# Roundhouse old time 2-8-0 support



## KcW (Oct 31, 2016)

I'll start off by saying I am a weekend warrior(more like a X-mas warrior). So I decided it would be a good idea to buy this loco, in parts, off of ebay. I said "hey you're carpenter, you can do this!" So I have got it together, tested it and it's tripping the overload on my transformer. I replaced the lousy plastic pins with brass screws for the drive rods. This is the only mod I did to it. I don't see anything touching that shouldn't be. I don't really know where to go from here. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

If you have metal siderods, and multi-driver pickup off the rails, you have created a shorting bridge between axles by replacing plastic (insulating) pins with brass ones. The reason is that sometimes, not always, the axles are such that not all wheels pick up power on one side only. At least, this is what my mind suggests to me without knowing more about the construction of the locomotive.


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## KcW (Oct 31, 2016)

The wheels on one side are plastic insulated. I put the plastic pins back on that side just to make sure, and nothing.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

How much assembly did you have to do to it? This could bound the "where to look next" problem a little.

Also, what is the model and scale of the locomotive?


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## KcW (Oct 31, 2016)

Mesenteria, you are right. I must have misread your post the first time. This time I picked up what you were laying down:smilie_daumenpos:. I installed all of the plastic pins again and it worked. 

New question, is there anything I can do to keep the brass screws?


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

KcW said:


> Mesenteria, you are right. I must have misread your post the first time. This time I picked up what you were laying down:smilie_daumenpos:. I installed all of the plastic pins again and it worked.
> 
> New question, is there anything I can do to keep the brass screws?


Glad you got that sorted out! I was scratching my head a little.

To use a brass screw, you would have to make sure it was insulated at every connection to avoid shorting across the drivers. That's probably more fiddly than you want to get.

You can buy non-conductive screws made of nylon or acetyl plastic, which would probably be a better solution. Try Northwest Short Line for a good source (www.nwsl.com).


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## KcW (Oct 31, 2016)

Thanks, that was going to be my next question. I figured there had to be some kind of none metallic screw. I am actually working on a 2-8-0 and a 2-6-0 both roundhouse. I can't wait to see them run. Thanks again.


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