Well, I was able to get my TSU 4400 decoder in the Connie. I was quite happy with my work and being able to do the install. I put the speaker right under the smokestack and all works pretty well. I did not get the smokebox and firepan working but I can go back in and connect these at some point. It might involve unsoldering wires and I think Greg's site explains it pretty well. I have been really happy with the way the Connie runs.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed yesterday when I went to run it. I picked it up and put it on the raised loop I made and the front tender trucks were broken. They seem to have just "disintegrated" so to speak. It was very strange. I did read something about using the wrong kind of lube and how this could damage the plastic (also maybe from Greg's site). I do not think I used anything other than large scale products.

Has anyone had this happen? I ordered two new trucks from Bachmann but am worried about a repeat of this. The Connie isn't quite as interesting as my newer locos but it's my baby now that I've taken it apart and put it back together a few times.

Any insight would be much appreciated!
Phil

I've been reading as much as I can about installing a TSU 4400 decoder into my 2-8-0 Connie. I emailed Soundtraxx and they recommended unscrewing and cutting all the wiring from the PCB, taking it out and reconnecting to the decoder. I can figure out track, motor and lights maybe. There are other, soldered wires that I don't know what to do with. I am going to contact them and ask about that problem. If anyone has knowledge about this issue and the best option, I would really like some advice.

Another question I have is about the lights. Soundtraxx said I may need a resistor for the LED's. The Connie is DCC ready so I am wondering if I need to add resistors to the forward/back up lights or are the lights DCC ready? The Connie light is amber like my 3 truck Shay. My C-19 and Climax are white lights. Are these two kinds of lights different?

Finally, can I run wires directly from the track to the track screws on the decoder and run wires directly to the speaker to see if it makes sound?

As always, your knowledge and advice is appreciated,
Phil Nymark

I was able to replace the drive gear on my Connie. I also pulled the boiler and got into the gearbox to inspect. Those gears were all in good shape so I greased them and reassembled. I finished with one part too many and searched the schematic to find out what it is. It is a small part, less than an inch, with a flat surface that has two recessed holes for screws. Then there is a small perpendicular surface and then another flat surface, smaller than the first. I wish I could post a photo but was hoping someone could ID it, maybe. One question I have is about the motor. I put it back together with Loctite. I noticed the motor is not exactly secure in the boiler. When I change the direction of the loco, the motor shifts slightly in the boiler to the other side of the space it is in. Is this normal? I thought maybe the extra part was some kind of brace but I do not remember there being one when I took it apart. The engine runs well, and is smooth. It seems bigger than my other engines though as if it is a different scale. Looks like I need to get a speaker and a sound decoder for sound and control. Any suggestions about all of the above would be very much appreciated!

Nymark

Edit: The part I described above holds the motor in place I think. I Googled "Bachmann G scale 2-8-0 Images" and the first photo showed the chassis with the part. It stabilizes the motor.
Edit 2: It only took 15-20 minutes to take the boiler off and screw this part in. My Connie runs really great and I plan on getting a speaker and DCC decoder with sound.

I am wondering what the difference is between the C-19 and the "Connie" when it comes to these 2-8-0's. I won an Ebay auction for a 2-8-0 last Saturday and thought all 2-8-0's were C-19's aka "Connies" In other words, I thought they were one and the same. It started to dawn on me that these were two different models.

The one I bought is a "Connie." It's almost brand new but I think it's been sitting in its box for a number of years. The gear is split but it powers up runs. I ordered a new gear from Bachmann and found a few different sites that show how to replace it. I also found an article in Garden Railways that has a step by step pictorial.

The reason I bought it was the box indicated it is DCC ready. Hard wiring a decoder into one of these engines may be beyond my ability. I had seen a photo of a plug and play socket in a tender on a 2-8-0 but I am now thinking that is a C-19 photo. Probably, I'll try to get a decoder for this Connie and keep it. Gotta say, I wish I had understood the difference because I think I might rather have a C-19. And I guess this is my question. Is one better than the other?

Any insight into my C-19 vs. Connie issue would be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Nymark

I bought some stationary rollers to run my Bachmann Climax and Shay in place. Glad I did as it's a great way to display and also watch for problems. Both ran great on Friday but when I tried to run the Shay on Saturday, the engine sound came on but nothing else. I put it directly on the track and tried again. No forward or reverse movement, no lights, bell or horn just engine sound. I tried reprogramming CV 8 to #8 and also resetting the address. I run it through an NCE Pro Cab with an NCE 5 amp smart booster. The Climax works fine. While messing with it I did get a message to come up that a short circuit was detected. I'm wondering if anyone has had such a problem and what they did to resolve it. I'll be trying to figure it out today.

I have a Broadway Limited HO RS unit that did something similar. I put it in its box for a few years and pulled it out recently and it ran great. Incredible sound in those things!

Thanks for reading and any suggestions.

Update: After posting this, I went out and worked on the problem. Put it on DC and nothing. Not sure if there's a switch inside but thought the decoder was dual mode. What I did was program the short address to 003 and it ran. Forward and reverse, lights, bell and horn all worked. I then reprogrammed the long address to the road number 2147 and it worked too. No chuff sound though. Now I wonder if my soldering of the cylinder assembly failed and maybe caused a short and the problem. Going to see right now.

Nymark

I got my cylinder assembly for my 3 Truck Shay in the mail. Before replacing the old one, I looked for my manual with the engine diagram but could not find it. I skipped looking for it online as it is hard to see anyway. Thought I would just dig in as it didn't look complicated. I was surprised to find two blue electric leads soldered to some tabs at the top of the assembly. So I heated them up, removed them and soldered the wires to the new assembly. Of, course, I always think I'm going to remember which wire goes to which tab but try as I did, it was only a guess when it was time to solder. My first question is does it make any difference. My next question is what do those wires do. From the wiring schematic, I think they might be chuff sound. Glad to be back in the hobby but I have to relearn a lot of the stuff I figured out a few years ago.

I recently posted about my 3 truck Shay and have a question about my Climax. Both had been sitting in my Tuff Shed for the last few years and I am reviving them to build a new track in my yard. I turned my Shay over and worked on it to clean up the wheels. I used the foam for support and wired it up so the wheels would turn. I cleaned a bunch of gunk from it and fixed an intermittent short in the second truck. It works much better and I am waiting on some parts to fix the yolk. I currently have the Climax turned over to similarly clean the wheels. I connected wires to get the wheels, axle and everything else to move for inspection and cleaning. I noticed the rear truck wheels are moving faster than the front truck wheels and this is my question. It runs great but are the wheels of the front and back trucks supposed to run at different speeds? My guess is everything is okay but hope someone can confirm, deny or shed some light on this. Thanks for any advice!

Greetings,

The yoke assembly on the middle truck of my 3 Truck Shay stripped. It looks like Bachmann has sold out the replacement parts for this. Do such parts come in from time to time or does anyone have a custom fix for this? I can fix it I'm pretty sure but it would be great if someone has experience with doing it. Thanks for any help!

Edit: I bought the cylinder assembly which I think will solve my problem.

The Climax I have came with a coal bunker with a fan attached to the underside to cool the electronics. This is a pretty neat feature. It also came with an oil bunker (and 3 different smoke stacks, again pretty cool). The fan and screws do not fit the oil bunker and it does not screw on like the coal bunker. Anyone run into this problem and is there a fix? At first, I thought I just didn't have it on right but after a bit of messin it just does not seem to fit well. Thanks!

I have had my 3 truck Shay for about a year and a half and recently acquired a Climax. Both came with sound and DCC installed. The Shay came with a video showing how to lubricate and suggests every ten hours which I have followed pretty closely. The Climax did not come with a video and I lubed it as per the instructions in the manual with a 20 hour lube schedule. Both suggest using the electrical lube on the wheels every 5-6 hours. The Climax seemed a bit tight in the curves and jerky at slow speeds. After about 15 hours of running the Climax, I found a Bachmann you tube showing the guy taking the bottom plates off the trucks and using heavy gear lube and gear grease inside. I was worried that I may have damaged the gears by not doing this before I ran it at first, but all seemed well. It did run more smoothly afterwards. I would like to ask for other people's experiences with these engines. Has anyone had problems due to lack of lubrication? Also, the lubrication schedule for the Shay seems a bit excessive-I haven't had the Climax long enough to know. Any ideas on this will be most appreciated.

I was experimenting with reverse loop track pieces from LGB today and made a reverse loop. I put my Shay on and hoped to run through the loops and have the polarity reverse. I noticed my cab and the SB5 were blinking on and off which I took to mean a short circuit so I dismantled the loop thinking I had obviously connected something wrong and the booster would correct itself. This did not happen even when just plugged in with no track connection. It just blinks on and off. The green light on the power blinks and the red light on the SB5 blinks. I think I might have damaged the unit -it felt pretty hot. Any suggestions would be much appreciated-Thanks, Phil Nymark