[Sagas]

While restoring a 343 Switch I needed replacement pickup shoes (PA11A936 also listed for 293 and a few others) for the tender which I ordered from Doug at Port Lines, however upon receiving them found they were not deep enough to make contact with the track (see photo - the original is on the right). The originals are sled shaped (turned up at the edges) rather than a button contact. Jeff Kane at Traintender has no listing for them. The trucks are original to the tender and the original shoes almost worn through. I could sodder over them but it would be a temporary fix and not last very long.

If anyone has encountered this problem before and/or has a solution/supplier where I can obtain them I would greatly appreciate it. J.B.

 

[mopac]

Those shoes usually came on tenders with the onboard whistle. Now this is just my
opinion but I do not care for the tender whistle. I remove the whistle parts when I
replace the harness. I keep the parts and if a future owner wants the parts they can have them. The whistle is really in the way when I replace a harness. I just think the tender whistles sound terrible. I will not be replacing the shoes on tenders with them. I guess if you are a purist you want the whistle to work. I am not a purist. Shame on me. The shoes are suppose to pick up better the signal sent through the track for the whistle.
I have removed the whistle from my 336 and my 322.

 

[Sagas]

There was no whistle available in the 343 tender only the 346 as the schematics show. Its possible the intention was to install one and they prepped the tender with the appropriate trucks however they never did to my knowledge. The 342 has regular trucks with no shoes and I'm sure the 343 will run without them but just wondered if a shoe solution existed. Thanks for the reply mopac. J.B.

 

[flyernut]

Let me look around, I might have a original. And your switcher will run fine without it.. I actually have a couple.. I'll send you the best one.. PM me your address, just pay shipping...Loren