Improvements for a Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-2 Mountain

[railandsail]

I have a number of these 4-8-2 Mountains that came with DCC. They are the C&O versions with the vandy tenders.

The one item I am NOT fond of is those lousy wipers they used to pick-up track power by the main drivers. i found that Backmann utilized the same design for their later 4-8-4 Northerns also.

Does someone know of an alternate arrangement for electrical pick-ups,....perhaps something using phosphor bronze WIRE rubbing against the flanges of the drivers ??

I agree about the pick ups. I have a NYO&W version and half of the pick ups are either broken or mis aligned. I was able to order extra pick ups from Bachmann. I have not yet replaced them.

I've been working on 2 of my identical 4-8-2 mountain locos from Bachmann (C&O versions with Vanderbilt tenders) that came with dcc & sound installed.

One of them works flawlessly, while the other one experiences this 'stop & go' attitude.   Now we know the electrical pick-up design on the main drivers is not the best (lousy i think), and that leaves the tender trucks to do the job properly. In fact i have on several occasions run these locos by just (only) using electrical pick-up from the tender trucks.

That one locomotive I have stop and go problems with appears to be having problems as a result of its forward truck. ...any one else experience such a problem?
I'm a little suspect about that metal strip that contacts 2 of the 3 axles on each truck. I think the pressure they apply on the axles is less than desirable. i wounder if thats because these strips appear to be just brass, rather than more springy phosphor bronze?   
I also wonder if the middle axle on those tender trucks could be 'activated' to be useful in electrical pick-up??