I also finished my new Proto 2000 SW900. I got it as an undecorated model and customized it to "CN"ize it: And finally, a scene on the highway beside the tracks. It looks like the guy in the black car should slow down a bit.
Verse: Originally I found the Proto 2000 SW's would stall on my turnouts which all have dead frogs (which I chose so I could hard-wire my point rails to my stock rails to eliminate the possibility of shorts). It seemed like the pickups from the wheels weren't always getting the power to the motor because when one truck was on the frog, the other was always on a section of powered track. So I removed the original pickup wires and replaced them with pieces of thin wire wound around each axle. This solved the problem and they don't stall on turnouts anymore.
I too find the same thing happening to mine. I'm going to make similar modifications and let you know the results. Thanks for the info. verse
Nice work! Can tell the guy in the black car isn't a Yank: no Fuzzbuster, no "I'm and American" attitude, and the lovely OPP Occifer isn't tearing out the back seat!
The switcher is nicely done! Thanks for sharing the handiwork. That pic with the OPP cruiser reminded me of a story my Mom told me- Dad was working near Watkins Glen, NY, and Mom was back home in Oklahoma. She decided to drive uo to see him, and so went up I-44 and I-55 to Chicago, I-94 to Detroit, and across the border into Ontario. Recognizing the speed limit was 100 KpH (62.5 mph), she kept her speed at about 62-63 mph. Now she'd driving legal, and cars are blasting by her like she's standing still. An OPP car pulls her over, and a trooper came up to mom's car and tole her she was (get this) slowing traffic. Doing the limit, yes, but slowing traffic. Since she is from the States, and the car has Oklahoma license plates, she explained that she didn't want to speed and risk getting a ticket. The trooper thanked her for being respectful of provincial speed laws, but if she could stay with the pace of other cars, it would help traffic flow. Mom owned a Ford LTD with a 390 V8, and she let those horses run- passed the OPP car like he was standing still (he smiled & waved), and she made like Richard Petty all the way to Toronto and Niagra Falls, where she re-entered the States for the rest of her trip. (BTW, she thought the Ontario highways were very neat, and the grass was clipped as close as most front lawns.) Just to let you know quite a few of us Yanks know how to behave when visiting our neighbors.....
Even thought the posted speed on our Hwy 401 (freeway) is 100 kph, the OPP generally don't bother unless you exceed 120 kph or drive aggressively. I drive around 110 kph and cars usually go zipping past me.
Joke Thought you all might enjoy this one, the cop car shot brought it to mind, Cheers RCMP This is cute A Mountie pulled a car over on the Trans Canada about 2 miles West of Winnipeg. When the Mountie asked the driver why he was speeding, the driver answered that he was a magician and a juggler and he was on his way to Brandon to do a show that night at the Shrine Circus and didn't want to be late. The Mountie told the driver he was fascinated by juggling, and if the driver would do a little juggling for him then he wouldn't give him a ticket. The driver told the Mountie that he had sent all of his equipment on ahead and didn't have anything to juggle. The Mountie told him that he had some flares in the trunk of his patrol car and asked if he could juggle them. The juggler stated that he could, so the Mountie got three flares, lit them and handed them to the juggler. While the man was doing his juggling act, a car pulled in behind the patrol car. A drunk, good old boy, driving through from Alberta got out and watched the performance briefly. He then went over to the patrol car, opened the rear door and got in. The Mountie observed him doing this and went over to the patrol car, opened the door and asked the drunk what he thought he was doing. The drunk replied, "You might as well take me to jail, cause there's no darn` way I can pass that test."
That's really good! Thanks for the laugh. On a side note--I have been to Niagara Falls, and to Calgary, once apiece; what's OPP mean?
CN: Can you give me some more details on how you improved the pickup on your SW900? Did you have to remove the trucks? How did you secure the wires around the axles? I've all but given up on my SW. Thanks for any and all help.
Improving pickup on Proto2000 SW900/SW1200 I removed the trucks from the loco and the sideframes from the trucks. Then I got some thin stranded wire and formed a loop around the outside axle hub of one wheel, then around the other axle of the same truck, removed it and soldered the loops so they would hold their shapes. After slipping the wires over the axle hubs again, I reassembled the trucks and fed the other end of the wire up through the frame and connected it to the matching wire from the same side of the other truck. The wire was then soldered to where the track pickup wire connects to the motor (or the decoder if using DCC. (Mine actually connect to the printed circuit boards I make so my decoders are easier to swap if problems occur). I hope this helps.
