Adding Pickups to a loco

[Castle-Man]

Sometimes with older locos when travelling over points or other uneven rail there can be a slight interuption to speed or power.  Particularly when slow running.  This I believe is in part because there are only pickups on one or 2 pairs of wheel.  Modern locos seem to have them on all drive wheels.

Obviously you would need to insulate, have clearance and somewhere to mount them but I just wondered if anyone has ever tried converting a loco to all (Main wheel) wheel pickup.  If so did it make much difference?  Did the engine run more soothly?  

I also assume that if any wheels have tyres then they would not pickup anyway.  So no point in adding a pickup to them..

As much an academic exercise for those who like to upscale their models and enjoy projects.

 

 

[The son of Triangman]

Personally I like to keep mint and good older locos original as modifications tend to affect their value in a downwards direction.  However, I have modified some tired old locos that were damaged with bits missing etc and it can improve slow running on some locos, but generally speaking most old locos run fine in good condition at low speeds over pointwork.