First we are new to the forum, so thank you for participating and allowing us to join in on the fun,
We are in our mid sixties and bought our first train set ever, also a first for both of us, to play with under the Christmas tree. We have had so much fun with it that we bought another starter set. The first set is a Lionel lion chief set that we control with a hand held throttle, the second is a MTH F-3 A/B set from late 1999 that came with a transformer and a control console. It has proto sound 1 and Direction, Bells, and Whistle button. Both sets work very well and are easy to use.
We purchased a used MTH GP-38 20-2255-1 for our MTH layout that has proto sound 2, We only have the MTH Z-750 Transformer that came with the MTH F3 starter set and the MTH control panel, with the bell whistle and direction buttons. The MTH set is 24VDC where the Lionel set is 15VDC so we have the new to us GP-38 on the MTH track. When I turn the power up on the controller the Engine starts and the bell is ringing and ringing and - well you get the idea.
The horn button doesn't make the horn blow but will shut the bell noise off eventually, the bell button starts the ringing all over again that won't respond to the control panel bell's button.
The engine runs well and it's sounds much like the the F3 set "type of sound" + announcements every once in awhile like normal. No horn or whistle control. The controller won't do the 1B 5R thing, you can see the lock-on pulse when you push the button but nothing happens with the engine. With the F3 I can lower the throttle and bring it back up to neutral then lower and raise to the opposite direction. With the GP38 it just goes to neutral until you push the direction button then it starts out in either direction depending on the amount of time it takes to turn the power up and down?
The battery is fully charged, Track is clean, I can't reset obviously with the buttons not making the Engine respond. the closest train store is over a hundred miles away and with MTH liquidating on the way to closing up shop. All help will be appreciated
Thanking you in advance,
Carl
