Coal Tank pick-ups

Coal Tank showing pick-up arrangement on front bearings.

The front driving wheels do not lend themselves to wiper pick-ups such as I fitted to the other drivers because the frames are cut away at the front and there's really nowhere to mount them. To circumvent this problem I used a split-axle system. The front axle is a split-axle which is carried in Slaters' 7961 Hornblocks (insulated bearings). The axle runs in square brass bearings which slide in the black plastic insulated hornblocks. You can see the pick-up wires soldered to the bottom of the brass bearings, they then snake through the motion plate to make their way back to the motor while keeping out of the way of the inside motion above. Only the slide-bars and motion plate are in place, forming the basis of the inside motion unit, which at this stage can be removed. The design of the chassis is evolving gradually; somehow, when I eventually get it right, it looks so simple and obvious.