The older style Athearn locomotives (blue box kits) used a metal clip between the power
trucks and the motor. On top of this, the unit also has a headlight mounted to a stud
that is attached to the frame. It has a small brass wiper that makes contact to the metal clip between the motor and the trucks. If the headlight mount is bent down to much, it will produce sparks if it shorts out. If you did nothing in the way of removing the
truck from the frame while replacing the truck sideframe, then that's not what's causing the sparks that you are seeing. Also check to see if the motor brushes are clean and
not gunked with lubrication.

I work in Philadelphia but live in NW suburbs. I take Septa to work and back each
day. Please provide me with more info. on your request for Diorama. I have built
two layouts for last Xmas for two different clients: (1) 4 X 6 layout with mainline and
trolley loop, and (1) 4 X 4 layout for an On30 setup. Can send you pictures of both
layouts.

Scott M. Drake
Ducky01@Aol.Com

EBT Bob,

Athearn was hired by Lionel to produce several HO Scale freight
Car Kits in the 1960's., one of them being the Erie 50' Gondolas
with the Cement Cannisters. There was some disscussion between the two
companies concerning adding the Lionel "L" Logo on the cars, in which
Athearn went ahead and started producing the cars, with the "L" logo,
without Lionel's permission. Once Lionel found out, the production was
stopped and all cars were recalled back to Athearn and distroyed. Of
course, a large amount of the cars were already sent to distributors,
and were sold and never returned. I also have one of the Erie "L" cars,
still in the original box. The Erie car was rereleased with several different
car numbers over the next 30 years, but without the cement cannisters,
or "bottles" as they were called by railroad employees. The other Erie car numbers were #14414, #14444, #14427, #15837, & #10387. In the 1990's, Athearn produced a Special Edition set that included an SW-1500 and two gondolas for the Philadelphia, Bethlehem, and New England Railroad. If you have the set, look closely at the PB&NE Logo on all the cars, there is a major typo in the lettering! These were never recalled.

Scott "Ducky" Drake

I believe you are incorrect in the statement that #425 never rode on Reading Rails before it came to Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern. It
was used on the short lived Valley Forge Scenic Railroad, based in Kimberton, Pa. for a few years hauling passengers on the Kimberton
Branch of the Reading Railroad.

Jonathan,

Each diode produces a voltage drop of .75vdc, add another diode at that drops
another .75vdc, thus the two diodes produce a voltage drop of 1.50vdc. Add two
more diodes and that's another 1.50vdc. Four diodes together produce a 3vdc
voltage drop, thus your power pack is set to half throttle, but your motor is only
seeing 3 volts, thus the other 3 volts is being dropped across the diodes to produce
a directional headlight bulb rated at 1.5 volts. I use one diode (1amp, 50piv) and a
minitronics 12vdc bulb for the headlight, which only lights in the forward direction. If
you want a reverse headlight, use another diode, in reverse polarity of the first diode,
and another 12volt bulb. Since the diode only drops .75vdc, you will not notice any
difference in motor power. For DCC, each output of the decoder for headights are rated
at about 2vdc, so you can use small bulbs or even LEDs. (when using LED's, don't forget
to add a current limiting resistor to one lead of the LED!!)

Scott

Jonathon,

The difference between the two PCB boards:

The slower locomotive is using 4 diodes to produce a voltage drop of 3vdc for the directional headlights, which are rated at 3vdc. This is 3volts that the motor never sees.
You jumped out the diodes when you ran jumpers from the truck pick-ups to the motor.

The faster locomotive is currently wired for Headlight LED's, or 12volt bulbs using a diode
for directional headlights. (one diode per bulb). You can either jump out the diodes, like you have done alread, or remove them and jump them out with small wires.

Scott

I use the Bachmann Block Signals but remove the fake lense and replace
them with small red & green LEDS. I connect the cathodes of both LEDS
together and wire them to a 5 volt Power supply with a 1000 ohm resistor.
The red and green leads are wired to Snap-Relay contacts for switch position
status or to a Block Power Relay to indicate which Cab is powering the Block.
I use very thin Wire Post Wire from Radio Shack, that comes in red, white and blue colors, and use thin heat shrink tubing to conceal the wires behind
the ladder and through a hole drilled into the Block Signal Base between the
ladder and the Signal Mast. I use white wire for the cathode (common) and
red and blue wires for the LED anodes.

I use Minitronics 1.7mm, 12volt bulbs in all my Athearn locomotives. I use
a small piece of brass tubing as an insert into the plastic shell, and the bulb
slides inside the tube to prevent heat damage to the shell. Since I have replaced all the original Athearn motors with a lower amperage can motor,
there is no need to install current limiting resistors in line with the bulb. I use the same bulbs in all my HO trolleys as well.

Mr. Bachmann,

I have shipped the "sick" Brooklyn & Queens Peter Witt Trolley to your
Service Dept. yesterday from Zip Code 19106.

The purchase receipt was faxed to your Customer Service Dept.
yesterday from Lynn's Junction Hobby Shop in Lansdale, Pa.

The purchase date was Auguct 17, 2008.

                                                                                               Ducky01

Dear Bachmann,

I currently have (3) Bachmann Peter Witt Trolleys, one of which has
stopped working. Before I go any further, Please note: I have removed
the onboard DCC Decoder and installed the dummy plug in all three cars.
All now run on DC. My Brooklyn car, after break-in started making a strange
grinding noise and began to slow down then speed up intermittently. Finally ,the car stopped moving, with only it's headlight and car lights working. I proceeded to take the bottom motor cover off so I could
check the voltage going to the motor while power was supplied to the car.
With 5 volts applied to the car, the lights come on and using my DVOM, I
monitored 5 volts across the motor leads, but the motor would not move.
While I applied power, I gently moved the motor shaft and the motor started to turn, but very slowly, intermittently stopping. I applied a little
more power, but the motor moved at the same speed. After a few minutes,
with no load, the motor began to get warm, then stopped again. I beleive
the motor is defective. Now, do I reinstall the decoder, pack up the car and
send the whole car back to Bachmann, or just order a new motor??

                                                                                                      Scott

Look in the bottom of the box under the plastic tray that holds the trolley. The instructions are under the tray insert, including an exploded veiw of the trolley. The "plug" in the plastic bag is the dummy plug if you decide to
remove the decoder and run the trolley in DC mode, as I do. Carefully remove the roof, and uplug the decoder and insert the dummy plug in the socket. It only fits one way!

See your other Trolley post. The installation of DCC in the Brill Trolley requires soldering, as there is no DCC socket in the stock Brill car. It becomes more difficult if you plan on using overhead wire pick-up, as I do.
Also, most of my Bachmann Brill cars have been remotored with Bowser
powered underframes. You will need to add some additional weight to
the car, which I have done by concealing the weights in the roof. Red &
Black wires go to the truck pick-ups and yellow and gray wires to the
motor. Remove the stock 12volt headlight and replace with a 3volt bulb
or LED with 1000ohm current limiting resistor. Bachmann's Peter Witt cars
are equipped with a DCC decoder with DCC plug that can be easily modified
by removing the DCC plug and hardwiring the Decoder. It's small enough
to fit in the roof area of the car. I currently have (2) Bachmann EZ Command
decoders, pulled from two Peter Witt Trolleys on sale on E-Bay that will work in your trolley.

I believe there is one screw in the center of the underframe that needs
to be removed and then carefully spread the body apart around the steps and the underframe will come apart from the body. The newer versions of
the Brill are powered with a can motor that sits on top of the truck tower. The older versions used the pancake motor assembly. There should be enough room in the roof area above the motor for a DCC decoder.

It's not as hard to convert as you may think! Bachmann's new Peter Witt
trolley is already DCC equipped, and the same decoder can be used to convert the PCC. If you are new to DCC, I suggest you pick up a copy of the Red Book of DCC, available at most Hobby Shops. Second, you will need
to modify the wiring of the motor to the decoder. Orange and gray wires
go to the motor, red and black wires go to the truck pick-ups. Next, remove the stock 12volt headlight bulb and replace it with 2-3 volt bulb, or LED with a dropping resistor to limit the current to the LED. If you plan on using overhead wire pick-up , as I do, you will need to pick-up an operational rooftop pole, such as Bowser's #1250. All of my trolley's operate from track power or overhead. I use a peice of brass wire thru the roof of the trolley as the pole hold-down. This is wired to the outer rail truck pick-up.The pick-up pole is then wired to the red or black wire to the decoder) With the pole up, the trolley picks up power from the overhead wire. With the pole down, the trolley operates normally via track power.

Mr. Bachmann,

What is the Bachmann Replacement Part Number for the
DCC Decoder used in the Peter Witt Trolley? What is the replacement
cost?

                                                                             Ducky01