David Minarik posted:rad400 posted:Dave
Question on your comment above- "It can be corrected in steam by removing the plastic/fiber axle insulators and replacing them with metal". When you have the engine switch in 3 rail mode, you are connecting both wheels together. Do you obtain that much additional advantage (signal) by putting in a metal axel when in 3 rail mode?
Bob D
Bob,
In premier steam, only some of the wheel sets are connected in 3 rail mode. The DCS signal is not affected by this but general operation is.
This does not cause problems on all layouts or switches (as some have stated above) but there are times when you have that 'perfect storm' scenario where spacing of wheel sets and track/switches can cause problems.
In premier diesels, all wheel sets are connected in 3 rail mode.
Hope this helps,
Dave
Dave, This is like saying all X are Y and such. There are certainly some Premier 2R/3R especially the Scale engine that can suffer from poor ground continuity. But if you are running 3 rail the selector switch ties the right side engine wheels to ground and connects both tender wheel sets together. The drawbar and ground pin wire need to make a connection too. I have seen the spring/brush used to pickup right side power be faulty and not make good connections, or the springs burn up. You can modify engine to hardwire both wheels and same in tender if your a 3 railer only. I have also done the same for the 2R only ground. If they only run 2R I repurpose the center pickup red wire as left wheel chassis ground. G
