Pennsy 2-8-2 L1

[Schraddel]

Thank you for the warm welcome.


This is a photo of the underside of the L1. On the right there ist the new Spur gear on fourth pair of drivers. It is mounted outward of the centerline for the reason the idler is a step gear an the motor can now be mounted in the centerline of the loco.
The gearbox was made of 1.0mm styrene and glued together with industrial type CA. It is strong enough to withstand all forces in this drivetrain.

The brass bottom plate was cut in halves. The rear 1/4 section is screwed directly to the frame for stiff bearing the last axle.
The beneath forward 3/4 section are shims of 0.5mm sheet. This gives more space and enables the axles to travel up and down.
A further modification was made on the coupling rods. The bearings of the second and third pair of drivers were milled verticaly producing short vertical slots enabel them traveling up and down.
NEVER, NEVER do this in horizotal manner, this will give jerky opereation and produces a show case model.

As you see, all 8 drivers are permanently in contact with the rails. That made the loco real pulling.

Next was current pick up. I made additional wipers out of 0.5mm brass wire as seen on the photo. The small patchwork sheets are made of 0.3mm styrene and insulates the pick up. This an an 8-wheel tender pick up gives an steady current flow.

Another technical modification was the short coupling device between loco and tender.

I use a Roco short coupling device an similar mounted as on this Spectrum 2-10-2. Also i made the trailing truck sprung loaded as shown above. Also the front truck.
But this Spectrum 2-10-2 is another chapter.
This modifications were similar done on the L1.


The next big chapter is making her look good.

Greetings Lutz

-will be continued-