# 3424 Brakeman



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Another recent acquisition. Missing a door and a door guard rail it begged to be bought. I had a bent axle and a side truck out of alignment. Some cleaning and testing. Plus a little knowlwdge on how to work it. A fun car, a relative of the giraffe car too.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Duck low bridge.*

The brakeman came in blue or white.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Two connections*

The mechanism only has two connections. One is from a center roller , providing power to the coil. it is only a momentary action to move up and the brakeman locks in the kiss the ground position. The next time the brakeman stands up for a stretch. The second connection is a sliding shoe that grounds out the coil to work.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The accuator, how to get it to work. The telltales give the brakeman the exercise he needs. It has to be a metal base on 027 track. It will not work on O scale. The shoe won't reach. I happen to have one but you need two to make the brakeman jig his dance. Unless you go around twice.

























The new ones for the giraffe or reindeer are plastic.
I used O track in the picture.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

So the black metal rails push the white shoe _up_ ???

What does the spring in the black track actuator do? Simply hold it in position on the track?

Thanks, T.

TJ


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## eljefe (Jun 11, 2011)

So this little fella falls flat on his face?


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The spring adds tension from the sides to hold it to the rail. The shoe slides on one of these rails grounding the coil and making the brakeman kiss the deck. So the brakeman ducks under a telltale and when it reaches a second telltale the brakeman stands up. The two rails are a u shaped channel. I placed electical tape inside . Just in case since it surrounds the hot center rail. I have seen this car around but could never find one afforable until now. You guys never seen one? I have a reindeer that came with plastic telltales but no metal rails.


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## Texas Pete (Sep 28, 2011)

I was having a little trouble understanding exactly how the 3424 works, so I had a look at the service manual at Olsen's, which helped explain it.

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/searchcd31.htm?itm=511

Apparently there were two sets of grounding blades, O & O-27, provided.

Cool accessory.

Pete


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm pretty sure there are plates for O-gauge track as well as O-27 track.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Well I have one with a box. No O scale rails.























































TJ, I got close ups of the track grips for the spring.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Here's the info at Olsen's: 3424 Operating Brakeman Car.

From that information, here's the info on the two track options. I had that car a while back, and I knew I got it working on standard O-gauge track.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for the detailed info, guys.

I've only seen these brakeman / giraffe operating cars from afar ... never had the opportunity to fiddle with one in my hands, so it's fun to peek over your shoulders and see a bit more about how everything works.

Cheers,

TJ


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Next time you see one in a junk box you will know what it is. Ebay has around a 10 buck price on parts for these. There is a market for them. I don't see them often, something to lok for. The box set I have came with a junk set I bought years ago.


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## callmeIshmael2 (May 28, 2012)

Thanks, T-man for showing and explaining the #3424. It will help, as I've got a Wabash brakeman car coming from an auction site, and have ordered poles and trips from another site. Here's my question, if anyone familiar with this car knows: Can the brakeman be tripped by anything other than those klunky sheet metal trips? I'm running over FasTrack, and hope for a better solution than buying a bunch of FasTrack to 027 converters at well over twenty bucks? Thanks for any advice!


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The old 6019 uncoupler has a wide rail that will not activate the shoe. You do need a narrow piece to ground the car that fits the contact shoe. That's my theory so far.


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## callmeIshmael2 (May 28, 2012)

To my knowledge, the 3424 Wabash Brakeman car came with two sets of poles with the telltale hanging curtains? I'm guessing the trips, not the nice-looking orange poles and white telltales are the important operating parts. If so, how tough might it be to fashion and put into place a trip that would ground out and make the car do its thing? I know you've got lots of expertise at gerry-rigging fixes, so in your opinion, is it something an earnest, if not highly skilled guy should try taking on? If this is not an insane idea, that is. I really like FasTrack, especially when weathered a little, but working with some postwar goodies really puts you through it...


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Take a scrap rail and cut the bottom off. Insert your actuator into a piece of rail, a piece of metal. The slot will give a little adjustment. Using this rail upside down as a holder hammer the ends flat and attach them to the metal ties. All done.:thumbsup:

Two screws, a rail, and a metal piece.

Fasttrak, maybe cut a slot in the plastic with a cutting wheel. Epoxy the metal piece into place and ground it out.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*For O scale tube track*

Doable with just a rail. The long tabs at the end adjust the height.






























Thanks for the idea!


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I never did finish a working rail for this car. I got the repro door on and this finishes the car. I only had the parts since last November. 











Ed this is mine. I don't want to confuse you.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Always wanted one of these, but they aways were so pricy. I had just about forgoten about this car. Now I will be looking for one at the train show tommorow! Thanks for giving my trip a purpose. T-man that car looks to be in tip top shape. Thanks for sharing.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

T-Man said:


> Ed this is mine. I don't want to confuse you.


Now I am confused....I DON'T SEE ANY EPOXY ON THE CAR!


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## callmeIshmael2 (May 28, 2012)

T-Man, thank you for re-posting this thread. I have your twin (also missing one door and door guides). I tried to get it working last week using both sets of 0 and 027 actuators and ran into grounding problems until re-reading your comment about using electrical tape across the hot rail to avoid shorting, which is what happened to me. At the time, I just put it away, but now I'll get it going, thanks to you. It's a fun car, for sure.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Thanks t-man. I picked this up for 20 $ , car only. I will have to check to see if it works but the wires coil look clean!


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Picture is here.


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## clayman (Dec 17, 2011)

ok, so I tried, I really did look for the answer first...........

Is there an easy to understand, 6th grade learning comprehension level, explanation of adapting the Wabash 3424 to operate with Fastrack?


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

If you have the trip ( the metal part ) you could cut your fast track and add in some o track with it inserted? Or try what t man said, dremal a slot in the fasttrack so the blade can pop up through it? I thing adding a?peice of o track would be easier if you have the blades.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

You may have to buy this track 6-12054

Here is another answer using an 027 track clip 3424-86 part number

This car requires a very slim rail to make contact.


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## clayman (Dec 17, 2011)

*3424 Solenoid*

Can the 3424 solenoid be functional and still not operate correctly? I recently picked up a project car and though the solenoid engages when the power is contacted, it does not alternate between "up" and "down" (it reverts to "down" and stays "down"). Can i adjust or should I just find a properly operating one?


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Check out post 8 with the service manual reference.

I would say the lock mechanism needs attention.

I need another look at it to say for sure.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Upon inspection you do need the man installed. He is part of the counter weight. Every lift changes the weight position.


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## clayman (Dec 17, 2011)

Thank you.

After I posted and continued to fiddle with it, that same thought hit me. Obviously I had taken him off to remove the shell and worked on it without my worker on duty. After we had a decidedly one way conversation, he was back on the job, and all is well. Now, I am still searching for the most efficient way to make him interact on fastrack........(my post from above asks this as well and I switched to standard tube track at that time but am now on the quest.)


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## Millstonemike (Aug 9, 2018)

I read the service manual. But I'm still confused about the solenoid's activation vis-a-vis an accessory track (have no knowledge of operating cars). A center rail powered rail next to the main center rail?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

T man why are all the old pictures all fuzzy?
And marked with the Photobucket tag?

I guess you didn't pay them when they decided to force everyone to pay?
And then they were forced by the courts to give you back your pictures?
And that is how you got them back from them?

I didn't follow what happened when they decided to hijack everyone's pictures and force you to pay.
Is this the case?

Or did you pay?


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## Millstonemike (Aug 9, 2018)

Big Ed said:


> T man why are all the old pictures all fuzzy?
> And marked with the Photobucket tag?
> 
> I guess you didn't pay them when they decided to force everyone to pay?
> ...


The original post "linked" to the images in Photobucket. If the poster is not in compliance with PB's fees, free service limits, etc., the links in the original post retrieve the images doctored by PB.

The poster would have to go back to the original post and replace the links with actual photos from his PC (e.g., upload to the MTF forum S/W), among other solutions.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Millstonemike said:


> The original post "linked" to the images in Photobucket. If the poster is not in compliance with PB's fees, free service limits, etc., the links in the original post retrieve the images doctored by PB.
> 
> The poster would have to go back to the original post and replace the links with actual photos from his PC (e.g., upload to the MTF forum S/W), among other solutions.



Ok, when they first implicated the hijacking of photos and held them for ransom all you saw was a blank box with Photobucket in it. 

That would take the T man a few years going back and adding all the pictures in all his threads. ha ha ha


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I saved all the pics. The photos were blocked for a while, eventually they were revived. I never go there now at all. I never did believe I should pay for my own pictures.

A different way to get them to work on fast track is to use a spring rod coming from the side of the car. Touching a metal plate ( metal sign and post?) on the side would activate the man. The spring would replace the ground wire


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

All my photobucket pics have returned but with a watermark.
I keep getting Emails about them, if I pay a fee they will remove the 
watermarks. HA HA HA, no chance..

Magic


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Photobucket is dead to me, when the started the ridiculous pricing, I went in and deleted all my pictures and then my account.


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