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MTH 1:32 GE Baldwin VO 1000
My garden railway

Conversion for DCC and scale wheels.

Electrical: the MTH electonics were removed due to their incompatibility with my DCC control system and replaced with a Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 TSU-4400 DCC decoder. A single decoder can operate both motors for low speed pottering about on level track with no problems. The current consumption is 0.1 to 0.2 Amps, but going up a steep slope this rises to 0.5 or more before a series of short horn blasts warns of overloading. This loco needs one decoder per motor. With a second decoder added in 2020 it will happily spin its wheels against a solid obstacle.

Couplings: Kadee No 821 couplings were fitted.

Wheels: new wheels with scale flanges were turned from mild steel round bar, bored to 8.2 mm to press onto the existing plastic insulating bushes.
The increased back-to-back wheel spacing (42.4 - 42.5 mm) reduced the pressure of the plunger-type electrical collectors on the backs of the wheels. This was compensated for by slipping small brass caps over their ends - increasing the reach and at the same time giving a harder wearing surface.

1.0 mm wide washers were turned from Delrin to go on the axles inside the wheels to reduce the extra sideplay from my increased b-b. The locomotive now runs perfectly through my 1.4 mm wide point flangeways.



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28 Mar 2012