Improving the current collection on a Farish N Gauge Class 101 (+ others ?)

[Justin Smith]

My N gauge Farish class 101 wasn't the best over isolated points and track imperfections and I remember reading somewhere that a guy soldered jumper wires in to improve it.
I was never convinced by the current collection wipers and checking with a meter on my Class 101 it seemed it was the current collection from the inside wheelsets was worse then that from the outers, though in the end I ended up putting jumpers to chassis from both wheelsets.
I tried to obtain some ultra thin wire but was unsuccessful. As it happens I concluded that the wire did not have to be insulated so I used single wire strands. They seemed fairly flexible but I put a coil (see middle pic) in each to try and minimise flex and therefore maximise length of service before they break.
The inner jumper wires soldered to the chassis (see pic) but the outers were more awkward to solder so I had to trap the wires behind the screwed on chassis "end plugs"
It has been a couple of weeks now and the current collection (and therefore slow running) on the unit really is very much improved.

 

[Cowley]

My N gauge Farish class 101 wasn't the best over isolated points and track imperfections and I remember reading somewhere that a guy soldered jumper wires in to improve it.
I was never convinced by the current collection wipers and checking with a meter on my Class 101 it seemed it was the current collection from the inside wheelsets was worse then that from the outers, though in the end I ended up putting jumpers to chassis from both wheelsets.
I tried to obtain some ultra thin wire but was unsuccessful. As it happens I concluded that the wire did not have to be insulated so I used single wire strands. They seemed fairly flexible but I put a coil (see middle pic) in each to try and minimise flex and therefore maximise length of service before they break.
The inner jumper wires soldered to the chassis (see pic) but the outers were more awkward to solder so I had to trap the wires behind the screwed on chassis "end plugs"
It has been a couple of weeks now and the current collection (and therefore slow running) on the unit really is very much improved.

View attachment 127069

View attachment 127070

View attachment 127071

I must say that that’s some pretty good work you’ve done there Justin. Pretty fiddly but pick up problems were one of the main issues with older models.

 

[Harpers Tate]

It's a long time since had the space to have an N-gauge layout and I did have a Farish 101. And it, too was awful. With mine, one significant problem was that the powered bogie (i.e. with the current pickups) was not a precision item; the two sides weren't quite parallel, meaning that only two wheels - one on each side - were actually making good contact with the rail. I always thought it a pity that GF didn't have Fleischmann engineering skills and/or that Fleischmann didn't make British designs. Their (German design) DMU was nothing short of excellent.

 

[Justin Smith]

It's a long time since had the space to have an N-gauge layout and I did have a Farish 101. And it, too was awful. With mine, one significant problem was that the powered bogie (i.e. with the current pickups) was not a precision item; the two sides weren't quite parallel, meaning that only two wheels - one on each side - were actually making good contact with the rail. I always thought it a pity that GF didn't have Fleischmann engineering skills and/or that Fleischmann didn't make British designs. Their (German design) DMU was nothing short of excellent.

Mine (this one) must be a slightly newer model and has both bogies powered.
I find current collection on many N gauge locos to be poor. My old Lima Class 31 for example, it only has current collection on one bogie though that model actually has a copper wiper onto the axle of the unpowered wheelset on the powered bogie and I have added a wire from that to the motor (that only picks up the current from one rail though). My Grafar 0-6-0 Pannier tank can only have current collection from three axles ! I sometimes wonder if 0-6-0s should be sold with facility to take power from an adjacent waggon (or coach) with pick ups. I suppose most layouts these days are DCC and therefore do not have insulted points and thus have less problems with current collection ? If so such an idea would become less and less in demand as time went on anyway ! ? !