Quote from: RAM on January 02, 2008, 03:01:30 PM
I have seen many post that said to cut the capacitors.  Is this only on Bachmann decoders, and sound decoders.  What about engines that come from Bachmann with decoders already installed.  Do they have capacitors or not?

I have four "Russians" with Digitrax DH123 decoders installed. I have not found it necessary to cut the capacitor leads, although I have done it in the case of one of my four Spectrum 2-8-0's which behaved erratically.

From Wikapedia , Bismark battleship timelines:
Launched 14 Feb 1939
Commisioned 24 Aug 1940
Sailed on 1st and only mission 18 May 1941
Sunk 27 May 1941.

For naval battle fans, Robert K. Massie's "Castles of Steel" is great reading , also "Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War" - both WWI era.

Getting back to the subject i.e. Spectrum 2-6-6-2, what's the news on the factory installed sound equipped version (84010)? Micromark now indicate estimated availability December but nothing to be found on this website.

I have three Spectrum  2-8-0 Consolidations, four Spectrum "Russian"  2-10-0 Decapods and a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 Monashee fitted with Digitrax DH123's and a Spectrum 3-truck Shay fitted with a Digitrax DZ123. 

Thank you Jim for the excellent photos and instructions.

I've been having problems with the bronze driver contact fingers on a 2-8-0, which became entangled in the driver spokes and too distorted to reshape properly. I'm considering replacing the entire bottom plate with its bronze conductor strips, contact fingers, wiring, connector and brake hangers, assuming I can obtain as a spare from Bachmann.

Thanks Roger.
I'll proceed cautiously. It's a toss up whether I continue on this loco before I finish some customizing touches on another Russian or a 2-6-6-2 Monashee. 
Isambard

This past week I completed some customizing on the Grizzly Northern's newest and fourth Russian Dec and started running-in at the club on Saturday. However after about an hour of smooth running at medium speed the loco stalled and refused to respond, although the DH123 decoder proved to be good. Testing without a decoder, with a shorting plug installed and using 00 address there was no typical sizzle to be heard.

In subsequent testing with a multimeter I found an open circuit at the loco connector terminals connecting to the motor, as compared to about 30 ohms for an operable Russian. Therefore it looks as if the motor has burnt out or gone open circuit.

My problem at the monment is how to gain access to the motor. Referring to the loco diagram I have removed screw 00219 securing the front bottom frame to the cylinder saddle, screw 10109 securing the rear bottom frame to the central split block holding the motor and screw 10181 holding the draw bar, which also appears to run through to central split block. However  I still haven't found the secret to releasing the cab and boiler from the bottom frame, in the same way as for a 2-8-0. What am I missing? 


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Isambard

Quote from: Isambard on August 29, 2007, 11:50:13 AM
The Grizzly Northern's newest acquistion, a very smooth running beautiful Spectrum 2-6-6-2, unexpectedly stopped running at the recent Exporail (Canadian Railway Museum)  miniature trains weekend. Total running time since --------------------------------------

It proved to be a decoder problem and not a loco one, hurray! I swapped the DH123 decoder from the 2-6-6-2 with a DH121 from a 2-8-0 and found that the 2-6-6-2 now ran smoothly and the 2-8-0 indicated a short circuit, with a buzz coming from the DH123. I'll send the decoder back to Digitrax to see what they have to say about the cause. I've since installed a new DH123 in the 2-6-6-2 and at the same time removed the RF suppression capacitor from across the motor leads.

As a comment about the decoder PCB in the 2-6-6-2, it appears rather like a lashup, maybe a warranty return fix? The PCB is loosley secured at the rear end only, via a small screw to a support pillar. A generous coil of unsecured wires leads from the PCB to the connectors under the loco cab through the rectangular hole under the tender coal shelf. Has anyone else found the same installation? It works and I'm not worried, just curious.


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Isambard

"Grizzly Northern Railway - The Running Bear Route"

http://www.wimrc.ca

The Grizzly Northern Railway (GNRy) is a fictional 1930's/1940's era CPR subsidiary that runs through the Rockies, Selkirks and Monashees,  between Rocky Mountain House in Alberta and Kamloops in British Columbia.
Current motive power (CPR and GNRy road names): an 0-8-0, four 2-8-0's four 2-10-0's, a 2-10-2, a 2-6-6-2, a three-truck Shay and a gas electric "Doodle Bear", all Spectrum except the 0-8-0 Proto.
In the real world the Grizzly Northern runs on the flatlands of the local club .
You'll find photos on www.wimrc.ca and ModelRailroadPhotos.com (Isambard).

The Grizzly Northern's newest acquistion, a very smooth running beautiful Spectrum 2-6-6-2, unexpectedly stopped running at the recent Exporail (Canadian Railway Museum)  miniature trains weekend. Total running time since received from MicroMark is less than 10 hours.

So far  I've determined that in programming mode the DH123 decoder responds to address changes. In ops mode the loco headlight functions, but flicks on and off with the command station/PM42 reacting to a short circuit. Visually the loco and tender appear normal and the decoder and tender wiring appear normal.

My next step will be to change the decoder and see if that changes behavior, if not then to test without a decoder using address 00, before I attempt any disassemby. I'm concerned that I may have stalled motor and certainly don't want to cause any damage.

In the meantime any comments will be appreciated, as always.   

The actual driver wheelbase on my Bachmann Spectrum 2-10-2 Santa Fe type is approx. 2 and 15/16 inches (centre of front drivers to centre of rear drivers).

Quote from: TexasChief on August 20, 2007, 07:10:02 PM
Bye the way, a 2-10-4 is commonly called a "Texas" type steam engine.

Dick
Texas Chief

The Canadian Pacific's dual service 5900 series 2-10-4's, Classes T1a, T1b and T1c,  were called "Selkirks" after the Selkirk mountain range through which they ran.

Did Central Vermont, a Canadian National subsidiary, call their smart looking 2-10-4's Texas types?

I modified two 2-10-0's the same way after an hour or two of trying different ways of squeezing in stick-on weights. It was only when I came to a third new Russian that I found I could readily stick weights under the moulded coal load. The moulded coal load is held in place by a small screw inside the tender. I hadn't considered that possibility with the first two loco's since I had solidly glued plastic granule coal loads on top of their moulded loads.

Quote from: amdaylight on June 09, 2007, 01:29:26 PM
Gene,

Thanks for the reply, I learned something new today.  As I am on the west coast and have not studied the eastern articulated locomotives and did not know how the eastern crews referred to their locomotives. I do know the SP crews referred to the cab forwards as Mallets (and some referred to them as “Backwards or Backup Mallets”) even though only the first couple of orders were built as Mallet’s and they were converted to simple engines after about 10 years as the SP need more speed out of them. Most of the logging lines called any thing that was articulated a Mallet weather it was or was not, this I can kind of understand as the vast majority of them were Mallets.

My comments were more aimed at the sound question as people were expressing the fact that they liked the sound as each engine on the locomotive came in and out of sync with the other one. This would not happen due to the reuse of the steam by the low pressure cylinders and only one set of exhaust instead of two as with a simple locomotive and what was and was not a road engine.

Andre 

The discussion as to what constitutes a Mallet continues all these years after the last ones, "true" or otherwise, have gone to the scrappers, museums or preservation societies. Certainly Anatole Mallet received a patent for a compound articulated locomotive, however I recall a British writer in LocoProfile argued that Anatole Mallet should also be given credit for the fixed simple articulated, and referred to the simple type as "Mallets".
Alfred W. Bruce (American Locomotive Company) in his "The American Locomotive in America" states "The term Mallet should be used only to designate articulated compound locomotives". Perhaps he was simply being academically correct, but then perhaps there was a patent Royalty issue lurking somewhere? 

Quote from: doctorwayne on June 06, 2007, 12:44:28 PM
--Another problem with this loco is that the pilot is very low, actually rubbing on the railheads, with the result that the front coupler is also too low.  While this doesn't appear difficult to remedy, I was wondering if this problem is a common one, with a "stock" way of making an easy repair. ---

Wayne

The pilot  on my 2-6-6-2  (footboards with small boiler tube centre section) clears the railhead by about 1/16 in. and the coupler is about 1/32 in high to the Kadee coupler gauge. Thes dimensions vary a bit, depending on whether the loco is moving forward or in reverse, this affects the load on the front engine and its longitudinal tilt relative to the track, as the front engine is very flexible in all axes.

The looseness of the front engine doesn't appear to be a problem, however I have noticed a tendency for it to derail on uneven track or switches as the front engine loses rail contact with the loco running forward and with a load behind. 

Quote from: SteamGene on June 06, 2007, 07:35:47 AM
Isambard, you have it backwards.  The Spectrum model is of the USRA light Mallet - 2-6-6-2, which is the C&O class H-5, not the H-6 or almost identical H-4.  The USRA light is smaller than the USRA heavy, 2-8-8-2, which is the basis of the N&W Y class.  You are correct that the C&O H-4/6 was not a USRA design. 
Gene

Thanks for the clarification Gene. Know any places where I can find a photo or details of the USRA light 2-6-6-2/C&O H-5?