I have an ABBBA set of H0 scale Stewart F7s. Both of the A units are powered; only one of the B units is powered. I have a friend who is going to convert them to DCC so I can run them on the (Easy) DCC club layout. Yesterday I found out that all the turnout frogs on the club layout are unpowered and the F7 wheel base is such that this engine is always unpowered as it moves through the turnout. That is why there are no F7s on the layout, I guess. (Off topic: What about GP9s and some others? I would think they would have a similar wheelbase and be unpowered on the frogs, too.) As I understand it, my solution is to run power jumpers between the engines. Each powered unit will have a separate decoder set up to operate on the same address. Can I also have jumpers for the unpowered Stewart B units? Will they pick up power? Can I run these units with other engine types? If I go forward with this, it seems to me I will forever tied to an AA or AB lashup combination. What about using a freight car for pickup? Any other ideas? I don't know if I have posed enough questions or even if I have asked the right questions. I am in N scale and DC only, so all of this is new to me. (Well not all; I have converted the H0 scale Black Widow F7s to close coupling.) Thanks for the help.
At my DC times I connected power from two engines. This helps a lot. And I had a IC train, BR 430, four unit passenger train, I had connected all four parts. This train picked up power at the end cars. You run only into a problem if you want to 0-5-0 a ABBA consist. :angel: Wolfgang
Okay. I see that. I think I will have to 0-5-0 the consist, though. In order to break up the engines, I can use a small connector between engines. Somehow, this electrical pickup between all engines, powered or not, will have to transfer power to the separate decoders. I checked my un-motored Stewart F7B unit and both trucks have electrical pickup. That should make it easier to wire it into the electrical system. I'm going to the mall this afternoon for some Christmas train running. I'll aggravate that group with the question.
You are making this seem harder than it is. It is really no different from DC - you just need to jumper the wheel pickups through the various units, which effectively means you have one big long loco with a pair of track power bus wires running the length of it. On DC the motors would effectively just be wired across the pair of bus wires in their unit; for DCC the decoders will be wired across the pair of bus wires in their unit (and the motors just hang off the decoders).
I did this with an HO scale AB set of Boston & Maine Stewart FTs (B dummy). Since the B&M had them connected by drawbar and never broke the set I just hardwired the extra pickup. Completely eliminated dead spots or dead frogs, but I didn't have much of a problem with that in the first place. The mechanism is a pretty good one. I was planning on eventually getting a drive for the B unit but never got around to it. Should work just fine for your purposes. I do find it odd that their frogs are longer than the wheelbase of the F7. In reality only one axle needs to be drawing power from the track to get power to the motor since all 8 wheels on a Stewart have pickups. Have you tried running the units yet? I bet they work just fine, even with the unpowered frogs.
Harron: You may be correct about having no problem running them on the layout. In fact, I had a person tell me today that they had run an Athearn Genesis F7A without a problem. Looks like a Stewart should be about the same. I will check on this before I make it so much harder than it has to be. And you are definitely correct that I have not run the Stewart units yet.
Nearly all of the road units on my old club layout would pass over dead frogs without an issue. Once the Life-Like 0-8-0 was released and I started using it in yard service I suddenly started finding dead frogs - which was a good thing in some ways because I was able to address them and get them fixed (powered by tortoise machines). Anyway, good luck with the units - if nothing else the other two powered ones should push consist over the dead spot.
Stewart Engines and unpowered frogs I do not see where there is a potential problem here. All wheels on a Stewart F unit pick up power. I run my ABA set at the club(code 100 with Atlas #6 turnouts(and no powered frogs). I have TCS T4X decoders in the 2 A units and a MRC 'Sounder' in the unpowered B unit. The pickup is so good that the sound unit does not even 'blip' when going through the yard ladder. I was ready to wire up a set of jumper wires if needed, but after a trial run at home(same kind of trackage) - I just took them to the club and they ran off 3-4 hours a day for two open house week-ends(and no problems). BTW, the GP7/9/18/30/35 series engines have a 1 scale foot longer wheelbase that a standard F unit. Jim
Thanks for the answers here. I have to say that the guys in my H0 club have a difference of opinion on the possible problems. So...if I were to wire "jumpers" between the engines just for power pickup from the trucks, what type of connection should I use between the engines? I envision some Radio Shack small two-wire connector. Since I remove the engines from the track after each operating session, I need to be able to disconnect the MU jumpers. (This may be the most words I have ever written about electricity in my life. I am really weak on this stuff, so be gentle. )
Just look for the tiniest possible connector - cos when you show a 'small' one to your HO engines it'll look like you're going to be parking a Cadillac between the units
Uh oh...bad! Well, I will look and ask around. I have made MU connectors for N scale engines just using a brass rod fitted into a tube. They were a pain and had to be connected using tweezers. Thanks for the info, Mike Sheridan. I will post some photos if I ever get this project done.
