Digitizing Roco 43012 - Whoops

[ BR 601 posts ]

I ordered replacement wheel sets for the Maerklin system from Roco, so that I can run the unit on the Welztalbahn. I also ordered a replacement gear box cover that is supposed to carry the maerklin-typical pickup shoe. However, it turns out that the replacement part I got has not even a remote resemblance with the part I need.  It's clearly not made to be a one-to-one replacement.

So, ... either I'm doing this wrong, or the Roco warehouse made a mistake. Time to think about this some more. If I can't figure this out, I might end up moving the pickup shoe to the first passenger car and cable it to the motor unit.


Update September 3rd:
Wow. Yesterday I sent off a support request to Roco looking for an explanation. They not only responded within 24 hours, but gave a direct and technically complete answer. The gears of the AC version are different, so that the pickup shoe fits under the truck. The AC version has only 3 powered axles.
Not only did they advise the proper part numbers, but also checked what parts they actually have available, gave a discussion of pros and cons for which pickup shoe to use, and finally suggested a replacement motor and appropriate decoder from the Roco program. Can't ask for more than that.

I'm very impressed by Roco's customer support. Well done, guys!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Snoqualmie Falls Hydropower Museum

Image
Generator 5 was installed in the underground cavity of plant 1 at Snoqualmie Falls in 1905. It has a generation capacity of 5600 kilowatts. It uses a Francis turbine, which is more efficient than the Pelton wheels used in the other 4 generators installed at plant 1. The water enters the turbine from the sides and then falls straight down from the center of the turbine into a draft tube. The energy of the flowing water is transferred to the shaft of the turbine in form of torque. The shaft is connected to the generator, visible in the rear in the photo at the top of this post. In 2011 the plant was modernized and generator 5 was moved from plant 1 to the hydropower museum. "Wow!" The shops building was moved here from its original site and has various artifacts and equipment that was removed from the plant's underground cavity and control room. Control panel. Knife switches.
Read more

Sunday: Kandersteg

Image
[ Three Tunnels and Winter ] Kandersteg station has the control tower right on the platform at track 1. However, it appears the big control table is no longer in use. Instead, everything's controlled via computers in a back room. Here's the line diagram schedule. This photo was taken through two windows and blinds, so unfortunately it's hard to make out train indications. However, I believe the rather tight column of red lines in the middle of the screen represents the auto transport trains traversing through the Loetschberg tunnel. As soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains, it gets cold. I didn't want to stand here for another 30 minutes until the RegioExpress to Bern was due, so I decided to take the RE 4275 through the Loetschberg tunnel to Goppenstein, where I'd have about 5 minutes to get to the other platform for the return trip and on to Bern. While waiting for the RegioExpress, this KLV train with double-header DB class 185 barrels through the stat...
Read more