PRR1950 posted:PRR 5841,
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, but your explanation said "bare brass bolster" and corrosion, so I thought your engine was unpainted. Is it common for 2-rail O scale engines to be painted while leaving the bolster bare? Is a bare bolster necessary for electrical conductivity? If unpainted, I was afraid that using the products you were thinking might interfere with a later attempt to paint.
Chuck
Chuck,
No offense taken whatsoever. There’s a shouldered screw w/spring that holds the truck to the tender. The bolster is painted except for the part that contacts the brass “washer” with tabs that fits underneath a block of plastic for insulation. Any good painter will remove paint from this area before reassembling the model. The washer has a wire soldered to it and together with the wire from the other truck, connects to the backside of the female tender plug and you have electrical contact or least in theory until corrosion compromises the connection. This arrangement enables a “Cold” tender as opposed to earlier iterations from KTM (MG) that didn’t have the plastic block which meant the whole tender was “Hot”. A real problem if the cab deck plate or drawbar weren’t insulated.
Sorry if my response caused you to think I’m some sort of persnickety “Ace-in-the-hole”.😁
Chris
