Hi All:
I have a Lionel 497 Coaling Station (modern era @ 1987) that has been on my layout for several years. It has worked well until just recently. When I try to dump a car, nothing happens and the inline fuse protecting the Post-War ZW that I use to power accessories blows. I have taken the Coaling Station off of the layout and all of the wiring looks fine. I placed the O gauge operating track elsewhere on the layout and it worked well. The dump cars I have work well in other locations. All other functions (lifting bin and loading bin) work fine). Since the short occurs when trying to dump a car, I open the controller to see if anything was amiss. It looked fine as well. I double checked all of the wiring and it is correct as it was when I first installed it on my layout.
I have come to a conclusion that the controller (perhaps the circuit board) is the problem. I could replace it, but I can't find any. I could disable the dumping function and only use it for the bin functions. I could then connect an operating controller to simply activate the dump cars. Or, perhaps I could build my own control unit. It looks as if I would use 2 single pole, double throw switches. But, I think I may need to put some diodes in the equation as well.
Has anyone built their own controller? What are my best options? Thanks in advance for any help you may offer.
Rick
