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American Flyer - All Wheel Pickup:

  I have made many modifications to Flyer equipment, but never felt the need to try this as I run DC and don't have to put up with those pesky reverse units. The conversion itself should not be a big problem as I envision it, at least on an Atlantic. Get a pair of S Helper bronze pickup wipers as used on their locomotives, and using them as a guide to locate the holes, drill and tap 2-56 holes in the bottom of the chassis on each side, midway between the drivers, spacing them inward so that they will touch the rims with a little tension.

To the left is a sketch showing one possible scheme for adding all wheel pickups.

To the right is a picture of standard S-Helper trucks, showing how they use the bronze pickups on their production locomotives.

 Cut a thin piece of insulation such as  .020 Evergreen plastic sheet or maybe even an expired credit card to fit the bottom of the chassis to keep the wipers from touching it. Drill clearance holes in it for the mounting screws. Solder thin insulated wires to the pickups near the center but not so close to the hole to interfere with the mounting screws. Use nylon screws, flathead if you can find them, to mount the pickups. Route the wires toward the front of the locomotive, and then upward into the boiler. Use an epoxy cement to bond the wires to the plastic, and the plastic to the bottom of the chassis, so that they will not hang down.
  From here, the wiring will depend on the individual loco, but the new wires should end up connected to the same places that the tender trucks are.   The disadvantages of this method are that the exposed parts are somewhat  fragile, and you must be sure that everything will clear a switch. Don't even think about running the loco over a raised uncoupler! A larger locomotive still has only two tires per side, and should work the same way, but the wiper setup would have to be different.

  Hope this helps some, and contact me directly for more details if needed.

  Bill Frazier

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