Correct, the small board is a surface mount bright LED.   One screw holds it in place.  It has about 1 inch long red and black wire leads to the main board that allow it to be moved around as needed for kit bashing if you relocate the headlight.

If you are careful the rear headlight can be removed without damaging the light tube.

Pat Durand

Tom,

I described the design of the little mogul as sophisticated.  In so many ways it is.
To eliminate wires between the chassis and the plastic boiler shell they opted to use the light tubes.  I did not add the LEDs. that is what it came with.  The average user would have destroyed the headlights the first time they opened the assembly if they had been hard wired.

Thanks for the suggestion on the prewired surface mount LEDs and the resistor values.  I am not up to doing marker lights with power in those little lamps with chimneys.   I will stick with white and green lenses.   

I usually have two or three builds on the bench at one time waiting for parts or inspiration.  Many times inspiration comes from an old photo matching up with a kit bashing candidate.  Such was the case with the mogul.

This is "model" railroading and a missing rivet or stay bolt is not cause for concern.  We need to lighten up and just treat it as the art form it is.  I like broad strokes that paint a detailed picture.   

Have a great day building something, however small.

Pat Durand

Thanks for the kind words on the mogul project.

Bob D.   The light source front and rear are small surface mount bright LEDs conducted through a light tube.  In the photos of the deconstructed Mogul you can just see it mounted on the front of the sub structure.   No heat, very small but difficult to create a new light tube.  I will give it a try when the final order of PCS parts with the old style Arc Headlights get here.   

If you have a front mounted headlight, you could come in the back side with a round light tube.  On the top like mine its more difficult.

By the way,  when making light conducting plastic tubes, having highly polished surfaces for the light to enter and exit is very important.    Pick up some buffing surfacers for artificial nails from the cosmetic section, they do a great job.

I am anxious to get on with the additional parts and start the painting.

My goal is to build one of each class of Alaska Railroad loco in each color scheme.  Ive done a few already.  Here is another Bachmann product that went under the knife.

http://alaskarails.org/creations/PD-801/index.html

Glad to see folks actually building something not just pontificating on line.

Patrick

Want to know how to get into the new Alco 2-6-0?

Follow my kit bash of this model into Alaska Railroad #208 cir 1916.   The first two sections are already posted, the third is ready to post and there will be one final chapter on finish detail and painting.  Just check back from time to time or I will post when the next section is available.

Just go to:    http://alaskarails.org/creations/PD-208/index.html

In short I think this little gem is a very sophisticated piece of engineering that lends itself to many adaptations by kit bashing.      Best of modeling to you all.

Patrick Durand

Thanks to Bill Van Bergen who operates three of these three truck shays a solution to the electrical pickup problem is at hand.    Bill commented that his shays had a tendency to derail easily on curves and he solved the problem by reaming the hole in the truck bolster out so the truck could rock side to side on the bolster pin.     Making the entire assembly more flexible so the wheels could maintain better rail contact seemed to be a step in the right direction.

I used a small round file to enlarge the bolster hole in the truck.   Keeping the file at about a 10 to 15 degree angle removes material from the bottom and top of the bolster hole.   Then I made up shim spacers from brass tube to form a shoulder on each bolster screw so it would tighten against the body bolster pin and leave the truck free to swing and rock side to side.

The improvement was immediate, and the shay now chugs  along taking five minutes to travel the 8 ft length of my test bench without stalling and starting the air compressor sequence on the Soundtraxx decoder. 

Thanks to Bill for the simple and what should have been an obvious fix that I was overlooking.

Thanks for your suggestions guys.  The intermittent power problem persists on the three truck shay.

Well, I have spent untold hours on the Shay, with the trucks off cleaning and leaded in the truck bolsters for more weight,  added weight to the locomotive and water tender.   The test track has been literally sanded from end to end.    A #2 pencil lead has been used to burnish the contact points with graphite.

Because the headlights go out at the same time as the stall, I have convinced myself that the problem is with the two wires red and black coming into the water tender thru the plug.   I'll give some thought to bypassing the plug and hard wiring the power leads and stuffing the extra wire up in the water tender just like the speaker is done.   I have not taken that drastic step yet.

It walks along just fine and then stalls with an open circuit.   I pulled the decoder out and replaced it with the jumper and I get the same problem of intermittent open circuit.   It will not go more than 6 ft without finding an excuse to reset the air compressor pump sound and occasionally stall.    NO Shorts as the DCS does not respond when these stalls occur.     

I have repeatedly plugged and unplugged both the jumper and the decoder on the 18 pins thinking maybe one of those was corroded and causing some resistance under load.

I have stressed the 2 wire plug going to the tender and it maintained continuity.

The locomotive is super detailed so there is no option of sending it anywhere.

I'll put it away for a few days and come back with a clear mind and start over.

Thanks to anyone with an idea where to go from here.

Pat

Just installed a soundtraxx decoder plug in in three truck shay.   I tested the loco on DC prior to installation and noted a periodic stall as result of loss of electrical pickup. 

In the process of installing the decoder and speaker I removed all three trucks, cleaned the electrical wipers and mating bolster contacts with alcohol and then prelubed them with electrolube.   With the locomotive upside down, I connected one lead of my meter to the last wheel on the left side and then probed for continuity on the other 5 wheels on the left side.  These all tested indicating a continuous connection of all left side wheels even when the trucks were rotated and rocked back and forth.   Process was repeated on the right side.   This was done with the motor disconnected.

Wheels were cleaned, track was cleaned and the installation was completed.   Both electrical plugs going into the bottom of the water tender are secure.    Locomotive was put on the track and all the sound functions and operation checked out perfectly.

Here is the rub.   I like to run these locos at a walk.   Periodically there is a loss of electrical contact and the decoder resets starting the air compressor sequence.   On occasion the loco will stall at the same time.  The problem is not gears, it runs freely at all speads forward and reverse.   

It just erratically stops.  I can duplicate the problem by rocking the water tender to the right lifting the rear truck from the rail.  It is as tho the two front trucks are not picking up from the left rail.  Pressing down on the loco while tilting the tender will restore power and the pump starts running again.

By running the loco at an unprototypical high speed it will run all day without a glitch.

The problem is not a short as the DCS stays silent (no short indication).   It is an open circuit between the left rail and the decoder that occurs intermittently at slow speed in spite of having 6 wheels on clean rail.         The fact there is continuity among all those 6 wheels tells me the connection thru the plug between the coal bunker and water tender is secure.

Any ideas?

Pat Durand