Improving
the
Lionel
AF
Baldwin's
performance
Lionel's
new
AF
Baldwin
Diesels
are
good
looking
attempts
to
improve
on
AC
Gilberts
Baldwin
offerings.
Unfortunately
there
are
some
short
comings
in
the
design
even
though
it
looks
as
if
they
tried
to
improve
things
like
the
power
pickup
and
drive
reliability.
Running
on
American
Models
turnouts
and
track
really
shows
up
these
problems. 1. Derailing on open frogs due to excessive power pickup tension.* 2 Electrical dead spots when crossing open frogs. 3.
Jack
rabbit
starting
and
stopping. |
Click on Drawings for LARGER View |
|
|
1.
Reducing
Power
Pickup Shoe Pressure The tension/resistance of the power pickup slider is so great that it almost lifts the wheels off of the track. Cut heat shrink tubing from pickup. Unsolder wire from pickup. Remove clip and pickup will slip out of truck. Replace Power wire with smaller gauge flex wire soldering back on pickup. Replace original spring with 3 turns from AF Bronze brush spring. Re-assemble pickup into truck with "C" clip. Replace the small piece of heat shrink tubing as original. Be sure to leave a loop in the pickup power wire to ensure free movement of pickup. |
2.
Add
Power
Pickup
Wheel
If you look at the power pickup scheme, there are three pickup contacts on one rail (S) and only two power pickup points on the other rail (N). By replacing the Traction wheel with a plain wheel Part Number 640-8153-186, you now have three pickup points for both rails. The amount of traction lost is a small trade off for the improved power pickup. When replacing the Traction wheel pull off the insulated wheel and drive gear off of the axle first, then you can drive the axle out of the traction wheel easily. Then press on the plain wheel and reinstall the gear and insulated wheel. |
|
3.
Add
TMCC
to
improve
Starting,
Stopping
and
Slow
speed
performance. Using a MDB board and R2LC receiver the conversion is economical and easy to do. |
|
The
Heatsink
needed
a
bit
trimmed
off
of
the
bottom
so
it
would
fit
into
the
depression
in
the
chassis
to
reduce
the
height
enough
to
clear
the
body.
Drill
and
tap
the
heatsink
while
you
have
it
removed
from
the
MDB
PC
board
to
mate
with
the
existing
holes
in
the
chassis.
Be
sure
the
insulators
for
the
triacs
are
re-installed
so
the
heatsink
is
electrically
isolated
from
the
triacs.
The
antenna
is
just
a
piece
of
solid
hookup
wire.
The
headlights
need
to
have
the
leads
lengthened
by
splicing
extensions
onto
them
to
reach
the
connectors. Re-use
the
Lockout
switch
as
the
Program/Run
switch.
Lionel Should have offered the Baldwins with TMCC
|
|
Makes a decent engine after modifications |
TMCC wiring Diagram |