UPDATE .....19TH DECEMBER.
WELL Gunrunner John and GGG.....I was able to track down a new PS3 tender board and boiler board in America, from an MTH repairer who shall remain nameless, as he doesn't want to be flooded with requests for PS3 boards. He has some in stock, but only to service his own repair business.
Anyway, long story short, I was able to get the new PS3 boards from him, and they arrived in the mail late November. I posted them down to Bill Veale (MTH Australia), and he was able to get the "Challenger" up and running perfectly again.
Sue and I were allowed to leave and re-enter Queensland's Covid border lock-down after 10th December, so we took a little "road trip" down to Melbourne (Victoria) to see the kids, and new grand daughter. On the way down we stopped at Kempsey (New South Wales) at Bill's place, and picked the "Challenger" up. He test run it on his layout (very impressive layout.....mostly MTH), and it ran superbly!!
Got it home, and it would not move!!!!
Finally figured out he had it set to run on his DCS "thumb wheel" remote, and I needed to do a "factory reset" using my poverty-pack remote.....SND - DIR - MINUS. Once I did that, I got the two whistle sounds, and everything, and I mean everything worked perfectly......it crawls at an incredibly slow speed, it chuffs in sync, it puffs smoke in sync, it talks, it backs-up, and the rear coupler fires open, even while the loco is moving!!! What more could I want?????
Once again, we have a happy ending....and we can all now live happily ever-after. Thank you Raymond if you happen to read this thread.
Peter.....Buco Australia
