Electrical connector between engine and tender on steam loco

[Atkinson_Railroad]

The "rustless" microphone jacks on the end sills of our locomotive
has moved me to consider brake shoes on the railroad cars.

They would serve as mud flaps ; )

John

[amadlinger]

Hi all,

A follow-up on my earlier post looking for a good electrical connector between engine and tender for the lights on my 1.5" steam locomotive. Thanks to all of the help, I found exactly what I was looking for. These are commercial "mini-XLR" plugs and sockets (also known as TA4 connectors), and come in 3, 4, 5, and 6 pin versions (TA3, TA4, etc, respectively). Amphenol rates each pin at 5A for the 4 pin version. The plug has a locking mechanism so it won't work its way loose, and the contacts are gold plated for corrosion resistance. The plug and socket were only a few dollars each, I ordered mine from Mouser. Commercially, these are for A/V applications for condenser microphones and the like that need both power and signal wires, hence the respectable amperage rating for such a compact size. I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Adam

[Bill Shields]

Hope you have better luck with them than our local theatre does using them on microphones.

they don't seem to take much of a beating before they start getting 'intermittent'..

[makinsmoke]

Hey.

Anyone who has spent a minimum time watching full size trains and cars sees that spray off the wheels on the ends of cars all the time.

First time I saw it on one of mine I thought, gotta get that off.

Then, well heck. I spend all this time trying to make these things look like the real thing.

It stays.

[Wolfgang]

Of course if you had a functioning turbo-generator on your locomotive, no wiring to the tender would be necessary. Unless you wanted lights on the tender...

[Bill Shields]

Or a camelback with an entire side of the cab empty...into which I can put a gel cell that will run all the necessary lights for a week.