OK...So I finally got around to adding power pick-ups on the tender of my PK2000 0-8-0. If you're not familiar with this model, it's got some very prototypical chains on the tender trucks. After finally figuring out how to detach them from the tender - they were held in place with tiny-teenie pins, I went about the business of putting pick-ups on the trucks and wiring them to the decoder. That was the easy part. I buttoned the tender up, checked that all was working OK, and got around to reinstalling the chains back where they belong.....
I've spent the better part of two hours trying to get ONE chain back in place with no success. The chain is squirrelier than a wet bar of soap, and trying to insert the pin into the hole on the tender floor is next to impossible. So....does anybody know how this miracle was accomplished in the first place..?? Are the Chinese endowed with some quality I'm ignorant of..?? Surely they can do it in less than two hours per pin....
Does anybody have an idea how this can be done without spending the rest of my natural life messing with it..?? The next logical step is to cut them off and call it good....

can you post a pic of the offending chain.

Here you go...

The procedure should be very similar to that for installing the slack adjusting chain between the brake cylinder and the actuating rod (perhaps even eaiser, as the links are bigger on the tender truck chains):


Did you take the chains off the pins or the pins out of the tender's frame? Either way, you'll need lots of light, good eyesight (I use an Opti-Visor), and a good quality pair of tweezers.
Replacing the pins should be straightforward, if somewhat tedious.
I've found that the best way to get the chain onto a pin or wire is to allow it to hang, preferably over the edge of something so that only the last few links are dangling free - this decreases the amount that it can swing out of the way of the pin which you're attempting to insert into the last link. Two tweezers may increase your chances - one to hold the pin and insert it, the other to grasp the end of the pin and draw it completely into the link. A d... (that's much less than a drop) of ca should secure it so that you can work on the others without the finished ones coming apart. (To get a d... place a drop of ca on a piece of glass or metal, then wet the tip of an X-Acto #11 blade in the drop - the amount should be barely noticeable - and touch it momentarily to the pin/chain link). Simply repeat seven times, and you're done!

Wayne

Another trick I find useful when dealing with chain is to put a big loop of thread through the last link. You may need to use a needle to do it, but then there is a big "handle" on the chain that can be threaded through a hole, or tied to something, etc as necessary.

Don't know if that helps in this case. Good luck!

Andrew

Sorry, I can't help ... but that is a nice-looking loco! If I ever get "brave" I might try to add tender pickups to some of my British locos as well. Rob

Thanks for the input guys....
I think I like the sewing thread idea to be able to "control" the chain and hopefully have it stay put so I can pin it in place.
The loco is really nice which is why I want to keep the chains...They do look good...
I'll take a crack at it today and see how it goes...

Well...The nasty deed is done. Took me only about 4 hours...
What surprised me was the vast vocabulary of swear words at my command. They were repeated often, I assure you...
But it turned out OK...And they do look cool...AND the li'l ol' 0-8-0 works beautifully now..So it was well worth the effort...

Steamtrains Wrote:Well...The nasty deed is done. Took me only about 4 hours...
What surprised me was the vast vocabulary of swear words at my command. They were repeated often, I assure you...
But it turned out OK...And they do look cool...AND the li'l ol' 0-8-0 works beautifully now..So it was well worth the effort...

I am curious how you did it! You got it done before I could post my suggestion!

Well...I started by re-inserting the pins into the chains. This was fairly straightforward, at first. For some reason the last 3 just didn't want to behave, so that brought on some more white hairs. Inserting the pins/chains into the itty-bitty holes was not as difficult as I thought....Once I could see the holes... My sight isn't anything to write home about, and trying to insert a black pin into a black hole was kind'a of a b*****. So I put a dab of white paint on the holes, and that made it much easier...
Glad that is done.....

Good idea Gus!....................now you can enjoy it!

Steamtrains Wrote:The chain is squirrelier than a wet bar of soap, and trying to insert the pin into the hole on the tender floor is next to impossible. So....does anybody know how this miracle was accomplished in the first place..?? Are the Chinese endowed with some quality I'm ignorant of..?? Surely they can do it in less than two hours per pin....

It is probably that they have small hands. When I worked as a refrigeration mechanic in the harbor on container units, one of the shipping lines had a bunch of units made in Japan by Daiken. There were a few pressure switches located in places that my hand (which is long and skinny by the way) just wouldn't fit. There was just no way to replace them without some major disassembly of the machine. One day an engineer from Daiken came to the terminal to talk to us about the machines and see what we thought of them. I complained about the difficulty of working on the machine in such tight quarters. He proceeded to show me how easily he could work on everything, that there just was no problem. Of course I have never seen a woman with such tiny delicate looking hands! I then told him that they should really keep the things in orient and never allow one of the machines to go anyplace in the world where there wasn't an oriental with tiny little hands to work on it! He didn't much like hearing that!

I can't see why he would have reacted in that way.....

I've got an Ulrich passenger car (2, actually) that call for chains like that. I'd guess the Selley & Northeastern open platform cars probably should have them too...I'll have to chime in when I get to that stage...someday.

Post some pics of your finished progress, please.

Glad it worked out in the end.

Galen

Steamtrains Wrote:Well...The nasty deed is done. Took me only about 4 hours...
What surprised me was the vast vocabulary of swear words at my command. They were repeated often, I assure you...
But it turned out OK...And they do look cool...AND the li'l ol' 0-8-0 works beautifully now..So it was well worth the effort...

Hi Gus---I'm glad you didn't have a temper tantrum and end up throwing the tender at the wall When you're finished,all your efforts will be worthwhile as you'll end up with a really nice locomotive.I was lucky to have Doctor Wayne do all the work ---here's what he created for me