Three Questions, Seeking Three Answers

#3 -- The refrigerator car was originally distributed by RMT (you can see the markings to the right of the door near the bottom).  A lot of RMT cars of that era came with the little guy. No specific use, just for fun !

Are there any exterior lights on the tender?  Looks like the wire used for lights, or it could be a ground wire.  Are you sure the wire wasn't attached to electrode diode strip above the wire'...??

Quarter Gauger 48 posted:

Are there any exterior lights on the tender?  Looks like the wire used for lights, or it could be a ground wire.  Are you sure the wire wasn't attached to electrode diode strip above the wire'...??

There is a light on the tender but the catalog never said anything about it lighting up.

BatTrain posted:

#3 -- The refrigerator car was originally distributed by RMT (you can see the markings to the right of the door near the bottom).  A lot of RMT cars of that era came with the little guy. No specific use, just for fun !

Thank you my dude!

Is there an axle wiper (copper colored strip with single hole) on the other tender truck?  If yes and it has a solid black wire attached to it then that unattached wire is most likely supposed to be attached to the front truck's axle wiper.  You would need to confirm that the other end of the loose wire connects to the wire on the rear truck before soldering to the front truck axle.

GregM posted:

Is there an axle wiper (copper colored strip with single hole) on the other tender truck?  If yes and it has a solid black wire attached to it then that unattached wire is most likely supposed to be attached to the front truck's axle wiper.  You would need to confirm that the other end of the loose wire connects to the wire on the rear truck before soldering to the front truck axle.

On any other given day I would not have understood a single word of that mumbo-jumbo but I can confirm that the solid black wire is connected to that axle wiper on both the front and the rear truck. This wire however appears to be for something different, and it is NOT the contact roller (there is a black/white colored wire connected to the front pickup roller). There appears to be a small soldered blob with the tiniest hints of copper-colored something on the drawbar of the tender. This is the first steamer I've gotten that has sounds, so I don't know if this part is significant or not but since it caught my attention I'd like to know if this is what it was connected to, or if it served another purpose.

This is the ground wire. Since the axles have plastic bushings on the ends, this wire and axle wiper are needed to establish electrical contact between the wheels and the tender frame or sound system ground.  Since the wire is probably too short, add a piece of super flex wire and re-solder the connection. Otherwise the sound system may be intermittent.

When the Chinese need flexible wire, instead of using super-flex wire, which has many small strands, but is expensive, they just use smaller gauge wire which breaks off more easily.

RoyBoy posted:

This is the ground wire. Since the axles have plastic bushings on the ends, this wire and axle wiper are needed to establish electrical contact between the wheels and the tender frame or sound system ground.  Since the wire is probably too short, add a piece of super flex wire and re-solder the connection. Otherwise the sound system may be intermittent.

When the Chinese need flexible wire, instead of using super-flex wire, which has many small strands, but is expensive, they just use smaller gauge wire which breaks off more easily.

The sound has not caused me any issues when I've run, but is it recommended that I solder the wire on the off-chance something goes kablooey-sputter-sputter-I-have-to-go-to-a-service-station-now or can it still work without it being soldered?

It's your train. If you try it, you will find out.

The figure... he’s good for second floor balconies!

Checking out the parts diagram for this tender (listed under the set SKU), it sure looks like there’s a black ground wire connected to the drawbar:

I’d guess that’s your broken connection but why there’d be a ground wire connected to the drawbar I can’t guess. The parts diagram also shows two ground wires from the truck but not where they connect to.

Hancock52 posted:

Checking out the parts diagram for this tender (listed under the set SKU), it sure looks like there’s a black ground wire connected to the drawbar:

I’d guess that’s your broken connection but why there’d be a ground wire connected to the drawbar I can’t guess. The parts diagram also shows two ground wires from the truck but not where they connect to.

That solves it, thank you very much!

Now if you'll excuse me, im gonna go figure out how to solder or get someone to solder that.

Matt Kramer posted:

The figure... he’s good for second floor balconies!

Darn...no buildings just yet. Thanks though, looks really neat!

Hancock52 posted:

Checking out the parts diagram for this tender (listed under the set SKU), it sure looks like there’s a black ground wire connected to the drawbar:

I’d guess that’s your broken connection but why there’d be a ground wire connected to the drawbar I can’t guess. The parts diagram also shows two ground wires from the truck but not where they connect to.

I'll take a shot at this.  The loco is an 0-8-0 so  there are limited number of flanged wheels actually making contact with the outside rails.  In order to ensure the loco has a complete circuit it uses the tender through the drawbar as an extra ground path as a backup.  

 Do you have a Madison obesrvation car with a back porch?  

  A caboose?

  Glue him so he is hanging onto a tranformer handle.

Your observations were spot on, throw a little shaving cream at it all and Occam's Razor does it again. Good eye.

Adriatic posted:

 Do you have a Madison obesrvation car with a back porch?  

  A caboose?

  Glue him so he is hanging onto a tranformer handle.

Your observations were spot on, throw a little shaving cream at it all and Occam's Razor does it again. Good eye.

Only one Madison car, from the Polar Express. Outta the question, not only because the theme is wrong but because I need to replace the actual platform ^^;

I like the transformer idea... Oh and im not gluing him to the 7 different cabooses (or cabeese? I dunno...) because  I don't want to damage either the caboose part OR the figure.

Thanks though

The figure is called Little Walter..  As in Walter at RMT.

Well, glue might be too strong of a word then 🤔    

I could see "Nah" being a perfectly acceptable answer too; just thowing out ideas here, wild to mild.

  There are a couple of no mar/ no stain 'goos' that could keep him in place.  Naptha would remove stick-um from 2-sided tape (safe for most. Ink & paint require caution.)

  I can't recall what the name of the product is called offoffhan dnly though. Hopefully someone that uses it reads this (if nothing else to remind me)

The "spellwreck" insists thats how offhandedly should be spelled. Resistance is futile.

Matt Kramer posted:

The figure... he’s good for second floor balconies!

What manufacturer is the stagecoach? 

Brendan

Adriatic posted:

Well, glue might be too strong of a word then 🤔    

I could see "Nah" being a perfectly acceptable answer too; just thowing out ideas here, wild to mild.

  There are a couple of no mar/ no stain 'goos' that could keep him in place.  Naptha would remove stick-um from 2-sided tape (safe for most. Ink & paint require caution.)

  I can't recall what the name of the product is called offoffhan dnly though. Hopefully someone that uses it reads this (if nothing else to remind me)

The "spellwreck" insists thats how offhandedly should be spelled. Resistance is futile.

Oof, thats my bad then. "Nah" WAS my response when I read the response. I should really word things differently. Thanks though for the tip, I'll be sure to remember those names on the off-chance I feel like sticking "Little Walter" (see response above) to the caboose deck or anywhere else I please.

Brendan posted:

Matt Kramer posted:

The figure... he’s good for second floor balconies!

What manufacturer is the stagecoach? 

Brendan

Matchbox Models of Yesteryear 1875 Wells Fargo stagecoach.

Thanks

Brendan

The light on the tender should light'.  Those wires are grounds and one of the ends has something to do with the light.  Often times, lights are not mentioned in the catalogs.  As the focus is mainly for the locomotives'... Take a 9 volt battery with leads attached to it and try different ways touching it to the wire and the wheels.  If you get a slight blink in the light, then that wire is for the light...........

@TheRWBYRailfan

  You've got some catching up to do if you ever want to equal my foot-in-mouth prowess. I don't think your posts even qualify here.

Some days the words flow well for us, somedays they don't; oh well.

   I guess I often come across as condescending to some folk at times. It usually isn't intentional; wasn't meant to be here either.

  I'm already kinda used to questioning my own reponses fyi; Asperger's often means the path less traveled is mine regardless. My communication skills outweigh my lack of social finesse, but unfortunately they don't bury it.

I use floral putty to "temporarily" attach things like Walter.  https://www.amazon.com/Panacea...6218019805&psc=1

It is high tack, stays pliable and is easily removed.  It will get into molded wood grain, but a dry toothbrush will remove it.  

Quarter Gauger 48 posted:

The light on the tender should light'.  Those wires are grounds and one of the ends has something to do with the light.  Often times, lights are not mentioned in the catalogs.  As the focus is mainly for the locomotives'... Take a 9 volt battery with leads attached to it and try different ways touching it to the wire and the wheels.  If you get a slight blink in the light, then that wire is for the light...........

So the tender does light up...Im gonna have to try that out as soon as I find a 9-volt.

Adriatic posted:

@TheRWBYRailfan

  You've got some catching up to do if you ever want to equal my foot-in-mouth prowess. I don't think your posts even qualify here.

Some days the words flow well for us, somedays they don't; oh well.

   I guess I often come across as condescending to some folk at times. It usually isn't intentional; wasn't meant to be here either.

  I'm already kinda used to questioning my own reponses fyi; Asperger's often means the path less traveled is mine regardless. My communication skills outweigh my lack of social finesse, but unfortunately they don't bury it.

I understand. My brain apparently doesn't like to function right whenever I talk to people. Sometimes its on, sometimes its off, and I end up spewing words or sentences that usually make no meaning to the subject being discussed. I dunno, sometimes I try to be humorous in how I type but I don't think it works or I have a hard time turning it off ^^;