Getting power from the front engine of an artric

[neilmunck]

I want to build a HO model of a RGW 2-6-6-0 but I am a bit stumped when it cames ot a way of getting weight from the boiler onto the front engine.

I want it to be articulated in the protypical manner, i.e. the rear engine is connected to the boiler and the front engine pivots from the front of the rear engine, not like the modern RTR models where both engines are pivotting.

Real locos used a bearing plate however model track has rather sharper vertical and horizontal curves so I don't think this is practical.

Does anyone who owns a brass articulated know how they are done? Does anyone who has modelled a articulated loco have any advice on how it should be done.

cheers folks.
Neil

 

[sumpter250]

Neil,
My Sunset Models 2-8-8-0 uses a spring loaded bearing plate. My PFM Sierra, 2-6-6-2 has a small wheel instead of a flat plate. It is also spring loaded. The supports for both of these are hinged in the frame, and the spring tension can be adjusted.
Pete

 

[neilmunck]

Thanks Pete, that is exactly the kind of information that I need. I hadn't thought of a wheel but I see now that that is the perfect way of puting weight down without creating too much friction between the boiler and the front engine.

Can you describe the mechanism on the Sierra a bit more?
How is the spring tension altered?
Is the wheel on the engine or on the boiler?
Is the bearing plate that it acts aginst flat or shaped?
What do you mean by "they are hinged in the frame"?

I wish I had a PFM Sierra - the two that John Allen had beautiful and apparently very good performers.

Neil

 

[sumpter250]

Here's a shot of the front engine frame, ans the bottom of the boiler of the sierra 2-6-6-2.
Pete