Full reset of a PS1 steam loco with a Z-1000?

Jim,  Look in the tender and if the battery is white, go a head and change it.  You can use a new 9V alkaline temporarily.

Does your bell button work with other engines?

To do the reset, turn the track voltage up full and let the engine start up.  THe engine is in the reset mode.  Do you hear engine sounds?

Move the throttle down about 1/3 and back up near full.  Do you hear one ding?  If so do it again.  Should get 2 dings.  If so, keep doing it until you get 3 clanks and 3 dings.  At that point push the whistle and hold until you hear garbled and clear bell.  Let go of whistle button.  Press again for a second or two and release.

Now move throttle down to about 1/3 and press direction button and hold for 1 second and release engine should move with sounds.  Bell only works when engine is in fwd or neutral.  G

GGG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I'll have to open up the tender to check the battery when I get home from work. I've never opened up any train item but I'm guessing that shouldn't be too difficult. If the battery is white, what type would it be? Ni-MH rechargeable? If the existing battery is not white, what does that mean? If the new alkaline does the trick for now, I'll probably get a BCR while at York (just learned about those on Saturday from another OGR member).

Yes, the bell button does operate on other locos. Pending the alkaline battery working, I'll do the throttle manipulation as you described. Based on what I described in my first post, is there a chance that I inadvertently fried the PS1 board since I didn't replace the battery right off the bat?

Once again, I appreciate your help. Especially as a fellow Virginian! Oh, and I used to live right across the cotton field from you in Suffolk before moving up to Springfield (to stay employed). I miss the relative peace of Southern VA!

Gratefully,

James

If it's white, it's a Ni-Cd.  Ni-MH wasn't available as a consumer product yet when these locos were produced.

-Dave

Your welcome.  White is NiCad, the newer ones are Green NiMh.  As long as a good 8.4V rechargeable it doesn't really matter.

Since it is running I don't think it is scrambled.  The sequence has to be correct and it can only be done from Reset position.  Not neutral.

Reset is only there when you first apply power, and before you get the engine running.  G

GGG & Dave:

Well, I told you I was a clueless rookie! I believe that what I have is the loco and tender without PS1 from when PS1 was an option. Bummer!

Here was my first clue that something was amiss with my PS1. No battery!  

I then read the end of the box (sorry this is upside down) and saw the dreaded "optionally equipped." 

Lastly, I saw the 30-1035:

http://www.mthtrains.com/30-1035

At least I now know that this is from a '97 RTR set. So I guess I'll just have the whistle? At least the smoker works well.

Best,

James

If it does not have PS-1 then it should operate perfectly. All it will have is a whistle.

I used to order all my RailKing engines that way when they were still available.

James,  Yes That is the DCRU with whistle board.  It can be upgrade to PS-1.

Normally if the stock # is 30-xxxx-0 or no end # it is basic.

The 30-xxxx-1 normally had PS-1.  Same carries over for PS-2.  The end 0 was locosounds conventional, and -1 is PS-2.  

The good news it works as designed.  G

My sincere thanks again for the information! At least it is a pretty loco/tender and it came to me fairly inexpensively.

@RoyBoy: Out of curiosity, was it your preference to buy these whistle-only engines? I'd imagine that they are easy to come by these days and with steeply reduced prices. Keep in mind that I'm so new to this that I know precious little about what is desirable to which groups of collectors/operators.

A little off topic, but, is this the engine from the "Ski Train" set?

Brad

Brad,

I would not have known this had you not asked but apparently (after a google search) it is. Here is the MTH link for the RTR set but that doesn't indicate it being called the ski train.

http://www.mthtrains.com/30-1035

James

Proto one got a bad reputation early in the game for being fussy to run with different transformers and for getting its brain scrambled when the battery got low. The whistle only versions ran perfectly all the time.