|
| |
Chicago & Northwestern Class E Pacific
Tender Disassembly
By Tom Farin
There's something scary about taking home a brand new locomotive,
fresh out of the box, and immediately proceeding to take it apart without even
giving it a chance to run on track. If your choice is to bash an Aristo
Pacific built before 2004, Here is how to take it apart without damaging
expensive components.
 |
The tender shell is secured to its base by six small
Phillips screws. You'll need a Phillips #0 or #1 to remove
them. Four are in the corners. The other two are just forward
of the rear trucks on either side of the tender. My screwdriver is
pointing to one of these screws. |
 |
Once the screws are out, the tender easily separates into
two pieces. This picture shows the side of the bottom and the inside
of the top. |
 |
As the top portion of the tender will cover the electronics,
I took off its dimensions. The size of the space available is
important if you plan to upgrade the sound system or convert to battery
power. They are as follows:
| Inside Length |
12 3/4" |
| Inside Width |
4" |
| Inside Height (Back) |
2 1/4" |
| Inside Height (Coal Load) |
3 1/4" |
| Inside Length (Coal Load) |
4 3/4" |
|
 |
Mounted to the top of the tender bottom is weights (either
end), a speaker (front), a circuit board (middle-rear), and a clip for
backup battery power (on top of rear weight). The speaker rises 7/8
inches off the floor. Height of the electronics board is 1
3/4". The clip to hold the battery rises 2" off the floor
(including the height of the weights). |
The circuit board and speaker's primary purpose is to give the
Pacific an inexpensive analog sound feature. The sound level is controlled
by a knob that protrudes from the bottom of the tender. It is immediately
to the right of the screwdriver in the first photo in the above series.
In addition to providing sound capability, the board provides
plug-ins for electronics in the tender.
 | The two wire connector (red/black wire) in the above left
position on the circuit board in the last photo (above) connects the speaker to the board. |
| The two wire connector (black/black) in the bottom left
position picks up power from the front trucks. When I disassembled my
engine I discovered one of
these wires had been smashed as a result of pinching caused by improper
routing under the front weights during assembly. |
| A second pair of black wires from beneath the bottom left
connector feed a connector that protrudes from the front of the tender.
This connector connects to a connector on the back of the engine, \feeding track power to the engine. |
|
The two wires (red/black) protruding from the bottom
middle-right portion of the board connect to a 9-volt connector for backup
battery power. |
|
The three wire connector (black/purple/green) in the top
right position are attached to a device on the rear truck that I assume
measures speed. I assume it is used to synchronize sound with speed. |
| The two wire connector (black/black) in the bottom right
position picks up power from the rear trucks. Upon disassembling my
engine that one of these two wires
was disconnected from the truck, an apparent manufacturing defect.
It's a long trip from China to the US. I could have sent the tender
back to Aristo for free repairs. But time was saved in that I
identified the problems and was able to fix them myself. |
Conclusions:
|
When reassembling, take care to be sure wires routed beneath
the magnets are fed in such a way as to prevent them from being pinched when
screwing down the weights. |
| Keep your eyes open for assembly problems. In the
case of my Pacific, The loose
wire will be fixed as part of electronics installation. Or it may be discarded entirely as power will not come from the track once installation
is complete if you are converting to battery power. |
The tender was reassembled following this inspection by reversing the series
of the above steps.
|
