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Late response, as I have been off the forum for a while. I have used aluminum sheeting, cut small to size with a small hole drilled for the screw which connects the truck to the chassis. One end fits the screw, to connect it between the truck and chassis, with the overall shape being long and...

Yes, the wire was loose, but not enough to be an obvious cause. I can't say for sure now that the wire is the cause, but TSD apparently didn't bother to check very hard for anything.

Yes, the decoder is in the tender and I have all original packaging. Problem is, I sent off this loco a year ago to BLI's repair shop TSD, and they sent it back saying it worked fine and didn't do any work or diagnostic on it (as far as I know). If I contact BLI directly instead of going...

I see that there is a loose wire in the tether plug coming out from the tender. It's on one end of the plug, is in place but wiggles back and forth as if it's not soldered in securely anymore. Would this wire likely control one side of the drive wheel pick up? It's such a tiny place that I...

A BLI 4-8-4 kept stalling at mid to slow range speed going through a couple #6 turnouts. I placed it over some plastic to test the electrical pick up and realized that the entire right side does not pick up electricity. It is described as having all drive wheel electrical pick up, except for...

The lead trucks on my steam locos are the most susceptible to derail...which then leads to a short or worse derailment within seconds. Adding weight was not an option due to limited space. Instead I cut pieces of aluminum sheeting to match the profile of the lead truck and drilled a hole to...

I switch off the smoke option via the button, since I don't trust a CV command to reset somehow by accident. If I want to show off to a visitor it's simple enough to switch it on and run it a few times around. It's just too much to worry about to have it on all the time.

I'm still working full time and have a kid, so my time is limited. I've only completed two layouts as an adult (a couple very simple ones as a kid), and my latest is about as large as I can fit in my basement - 138 sq feet in an L shape with about 170 linear ft of track. The planning of the...

I prefer 1930s-early 1950s. East coast steam both freight and passenger. Lately though I've been wondering about switching over to modern freight with ES44ACs/DCs. I kept my layout fairly generic in case I wanted to add on in the future...or rather catch up to the present. I won't box up the...

I removed the rear truck, tried nail polish (clear top-coat, to be precise :)), it still shorts. I run it slow so when it shorts I get a snap shot of exactly how it's positioned and can't see any metal-on-metal. I only saw a spark once but I'll keep trying and looking for flash spots...and...

With the nail polish solution, besides the inside of the side rods, is it bad to coat the outer perimeter of the drive wheels? Without knowing exactly where the contact is I might coat each one. If that will leave a terrible, over-shiny look can I use black paint and get the same effect?

This loco picks up on all drive wheels, but not the leading or trailing truck. I've confirmed that the truck wheels are not touching metal...the inside frame is actually plastic. If I push on the drive wheels as it's moving nothing happens, but when I rotate the loco to the left, the two left...

Well, I now see that the loco causes a short when the body gets rotated over the wheels counter-clockwise (when looking down on it from above). None of the rods or valve gears are bent, and the drive wheels are covered by plastic pieces that mimic the outside body of the wheels, except for the...

Yes good thought...thanks.

This weekend I will have time to look. Thanks for the tip and I'll let you know.

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I finally gave up on the Bachmann equipment and paid up for the Digitrax 8amp DCS200, the 20amp PS2012 power supply, and a DT402 throttle. Everything works fine now, with all locos and cars drawing power, and running two locos at the same time, the meter only...

For the 2nd problem loco, I first tried to pry the shell off the PRR M1 tender, and that was futile. I had to put so much pressure, without getting it off, that I knew it would break if I kept trying. It really was unbelievable how difficult it was, and now I'm afraid of having to try again...

The loco stops and at the same time the booster trips and stops power to the track. And now, after running all locos last night (two at a time during several different sessions), I had a short caused by a minor derailment and a 2nd loco now will not run or make sounds, but the headlight...

Other locos work just fine all around the track, but this one causes a short and stops after a few inches of travel no matter where I place it on the track. Standing idle the sounds work fine, but moving is the problem. It's clean and not used much to this point, and I can't see any obvious...

No, the throttle is the EZ command controller that goes with the booster. Power cord into a wall outlet and other cord into the booster...simple.