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Reply to "2-Railing Lionel Trackmobile"

Dumb question:  Couldn't you have left one side of the axles grounded and just done the pickup on the axle?  That would seem to be easier than having to do wheel pickups on both sides.

Hi John,

From a technical (electrical) perspective, yes you could; however, I needed to make custom bushing to mate the stock Lionel 2MM axle with the 1/8" axle opening in NWSL wheel, so I needed to make some type of bushing regardless.  I could have made the 2MM-to-1/8" axle/wheel bushing on one side of each axle out of metal and then use the die cast frame to carry that rail's polarity the same way as Lionel built it.  The axle opening on the 3-Rail wheel was press-fit (not even really that tight) on the 2MM axle but when working with press-fit bushings and that seeing how that axle material is quite small, e.g. it bends really easy, I opted to stay with Delrin for both bushings to keep the forces down when press-fitting on the wheels to axle since the bushing needed a press-fit on the axle and then wheel needs to press-fit on the adapter bushing.  Lionel added some knurling to the axle (looks like they just crimped it with some serrated jaw pliers) on the center for the Delrin drive gear and on the ends for the wheels to make axle diameter slightly larger at the knurl locations for a tighter press-fit.   I can just run the extra wipers directly to the chassis but I will most likely just keep them insulated from the chassis, as well, and just connect directly to the DCC decoder.  Lionel went through some extra effort to keep their TMCC board isolated from the chassis and I would just rather not have to worry about the decoder getting roasted if it accidently touches the chassis somehow in its lifetime.

Scott

Last edited by Scott Kay

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