Very nice loco. I suspect it's a weak spot on your track that didn't show up before due to roller spacing
could be, the Liberty Liner is quite long but the diesel switcher is not so I will run it today and see what happens. It is a nice loco, I love the all black paint scheme from back in the day and it weighs a ton.
On ps3, the capacitor keeps led lights on. On your vintage, not so. Check roller springs. Also, better yet, fix the dead spot. Have you checked that power is on both rails?
I have not, I will do so with my voltmeter and have a look. I will check the roller springs too and see how they compare to the others. Thanks!
Rubber cement always works and can be removed easily and safely. If not at local stationary store amazon for sure. Hope this helps It's really great for gluing passengers in their seats
Ok well it might be this simple. I checked the rollers and they seem fine. Also, for as long as the thing is, the rollers are pretty much as close as you can get. But then I noticed they stick out pretty far and this thing is heavy. I think I pinched the rollers under the cab and so they were sliding instead of rolling. Now it is running great and the dead spot was just the curve I think that jammed up the rollers. It is running laps now so we’ll see. I hope that was it, such a cool locomotive. Live and learn!
So embarrassing, ran for an hour with no problems. Sound, pfa, couplers, the whole bit. Green marker lights still out but no issues otherwise. Whew!
Update:
learned that with a BCR, it should sit for a minute to charge. Did so and was scolded by the crew to “get going!” which was pretty cool. After watching it go through some switches, it appears the rear roller is not picking up. I will replace it and see what happens. I noticed in my MTH SW1500, which is newer production, has 4 middle rail rollers! A Bi-polar should have something like 10. 😁
Actually, with supercaps, you can start runing right away. But if power is cut within a few seconds, as when you start a train that has an unknown derailment & breaker opens, the onboard data can get garbled, which requires a deletion from system and re-add.
Anyone recommend someone who repairs MTH locomotives? I have a nice EF-3 set that I would really to make operational even if I have to buy a legacy boards for them.
I recommend GGG. He's done some work for me and is both reasonable and knowledgeable. Gunrunner John is also good.
Ok great. I am going to see what happens in conventional mode first. I am trying to use DCS explorer and it may not work on an EF-3 with only one loco slot open. Not sure. Bothers me that the lights don’t come on though. My Liberty Liner has 2 powered units but they are connected with a cable so it shows up as one unit. The EF-3 just couples with a pin, even underneath the 2 powered units.
ctcharger - I agree wth what RJR said. Their email addresses are in their profiles and, if you contact GGG, he - like gunrunnerjohn - may suggest a cheaper yet reliable alternative rather than installing Legacy which apparently is a "major chore."
Good Luck!
Agreed, that is a last resort for sure.
Purchased these units recently. Other than the track/panto power source switch being labeled wrong, they work great in a straight section. For some reason, the C unit is derailing on 0-90 curves so I need to trouble shoot that. If anyone has experienced that before, please let me know. I will figure it out eventually but any help would be great.
One other thing, check the motor to truck mounting screw to make sure it's tight. I recently bought two used MTH RS-27s and both had one motor that was just about ready to fall out because the screw ( on the bottom of the truck in line with the motor) had backed off, due to years of direction changes I suppose.
I did that to myself, it looked like it was tight, wasn't even close.
