We have a MTH RailKing Big Boy. Now you might never think this large engine could get stuck on a switch but I seem to have the right combination. A scaletrax O-72 RH mated with a 22 degree crossover. The front pickup roller hit the plastic on the 22 degree at the same time the rear pickup roller hits the plastic on the O-72 switch. At 10 SMPH the engine stalls and dies.
I saw another thread about double pickup rollers and wondered, "Why don't the engineers just design double pickup rollers on all this stuff and call it a day"?
As luck would have it I obtained a pair of double pickup rollers from a Rugged Rails F3 I was using as a donor engine for PS3 equipment. I did not need them for my PS3 upgrade project, so I decided to install them on the Big Boy.
Installation was super easy, one screw out, remove old pickup, install new pickup, one screw in. I did not have to take apart anything or need any access to the other side of the trucks.
Then I tested it. It worked great until I reached my 1st #4 switch. The front wheels sparked and shorted out on the switch. They have a lot of play and touched the points at the same time as the front double pickup roller does. It did this on every #4 switch. I did not bother to check the #6's and O-72's.
So I took the doubles off and re-installed the singles. However this time I installed one of the singles backwards to create a different spacing. The results worked out. The engine runs smoothly at 10 SMPH through all switches including the O-72 / 22 degree combo.
I guess those design engineers knew what they were doing after all when they decided to use single pickup rollers.
Ron
Changing the direction of one pickup roller created a different spacing and solved my problem.
Although the double pickup roller from this F3 fit the Big Boy, the front pilot wheels had too much play and would touch the points at the same time the pickup roller did, creating a short.
