Battery Power MU Plug - Aristo-Craft Pacific | Show Menu |
Aristo-Craft Plug and Play locomotives come with MU plugs at each end. This project shows how to install the same plug on a first generation Aristo-Craft Pacific so you can use a power car to run it. A power car is simply a trailing battery car with a receiver added for on-board radio control.
To view an article on this web site on how to build a power car, just click on the following link. Building A Power Car
These next three diagrams show the original wiring circuits for a first generation Aristo-Craft Pacific.
In order to convert this locomotive from track power to battery power and radio control, the track power wiring must be disconnected or removed for the pilot truck, drivers and trailing truck. For this project the track power wiring and the power bus were removed. The power bus was comprised of two long brass strips running under the boiler to a location behind the firebox wall.
A short portion of the power bus behind the firebox wall, which has four holes for screws and loop connectors, was retained. Most of the electrical components will be connected to it using new colour coded wiring and loop connectors. These next two diagrams show the new wiring circuits for the power bus and smoke unit. The circuit for the cab switches remains the same, although I did install new colour coded wiring.
After installing the power car plug, I was frustrated with how hard it was to connect the draw bar and the MU plug between the locomotive and tender. To eliminate the problem, the portion of the draw bar on the tender was removed and flattened in a vice. A hole was drilled and tapped for a number 6 machine bolt. Now the draw bar from the locomotive just drops over the bolt!
When the locomotive and tender are coupled, however, there is not enough room to connect the MU plug. Longer wires are required so the plug can be connected before the draw bar is coupled. Unfortunately long wires would hang down precariously between the locomotive and tender and the draw bar pin. The solution was to make one portion of the plug retractable.
Inside the tender, an elastic was fastened to the MU plug wires with hot glue. The other end of the elastic was mounted to a plastic bar on the tender shell. When the elastic is at rest, the plug is drawn against the tender shell.
To connect the MU plug, one end is gently drawn away from tender. When the MU plug is connected and released, the elastic will gently retract the plug wires and pull the tender towards the locomotive. The draw bar on the locomotive can now be dropped over the draw bar pin of the tender.
Congradulations! You now have a first generation Pacific that can be battery powered and radio controlled using a power car.
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Last Modified 8/25/08 3:23 PM