Here is an update for all of those following this thread and for those who have been overly helpful in assisting me with my issue. As I mentioned, I had to travel last week, and then once I returned, work obligations got in the way of me being able to focus on the "hobby". At any rate, I took RickO's advice, and I purchased a meter to test for continuity on both loops (following the instructions in the video he posted). Today was the first day that I had to be able to test things out.
In so doing, I found a few "dead" spots in each loop, bent the middle pins towards each, reconnected and retested until I got continuity for every track connection around each loop. I ran the VL Big Boy on the O-96 loop and it worked very well.... I was even able to get the locomotive to switch to reverse with the Cab-2 remote.
Then the moment of truth.... I powered up the O-84 track loop wiht the VL AT&SF 3000 on it and did the quick address with Engine #1 on the Cab-2 remote. Same issue... lights on the engine and tender lit up. Then I remembered Hancock52's comment that his engine had the Program/Run switch installed backwards, so in spite of the instruction manual diagram, I flipped the Program/Run switch and..... voila, the VL AT&SF 3000 fired up like a champ. I couldn't believe it. Smoke output (from all areas), swinging bell, and that glorious whistle sound all operate correctly. Only issue is that I couldn't get the engine to reverse direction, but if that is my only issue at this point, I will take it.
Which leads me to this... I don't post much on this forum, but it's folks like all of you who are always willing to help others in need (without judgement of the poster) that make me want to continue in this hobby that my father introduced me to 40 years ago. He has since passed, but I wish he could see how far this hobby has come. Thanks again for all of the help!
