Large Scale Central

Why not put power pickups in the axle shafts?

General Discussion
#1

When having power pickups in rolling stock, you have two options:

  1. Roller bearings (your wallet will hate you)
  2. Friction

Usually with non bearing wheels, you have two “carbon brushes” pushed against the wheels with springs. The carbon brushes means you can have a non-moving point of power pickup against the revolving wheels. Which means friction is necessary.

But the thing is, there’s ALREADY a non-moving part of rolling stock which the coaches are connected to and the wheels are in contact with: the axle boxes!

If we made the axle shafts out of metal, it should provide reliable electric conductivity, right? Sure, contact might not be perfect in some areas of bumpy track, but most rolling stock have 8 wheels anyway. Good lubrication shouldn’t inhibit conductivity, either.

What’s your opinion on my idea? Would it be a good idea to wire rolling stock to metal axle boxes? Would it negatively affect preformance in any way?

Thank you for reading.

#2

seems like a good idea to me.

but a good idea with a catch.

i am 55 years into largescale now. the first half on shoe string budgets (later i could upgrade to shoe-laces)
so i made some of the rolling stock myself. (steel-wheels turned by the village-blacksmith, or from cheap toys - most everything else home-made )
my biggest problem was making axles!
and that will be your problem too.
when using metallic wheels, you’ll need non metallic or separated axles.
for light rolling stock one can use “Mikado” pick-up sticks. - but they have no electrical connection to the axle-boxes.
or,( as shown in the pic on the right) one can use wheels, turned including stumpy axle pieces inside and out, connected by lollypop pipes.
the greatest disadvantage is getting the back to back distances right.

end of story - to move all this junk i had to buy additional motorized tenders!

weels1

#3

Aristo pick ups were brass bearings in the axle hubs and some replaced them with the roller bearings to aid with the weight issue. I’ve got the brass bearings on hand that I took out of Aristo trucks. Are you in need of them?

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#4

talking about bearings
i found, that shoe-string rivets are fine metallic bearings.

#5

The problem is that the axle makes a complete short-circuit. So you can only use it to collect power from one wheel - the other is insulated. Some manufacturers tried that.

Aristo tried split axles in plastic sleeves, but they are now cracking and breaking; mind you, they are 20 years old.

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#6

“The problem is that the axle makes a complete short-circuit. So you can only use it to collect power from one wheel - the other is insulated. Some manufacturers tried that.”

AristoCraft Streamliners. But know that if you remove an axle and put it back in reversed, you’ve created a short circuit across your railroad and could just be scratching your head as to why. Also, in reality, you only have half the wheels picking up power, so continuity suffers.

“Aristo tried split axles in plastic sleeves, but they are now cracking and breaking; mind you, they are 20 years old.”

AristoCraft Heavyweights. The wheel, including the outer tip of the axle, are in contact with the “journals” (brass sleeves) with a plastic tube connecting the two sides together. But the tip of the axle still spins in the journals creating significant wear and the round holes become ovals reducing the contact patches.

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#7

Ohhhhh. So even though the wheels themselves are insulated, the axle needs to be structurally stable and made of the stronger material… I see, that makes sense. And I have experienced the Aristo axles breaking myself, my Aristo track cleaning caboose has at least one of its axles broken, I have tried to circumvent this with glue and tape. (I’ll try some better solutions when I feel like doing it but that’s another topic)

#8

Thanks for your responses everyone, I’ll probably stick to conventional methods now. Mostly.

@David_Marconi_FOGCH

I’ve got the brass bearings on hand that I took out of Aristo trucks. Are you in need of them?

Thank you for the offer, I have an Aristo caboose that I can modify so I’d be interested.