A shunting puzzle with a twist in 009 (eventually)

[009 micro modeller]

Actually looking back at the first page of this thread, I’m reminded that prior to using the Locosnstuff bogie I also attempted to cheaply build my own chassis for the standard gauge wagons. There seems to be a bit of a theme developing here of attempting to build stuff but not quite getting it to work, and replacing yet another piece of the project with a solution that involves me modifying a kit or RTR item instead. Is it just that I don’t have the skills to build the transporter wagon well enough to be electrically reliable? I think this is part of the issue but it also seems that it’s inherently a bit difficult to get everything lined up and straight, and having a very long rigid wheelbase also sets up a few obvious problems.

[009 micro modeller]

 

I’ve now fitted the rails to the Kato chassis, connecting them to the brass contact strips along the sides with short pieces of copper wire. The ends are retained by the original Peco plastic sleepers but with the ends snipped off.

 

I haven’t electrically tested it yet but I’m a bit concerned that my soldered connection has made the brass strip at that end less springy and has pulled it away from the bogie, so that the Kato chassis will only be picking up off one bogie at best. If this design of transporter is reasonably successful I can refine it later (copper clad strip instead of plastic sleepers at the ends, for instance) but more immediately I’m wondering if there is a better way to make the electrical connection between the rail and the Kato contacts, possibly involving something springy pushing down on the Kato contacts and not requiring them to be directly soldered to at all. Alternatively I could connect the bogies directly to the rails but then it might prevent the bogies from swivelling much, though given the large minimum radius that may not be a problem? I’d be interested to see other opinions on this.