Feedwater power connection resolved

It took three tries, and there is still room for improvement, but I did manage to reconnect the tender electrically to the engine.

Essentially, I made a very small connector, and soldered it to the end of the wire, then replaced the old wire completely.  The small connector is a piece of brass rod about .75 mm in diameter and length with a #68 hole drilled down the middle.  I made it using my hand drill, and so, the hole isn’t perfectly centered, and nothing is really round or precise, but all I was aiming for was something small and not too noticeable.

Okay, I failed on the second part, but it should be okay once it’s painted.

The good news is that with the weight in, and the backhead off  so the wires don’t get pinched and short out, the little engine can actually pull her passenger car out of the station!  She may even be able to drag one or two free-rolling freight cars with it.

Well, until the weight on the engine truck catches on a turnout and stops everything abruptly.  Oh, and she picked up a slight limp as the drivers went out of quarter one night when Brian Pate was watching (of course).

But these are all solvable, and the net result is that I can keep the little grade out of the station.  That in turn means that we are clear to start on rough scenery as soon as the engine is off the modelling desk.