Page created on 2/07/2024
Electrification of coaches
The electrification of coaches involves fitting them with electrically conductive couplings and a lighting strip.
Electric couplings
These are four-pole couplings, three of the contacts being used here: the positive common (blue wire), the power supply for the tail coach lamps (yellow wire) and the room lighting (green wire).
These couplings are easily inserted into the NEM boxes after the Märklin heads have been removed. They give a distance between NEM housings of 14 mm instead of the standard 15 mm, which means that the track can be run with the bellows joined.
The wires soldered to the couplings are first attached to the drawbar by a twisted link, which prevents the solder joint fatigue. They then pass under a 1 mm high Evergreen bridge that prevents them from hanging down and catching on the bogie. They enter the chassis through a ⌀ 2 hole drilled through the chassis and fittings, at the level of a wardrobe or equivalent. The shape given to the wire layer allows the necessary flexibility during elongation and also the bypassing of the two-point bearing spacers if necessary. The position at the entry to the chassis is fixed with Kristal Klear glue, which allows dismantling if necessary.
The white Evergreen parts, glued with Faller Super Expert, will be painted later.
Lighting strip
The supports are made from three layers of 1 mm Evergreen. They fit into the slots in the walls of the interior fittings.
The support is photographed here before the 10 × 0.5 mm notch is milled to accommodate the strip.
Here is an A5rtu fitted with its lighting strip.
