Hornby Dublo Class 20 Bo-Bo 2-Rail Conversion, Power Pick-up

[TrevorMc]

I've acquired an old Meccano/Hornby class 20 bo-bo, converted from 3 to 2-rail which I'm starting to renovate. Dismounted/cleaned & oiled the motor runs perfectly but I'm struggling to work out power pick-up & wiring arrangements. Service sheet 13 shows pick-up unit 18007, which I have & am guessing the curled ends of the 2 springs touch the backs of the wheels, but how the leads connect is eluding me so far. The pick-up unit base being plastic, thinking the live feed connects to the spring's other ends somehow & ground goes to the chassis? Has anyone gone through this or have one of these models I could see pics of?

Thanks so much

[DCB]

Looks like a 3 rail power bogie and a 2 rail trailing bogie.   On mine also a 3rail convert,  I used Romford Markits spoked driving wheels 14 or 15mm dia and  picked up one side of the power bogie and the other ( well same  but it runs the other way round ) side of the trailing bogie

[TrevorMc]

Thanks all. With further exploring + help the simple solution was live wire soldered to straight ends of pick-up springs screwed to under-chassis of dummy bogie. Initially seemed too obvious to be true & the soldering was tricky but got there in the end. Happy to share anything of interest I've come across while working through this.

[Il Grifone]

The Dublo 2 rail version was something of a failure as the bogie tended to tip and lose contact with the rails. I fitted all wheel pickup to my two rail conversion including the wheels with traction tyres. She has since been reconverted to 3 rail * (ages ago), so I can't give the actual details unfortunately.

I now have a D8000 and a 3 rail D8017. The D8017 has a reversed magnet to allow nose to nose  double haulage as per prototype.

 

[JohnKS]

2 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

The Dublo 2 rail version was something of a failure as the bogie tended to tip and lose contact with the rails. I fitted all wheel pickup to my two rail conversion including the wheels with traction tyres. She has since been reconverted to 3 rail * (ages ago), so I can't give the actual details unfortunately.

I now have a D8000 and a 3 rail D8017. The D8017 has a reversed magnet to allow nose to nose  double haulage as per prototype.

 

I solved the issue of the pick-up bogie lifting off the rails by adding some extra weight to the connecting bar above that bogie.