I need this part....839X-00T03 The drawbar for the Spectrum Class J 4-8-4. It is discontinued....does anyone have a spare part or know where 1 can be ordered???
Take some 14 AWG Romex and take the ground wire. Cut and bend it to the shape you need with needle nose pliers. Put loops in the end to match tender and loco needs. Use a black permanent marker to color. Works good for draw bar.
It's a bit of a pain, but it's possible to build your own ouf of sheet and rod styrene. The length between the loco and tender pins is roughly 1-3/4 of the distance between the pins on the ends. The spacing of the pins on the ends is the center-to-center distance, right at the bend of the slots, on the tender drawbar retainer plate. You want a fit that doesn't have a lot of play for the rod used to make the pins. At the same time, they have to be loose enough to slide in the slots. The styrene sheet used for the drawbar should be fairly thick, but not enough to bind between the cover plate and tender body.
Alternatively, you could just use some straight styrene "bar stock" to make a more traditional type of drawbar. You'd have to drill and tap holes in the loco and tender to mount it.
Len