You should contact Dave at:

http://www.lbrenterprisesllc.com/

He does great O scale decals and may do G scale.

Bob D.

I recently got my first Ten-Wheeler and one of the things I did was to modify the pilot truck according to the link provided above.  I ran it on an 8' circle during Christmas and had zero derailments.

I used .060" thick brass instead of .030" and so far so good.

Bob D.

Thanks Chuck!  All I can remember from my days in electronics was 0 and 1 

Looking at the link Wade provided I have the 10 amp TE handheld unit (1st handheld shown) and the receiver that's the 2nd one shown (the one with the auto type fuse).

I would go with Bill's suggestion and try a HO dc power pack and go from there.  My TE set has worked fine since I bought it but it's got to be 20+ years old now.  I did have to repait one of the battery connections that broke inside the handheld but all is fine (DO NOT leave batteries in these things!!!).

Bob D.

Chuck,

You may be right, never really looked into it other than to measure the voltage on the track once, but I did see an increase/decrease in track voltage so I just "assumed" the voltage was varying.  I'll check again now that I'm curious 

What you suggested about using an HO transformer is a good idea, that'll eliminate any question about power getting to the track.

Bob D.

Just for giggles, swap the wires going to the track and see what happens.  I had to connect the red (hot?) wire to the engineer side of the track to get things moving.

I think the blurb "delivers full voltage to the locomotive, even at slow speeds" doesn't seem correct, at least for my TE system (there's no part of my TE system inside my loco to act as a receiver), not sure about the set you have, but I know some TE sets had receivers that went into the loco.  My laptop transformer/power supply puts max volts to the TE receiver and through PWC sends signals/voltage to the track to "smoothly" run the engine.

Bob D.

Could be nothing more than a burnt wire, but these things aren't simple to take apart/put back together to get to the motor to see if voltage is getting to it.

I got mine off E-Bay and I was going to take it apart anyway to repaint it.  It's a good thing because both wires to the pilot were burnt in two.  Rewired the pilot and all worked fine, but the engine was like a puzzle as far as assembly/dis-assembly goes.  Once knowing how it's done, it's not so bad.

The bottom cover plate can be removed, but I recall there's a couple of pipes that need to be removed and the 2 wiring pins that go from the pilot to the main wiring terminals can be tricky putting back in once the bottom plate is removed, but you should be able to get to the motor once it's out of the way.

Bob D.

What transformer are you using?

I'm currently using an ART-5470 Train Engineer Set (Transmitter is ART-5473, Receiver is ART-5471), it requires a 12-24 vdc filtered transformer (separate item).

I'm actually using an old power supply that came from a laptop computer.

Are the batteries fresh in the transmitter?

Even with the transmitter not connected to the track you should see a light blink on the transmitter.

Bob D.

Bill,

Welcome back and thanks for the response!

I'm going to leave it as is for now, why mess with something that's working???

I also made the mod to the pilot truck that used a bent piece of brass instead of the truck being bolted straight thru to the chassis and moving within the slot.  Seems to be working fine.

After 10+ years of running O scale trains I believe I've had an epiphany (urban dictionary); this G scale Ten-Wheeler has been a blast to run, on a simple 8 foot diameter circle.  It's shown me that I didn't need an elaborate layout to be happy 

Thanks guys, I was doubtful this engine was "original".

Loco Bill had given me some tips before I bought it, but I still took a chance.  It turned out OK, fortunately I was able to fix the couple of things I found (burnt wiring on the lead truck and broken pilot mounts and no front coupler).  It had obviously been dropped or took a dive during a derail.

The amber/yellow LEDs look alright, they're not as bright as a white LED would be.  I suspect the resistor value used by whoever installed the mod is too small.

Still not a huge problem/issue so I'll leave it alone until I need to do some maintenance on it.

Bob D.

Thanks Joe!

No O'scope available  .  Like I said, the engine runs fine so I'm not too concerned yet.

The LEDs give off a yellow glow, not bright white.  Was this normal for a ver.5 engine?

Haven't taken the heat shrink off from around the resistors to see what values they are, I did add a mini-connector to the rear light so I could remove the tender shell easily.

Bob D.

From what I can determine from looking at the blurb Loco Bill provided, my 4-6-0 is a version 5.

The engine has both working headlight/backup light LEDs (still v5 or is this an upgrade?).

What I'm seeing is that when the engine moves forward, the backup light is still faintly lit, when the engine is in reverse, the headlight is faintly lit.  It's just enough to let you know they're on and never get any brighter as speed is increased.

Is this normal, has the engine been modified to include working lights, or do the resistors in the circuit need to be increased?  Or, do I have the plugs on the rear of the engine (or the switches on the smoke box) reversed?

It doesn't seem to be a problem, the engine is running fine.

Bob D.

Thanks Kevin!  The Proswitch R4 is what I was looking for to match my 4 foot radius track.

Bob D.

Which brands of turnouts are compatible with Bachmann brass track?

From the photos I've seen, they Bachmann turnouts look like they have a radius for the diverging (?) track, is that correct and what's the radius (I have 8' diameter curved track so far)?

Anyone make turnout kits that would match the 8' diameter (4' radius) track?

Bob D.

What you need to do is find one of the models already built and measure the gauge of the trucks/wheels.

G gauge track is approx. 1.75" (45mm) between rails, you'll probably have to move the wheels on the model truck outward to keep it from falling off.

You may be able to replace the truck with something that'll work (I don't know what however).

Bob D.

I think what I'm going to do is superglue the plastic grabs in place and see how they hold.  If they don't hold solidly enough I'll make some out of brass.

I'm slowly adding decals to the engine and caboose, but today I actually RAN the train around an 8' diameter circle of Bachmann brass track on a carpeted floor upstairs 

I was amazed at how quiet the entire train (engine, tank car, caboose) ran, must be that hefty brass rail (and the carpet) that's holding down the noise, even with the chuff sounding as loud as I could get it.

My old Aristo-Craft Train Engineer made it a breeze to operate, I could get the speed down to a crawl, nice slow starts and stops.

Next on the "Get List" will most likely be a couple of switches, another piece of rolling stock, and maybe a passenger car.

If O-scale is the "King Of Scales" then this must be the "King-Kong Of Scales"!!!

Bob D.