Stalwart and Trooper hav'nt gearboxes just gear/worm and i have had problems with them. I'm also looking into the pick-ups as well. I have used plunger pick-ups but i feel that i'm not getting the best response . This could however be me (i might not have them working well). So basically i am looking into a better way of getting my wessies to perform.....
I'm still using Slaters plungers, but I reduce the size of the spring slightly, round off the point on the pickup, and lubricate with silicone. On my diesels I only pick up from the driven wheels, except my Class 37/2 where I've sprung the centre axles in each bogie and still used the slater pick-ups, but this is definitely at a cost to track adhesion, but otherwise I have had no problems (so far!). However, my loco's are not put under any real strain as they only potter about on and off shed and on 5 coach trains max.
Its a tight squeeze to use the plungers with Ron C gearbox at the business end, so for Monitor and Consort I'll be sweeping from the back of the drive wheels with some simple n/s wipers. I'll share how I get on if you like - when I get back to them.
I'd prefer to run split axles, but I just don't have the gear to turn them up at the mo. I do wish someone would produce some quality split axles commercially (especially for Slaters wheelsets).
I'll let you know about the ABC's when I've tried them out. In the meantime, the 50's made a bit of progress......
Cheers,
Ian.