Yeah, it sounds like something simple.  I am confident that I didn't pinch the wires closing the tender, because I actually never closed up the tender! I was just letting the decoder sit there on the tender chassis since I wanted to test before proceeding.  The intent was to install a QSI sound decoder, but before I did that I wanted to make sure that I'd done the easy first step of getting a simple DCC decoder installed properly - which obviously I failed to do.

I'm traveling this week, but when I get home I guess I'll try checking the wires again. 

I have a Spectrum C&O J-2 (which I assume is based on the USRA Heavy Mountain). Something is wrong with the motor/drive train. I bought it used, and when I got it home, I tested it briefly on straight DC - it was working.  At least, it ran back and forth on my 4' test track.  That was last weekend.

OK, last night, I unplugged the plug and plugged in a known working DCC decoder.  With the decoder, the firebox light comes on, but the engine won't move. If I put it on the DC test track, it doesn't move there either. The decoder had as recently as an hour before been in a different locomotive, so I fried it plugging and unplugging it a couple of times, it should be good.  I think I must have done something to the model, but I can't imagine what. I didn't mess with anything actually in the locomotive itself, which is where the motor and gears are. I just opened up the tender. And since the firebox light (and headlight?) still works, I know that the basic electrical circuits are OK...

I guess I need to break out a voltmeter and be sure that DC voltage is getting to the motor, but assuming that it is, what's the next step?

They haven't arrived yet, so I doubt anyone knows.

The dimensions definitely vary from area to area and from era to era.  Even today, for example, parking spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area are noticeably narrower than they are in Austin, TX.  Land is a lot less expensive in Austin, for one thing.  Consider also that the average car today is quite a bit smaller than the average car in the 1940s and especially 1950s, in both width and especially length. Additionally, before WWII, there were simply a lot fewer cars to cope with, and the available space was divided more generously.

Caution: I don't have this particular model, so I'm operating from a certain type of blindness. However, I've had many other models, so most of this I can probably guess without seeing.

The wheels are probably slightly different size or type. Depending on the prototype or your interests, they may be more appropriate than the ones that are on the locomotive now, or they may not be. The wheels do wear out, eventually, but unless you're running a full-time display model, it'll be years plural before they're really needing replacement. Same for the domes, headlights, etc. There were thousands of these 4-4-0's made (tens of thousands, in fact) and they were fitted with appliances in a myriad different ways. If you like some of the other parts, or if your prototype was set up in a different way than what come out of the box, those parts are there to redetail it to your choosing.

I'm not sure what the intention was with the different fuels for the tender. Most of my prototypes used coal, and for the most part those have come only with coal. I have no idea about the powder.

DCC - you need to have a DCC controller. It will come with instructions for setting up the locomotives. In the meantime, new locomotives are generally set up at address 3, which is something you tell your DCC system. Of course you can change it (most of us change the address to the road number on the cab) once you have the DCC system set up, and in fact that's how you run different locomotives in a DCC system. Do you have a DCC control system?

I am not sure where the manuals are stored here on the Bachmann web site. I certainly had a tough time finding the manual for one of my models, but someone kindly provided a link.  It does sound like your box wasn't entirely complete.

Do the lights flicker or go out when the locomotive stops?  If so, you've almost certainly got dirty track, dirty wheels, or both. The track is pretty easy to address: there are cleaning bars (one is called "Bright Boy") that are specifically intended to clean track. I'm assuming you don't have some enormous amount of track. If you don't want to spend the $6 or so for the Bright Boy, you can probably get by with some really fine emery paper - you just need to clean oxidation and perhaps sticky junk off the rails.  That often does the trick.  If not, check the wheels. They're a bit harder because you have to get the whole wheel tread.  Some contact cleaner usually does the trick there, using a Q-tip or something similar.

If the lights stay on and don't flicker when the locomotive stops, you probably have a mechanism that's binding internally for one reason or another, and that could be a more involved problem. If it's really old, there's a good chance that it just needs some lubrication.

Thanks. That link shows a measured diameter of 61".  At least to me, that's a pretty high driver for a Consolidation - C&O's large G-6, G-7 and G-9 classes had 50", 56" and 56" drivers, respectively. Clearly the Bachmann isn't a good platform for a G-6. I'm guessing that I'd have to try to play some visual tricks to make a G-7 or G-9 to come out right, but perhaps those would be OK if the boiler size is reasonable. G-9 boilers were visually a lot bigger than G-7's, so perhaps one or the other would be suitable.

How big are the drivers and boiler of the ex-Spectrum 2-8-0?

I'm needing some Consolidations to represent both early C&O power on Allegheny Mountain and late-steam era local power. The latter can be had expensively via a couple of brass imports of G-7's, but I am not aware of any models detailed like the 1915-era (or so) earlier road power.  The 2-8-0 model here might be a reasonable base from which to start if the basic dimensions are suitable.

Also, which sound decoder comes installed in the unit?

Right now we're in the transition to DCC and sound, so the only things moving are a Stewart C630 and a brand-new Rivarossi C&O H-8 2-6-6-6.  In the shop is a Bachmann C&O J-2 4-8-2 needing only its speaker and some holes to get the sound out. A Bachmann 63" 4-6-0 is arriving in the next week or so, and the Proto2000 C&O 0-8-0 is next in line for a decoder and speaker.  The 4-6-0 will run before being redetailed and repainted, but eventually it will look like a C&O F-11.  I've got - hmm - four old brass C&O steamers that all need repowering, DCC, sound and lights: another J-2, a C-12 0-10-0, an H-6 2-6-6-2, and a K2 2-8-2.

Excellent, that's precisely what I was looking for (and what wasn't in my box!) Thanks a bunch!

I picked up a Spectrum Heavy 4-8-2 (C&O). It's 82503, which I understand to be DCC ready. I would like to install the decoder, as well as sound. I don't see a manual or instruction sheet available, and my box didn't come with one.  It's not 100% obvious how to open this up, so I thought I'd ask before jumping in.

I see a screw that seems to go up through the cylinder saddle into presumably the smokebox or boiler. The tender isn't especially obvious either, although it seems likely that there are two screws through the center sill into the coal bunker and water tank.

How is sound usually placed in this model? I'm planning to use a QSI Titan-U decoder that prefers to have two speakers. It would appear that the tender is easily big enough to hold a fairly large speaker (oval?). The six wires going from tender to locomotive suggest that the decoder is usually installed in the tender. Is there room in the boiler shell for a (small) speaker?