I sent my Eureka and Palisades 4-4-0 that had the wiring disconnected and a broken cross head guide to Bachmann. I got a call today from Bachmann and was told they could not fix the cross head guide and that it was further damaged in shipping. So they offered me a brand new engine if I paid $75 mostly for shipping.
I agreed but sure will miss the Eureka model since I spent an afternoon with the real one.

I have some Piko track and looking on ebay, it seems like all brass track from the various companies looks the same as my Piko track. Can you mix Piko and LBG and other makers track?

Thanks for the information

for the Centennial American 4-4-0?

I need to rewire my engine.

Thanks

Well I took the bottom plate off the 4-4-0 today.  There are no wires connected to the motor.  There is that noise suppression round board attached to the motor.  I read it is a good idea to take it off.

The red and blue wire pair go to a set of wipers that rub on the back axle which closes the circuit to make a chuff I think since when I touched them with the DC power there was a short.  There are two white wires that come from the left set of drivers but I don't see the wires coming from the right set of drivers.

I think if I  could get a wiring diagram and a parts diagram I could fix this engine without much trouble perviding I can get the part I need.

I think Bachmann is going to reintroduce the Centennial 2-6-0 so I think the parts should be available.

I must have something else going on.  I took a dc power pack and connected one lead to a rail and touched each wire with the other lead.  There was no short between any of the wires the rail.  I connected the leads to each pair of wires and the engine did not run.  When I connected the leads to the pair of wires, one black and one red there was a short.

I did not mention before that the wires were not stripped before and it looks like the polarity switch never had any wires soldered to it before.  Also each pair of wires has a paper tag labeled "sound switch."

I think I will have to take the boiler off to see what the wires go to.  Also I think I need to look inside the tender.  Maybe someone started to put in a decoder or sound system.  I don't know how to take the engine and tender apart and do not have a parts diagram. 
The engine is the Eureka and Palisaide Eureka and I don't want to part with it because I visited the real Eureka at the train museum outside of Las Vegas two years ago and had a nice talk with the owner.  He has a bit of 3ft gauge track and he ran the Eureka up and back a few times.

If I never get it running I have a nice shelf model to remember my visit with.

Also another problem with this engine is that the cross head support hanger is broken.  The right side is broken off at the frame.  I may have done this when I picked it up wrong. I don't know if this can be fixed or not.  If I take off the boiler it would be a good time to replace the hanger if I could get a replacement.  I broke the pilot and had to replace it.  Seems I am all thumbs at times.

Thanks for any help

Hi folks,
I bought a Centennial 4-4-0 on eBay. It was listed as new but it doesn't run at all.
I noticed that the wires to the polarity switch in smoke box front are not connected.
I think that this is the reason it does not run. There are two red wires and a black and a blue wire. It looks like each of the red wires is matched up with either the black or blue wire. The switch has six possible soldering pins.
Does anyone know were to attach these wires to the polarity switch?
Thanks.

Hello,

I have a Bachmann On30 4-6-0 with dcc but without sound.  I would like to add sound.  Is there a drop in sound decoder with speaker I can get for this loco?

Thanks

I bought one of the Hornby/Rivarossi Allegheny locomotives.  I also had one of the original Rivarossi Alleghenies.  The original had two cabs. The long roof prototypical cab and a short roof cab for 18 inch radius.  The Hornby version had two short roof cabs with the same number.

My Hornby version had no paper work or warrantee information.  I contacted Hornby USA and I got a pledge form them to send me a long roof cab when they arrive from China in 4 to 6 weeks.  Their plan is to send the long roof cabs to the original distributors but I bought mine on EBay and the distributor would not reply to my emails.

There is a PDF file for the instruction sheet at the Hornby USA web sight to replace the missing paperwork.