Sounds real interesting.. Photos would be good.. Was it H0 scale?

Sounds like the old setup on the Fleischmann engines, can't recall the point of the "button" but IIRC it was on all the pre '70's loco's, maybe it was for triggering points/accessories ?. Perhaps its a early Hamo loco .

Hi Peter,
Pure speculation here, on the description, but both Hornby Dublo (UK) and VB (France) used round spring loaded pick-ups on some of their devices.
Trix Twin (UK) used an offset spoon shaped pick-up, in conjunction with the normal centre slider.

regards
Kimball

I think you mean it´s for switch contact rail?
It´s for two rail and why it sit on the AC model i don´t understand.

www.fleischmann.de/en/pr...0-0-005006/products.html

Exactly correct, I have a couple of HAMO Loco's and they too have the button - it's not a pickup however, it's grounded to the chassis.

It is indeed for a detection track, as used by Fleischmann (as noted by Goofy) who would most likely have been a significant market for HAMO.

Here is an image of the underside of an 8322 (3022) as well as the track image Goofy links to.

Regards

Cookee

Edited by user 02 January 2015 19:39:03(UTC)  | Reason: Add image and clarification

Thank you all, the images Cookee posted are what i was referring to and has cleard up for me my inqiury. so now i know i will not be looking at purchasing this unit.
thank you all

Received the pictures of the Loco in question, this is the unit i was making inquiries about

Hi Peter,

Hard to tell without seeing the road number clearly but my guess is that it's a 3047 Class 44 in the HAMO version making it 8347 and it should have Telex which is a bonus. As for the box, it sure is munted. 'Nuff said about that.

** Side note; how does Telex work with DC - anyone know?

In my opinion, conversion would not be too much of a problem but there are two aspects to it.

1: The wheels and pickups. The thing with HAMO is that the wheels are isolated each side (with a plastic bush in the axle) and this can pose some problems with smaller models. Fortunately, that model has wheels for Africa so a reliable rail contact is really not going to be a problem despite the fact that one full side of the Loco & Tender are isolated. Where it 'might' be a problem though is if you make use of Circuit Tracks having the isolated outer rail (for activating automated crossings, and also Station lights), is the isolated rail happens to be the same side as the grounded wheels, it will stop.

You will need to change the existing pickup from the current style which rubs against the inside of the wheels, to the traditional pickup shoe and this will involve obtaining those parts needed - the pickup shoe itself and the plate with wire that the shoe attaches to.

Interestingly, that one looks like the pickup is from the Tender wheels, and quite a few models are like this but the 3047 has its pickup under the Loco itself so this could actually give you two options but does mean at least one wire between the Loco and the Tender. Note the 3047

2: The Motor - now here's an advantage because it's already a DC motor, means it has the all-important permanent magnet instead of the reversing switch so you should fit a Decoder instead of trying to install a reverse unit - even if you only ever intended to run Analogue, it will be easier and I dare say cheaper and more reliable.

So yes there's a bit of work involved, and other have already said to pass on it, but heck, if it's cheap enough (ie $50 or less) then you might get a lot of satisfaction from the project. Anything more than that I think you could get a better one already 3-rail.

My two HAMO models are both Electrics so I have the added option of overhead operation anyway.

Hope this helps

Cookee