FIXED FIXED FIXED!!!!!
FIXED!!! I had intended to buy a new motherboard today...But, as we all know, the old TMCC PCBs are no longer in Lionel's inventory so I decided to try and fix this myself. I suspected it was the motherboard but other than the harness there was no visible damage. I decided to start by pulling the Railsounds power board. When I did that, I discovered what I thought could be the cause, or effect, of the short/mystery smoke. I break in a copper strip.
First photo shows a copper strip broken on the motherboard. When I pulled the RS board, the insulation covering the copper strip shredded. The second photo shows the top of a capacitor (?) with a stain...I suspect it was caused when the strip split. You can see shiny residue on the motherboard around where the strip separated. I guess that break saved all the other components from the power surge???
Pic 1: Motherboard: Red highlights the shiny gunk...Green arrow shows the split. Continuity was good on the copper strips on either side of the split but not across the split. I decided to use a small piece of copper foil tape to bridge the gap. I secured it with 2 pieces of electrical tape. That resorted continuity. I then put it back on the test track, powered it up and YEAH...it all worked as designed. I thought about dropping a bit of solder to bridge the gap, but, Nah...why mess with success. So, in a way, I need to thank Lionel for pulling the ACELA motherboard from inventory because that forced me to dive in. Which proves again, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention!"
Rail sounds board
