PS3 wireless drawbar

The drawbars are a pain. There's no trick, just fiddle with it and press until you feel it drop into place. There is a detent; it's just as hard to get off as on. The one advantage is, it can't get out of line the way Lionel's IR connection can. The Lionel's a lot easier to use, but the tender drawbar can get bent, pushing the connector out of line. Each has its good and bad points. 

I had difficultly with the wireless drawbar too.  I was told by my hobby shop to lay the engine and tender on their sides on a towel.  Then firmly push the the drawbar into the tender connector until it is in place.  Then lift the engine and tender onto the track together.  This has worked for me. 

I haven't had any problems with mine. You want to use even pressure on both ends of the plug and it clicks right in.

Put a soft cloth down your layout and lay the engine and tender on their side, connect the drawbar and your all set to go. I have found that this is the easiest way to do it. 

I bought the Santa Fe Imperial Northern in December, had nothing but problems with my drawbar. I took it back to my LTS on January15th, they sent it back to MTH, and it is still there. It was a real shame, I don't currently have a permanent layout, I just had the loops around the Family/dining room and the tree, now taken down. Beautiful brand new locomotive, and hardly got any run time on it.

  I had the same problem, it would be running then the drawbar would work a little loose, and just stop, press it in tight again and it would run for awhile, sometimes 20-30, some times 20-30 FEET. Trust me I tried many different ways of pressing it in, and with enough pressure at times that I was worried about breaking some thing, nothing would keep that drawbar properly seated.

 Beautiful locomotive, I don't even collect Santa Fe, had no intention of buying it when I went to  the LTS, I saw it in the display case, it caught my eye, I kept going back and looking at it, finally decided that it has found it's new home. I'm really looking forward to it running properly when it comes back from MTH.

Doug

I have a imperial northern and the draw bar.I had too send it to jeason train shop.The one I have the sound and lights would come on.But it wouldn,t move at all .Jeason trains fixed it runs good mow.I was told that one of the pins in the tender was to short.I don,t know about anybody else but I didn,t mind the wire.If anybody asked me about it.I would just say"Thats how they got water to the locomotive."

I've had the recent PS3 Imperial B&O 0-6-0 for a few weeks and have racked up about 60 miles on it. I've found the tether easy to work with and it has not given me any troubles...hope it stays that way

What I've noticed about the MTH drawbar  is before you connect it to make sure that all six pins are straight.  If one gets bent you're going to have trouble.

Stuart

Thank You Stuart, when I get my Northern back, I will keep that in mind in the future. So far it has been an unending source of frustration.

Doug 

I don't have many PS3 steam locomotives, but those I do have are kept together (tender coupled to its locomotive) all the time, even when I remove them from the layout.  Works okay with small steam power, but I imagine it would be somewhat problematic trying to handle one of the big babies.

I may be overly cautious then it comes to those tether-less drawbars, but to date I haven't had any problems.  I still prefer them to those unsightly fat tethers.

Doug

I sent a premier steam engine back to MTH back in January because of what I thought was a wireless drawbar issue.  Before, I sent it back, I replaced the wireless drawbar, but that did not solve the issue. My problem was little bit different than yours.   My engine would surge on curves, but was ok on straight sections.  I had the engine for about 6 months until this problem started. 

It took a month to get it back from MTH, but it is now fixed.  It happened to be a lose wire on one of the connectors and not the wireless drawbar.  It might be that the problem with your engine is also a lose wire connection.

I learned with my engine, that I needed to use the recommended curve radius.  I mistakenly ran my engine on tighter curve radius for several months with no problems, but this may have caused extra strain on the connection leading to my problem. 

 One thing that I had to show people, is the way to connect it properly. It's not hard. Don't force anything.

 It needs to be aligned first and then a mild snap. That ground wire needs to be positioned correctly first.

 Once it's together, I like it. Maybe leaving it together is the best thing to do.

I don't have many PS3 steam locomotives, but those I do have are kept together (tender coupled to its locomotive) all the time, even when I remove them from the layout.  

Leaving it together isn't a viable option for those of us who take big steam locomotives to club/museum operating sessions. A Big Boy or Cab Forward, or even a Northern, is too long for any normal sort of container. One of these days I am going to build a couple of custom cases to transport locomotives to the museum, but in the meantime, I'll have to transport them unconnected. The case won't be difficult to build; the biggest problem will be devising a hold-down system that will accommodate a variety of locomotives with vulnerable details. I'm thinking either bungee cords, movable pads, or a combination of both. 

My dealer (Catoctin Mountain Trains) as well as MTH's instructions advised not picking the engines up connected, as it can cause stress on the connection and plugs. I don't run much anyway so I disconnect it. 

I haven't had any trouble with my PS3 Northern, but perhaps it is because I connected the drawbar once and it never leaves the track.

Works perfect every time.