertake.

It would be easy to remove that long stud and spring and mount it with a flat screw with a skinny spacer washer to allow the truck to swivel.  If that has to be, that's what I will do. 

In my attempts, the pickup roller assembly blocked access to the short screw. That is why I think that the truck needs to be mounted from inside the tender.

I was thinking on mounting the roller close to the axle with some sort of bracket from the side frame mounts.  I agree that you have to get to the screw.

Could this give you any ideas John?

Chuck, exactly what is that?  I know it's a pickup roller, but where does it come from?

It is a K-line pick-up assembly.  The pick-up would mount to the plastic L angle with the 2 screws and nuts with the wire assembly attached to one of screws. The other side of the plastic bracket would be screwed with the self tapping to the bottom of the truck bolster. Then add a plug and socket to the locomotive pick-up. Would take minor drilling, but you seem like a pretty competent guy.

Where might I find one of those?

Just so happens, I made this 'kit' especially for you!

If you interested in the parts and want to give it a try, email me.

Chuck

mizelltrains@CS.com

email on it's way.

gunrunnerjohn,

Did you have any success solving this problem. If you did, please share.

I have yet to install the "fix", but I have a solution in hand thanks to Chuck Sartor.  I am going to use the K-Line pick-up and a small chunk of heavy plastic to mount it on one of the trucks.  Then I'll extend that through the tether to power the locomotive when it's pickups lose contact through the switches.

I got caught up in some other projects, that that one is still patiently waiting in the wings for me to address it's problem.

I never did this before but I would like to make a suggestion. If possible install the new pickup on the rear truck of your tender. This will give you even more distance from the engine pickups.

Good luck, let us know how it comes out. This is something we all have to face at one time or another.

In this case, I think the front one may be easier, the rear one has the electrocoupler, so it's more crowded there.