I have the DCC Thomas the Tank Engine and it recently stopped working. It was running fine then stopped and just doesn't work. I'm assuming its a short or fried decoder. Is there a way to get replacement parts?

My son is devastated.

Ok. Motor no longer works. Lol.

Where can I get a replacement motor?

Ok. I got it apart and have done some wiring and soldering and the motor works. Next step is to reassemble it correctly.

Quote from: jward on March 07, 2025, 09:25:57 AMI'll have to pull one of my locomotives out and take a few pics. It's pretty easy to do once you see exactly how. It is similar to one of the older split frame diesels. You have a similar split frame adapted to a steam locomotive.

I'd appreciate that.

Ok. Been reading and rereading your tutorial and I'm still lost.

I really need pictures. I solder what to where. I'm very new to this hobby and the terminology is often foreign to me.

But I appreciate the knowledge being shared, I'm just not able (yet) to execute it.

I want to thank everyone for their help and support. I managed to get this train up and running and even installed a speaker.

I want to thank everyone for their help and support. I managed to get this train up and running and even installed a speaker.

Quote from: jward on March 05, 2025, 12:28:48 AMYou have one of the ones with the can motor. This is good. They are good candidates for DCC. Here is a post I made on this subject in a previous thread, with a link to a tutorial on installing DCC in this locomotive.


"I have done the DCC conversion on several of these locomotives. I used a Z scale decoder, Digitrax DZ125, because it would fit in the space where the smoke unit sits. My 0-6-0s are the split frame type, and wiring it is pretty straightforward. The track power leads on the decoder go to the frame halves, and the motor leads go to the motor. I soldered mine to the motor brush caps, after removing them from the motor of course. I also removed the tabs that contact the frame halves from the brush caps at the same time.

This site has photos of somebody else doing essentially what i did. Scroll down through the various projects until you find the 0-6-0.

http://girr.org/girr/girr_ho/girr_ho.html#dcc "

Awesome. I'll look at your tutorial and I really appreciate it.

Quote from: jward on March 03, 2025, 02:17:42 PMPeacekeeper,
you wouldn't happen to have photos of it would you? If so, don't try to post them directly to the board. Upload them to FLickr or Imgur and link to them. I'd love to see what you're working with so I can advise how to proceed.

Quote from: Yard Master on March 03, 2025, 09:32:44 AMHi peacekeeper,

This particular 0-6-0 was last made in the 1990s and predates the development of DCC, so it does not have a dummy board or decoder socket. While we don't have specific instructions, DCC installation may be possible, but will require hardwiring the decoder.

Yeah. I've watched a few install videos, just not sure what to solder where lol

Ok. I've managed to disassemble the engine.

Now what. I'm not seeing anything obvious to replace or add the dcc components and can't find anything similar online as a tutorial.

Ok. I've dismantled it.

Is there a step by step how to for converting it?

I just got a 0-6-0 item number 50502 ho scale bachmann and I plan to convert it to dcc. But no clue how to take it apart.

Quote from: bapguy on February 17, 2025, 01:43:01 PMOn the 21 pin connector, does it have pins sticking up? Or just holes? If holes, this is the dummy plug.Rather then pulling on it, try a small flat screw driver blade on one side to raise it a bit. Theb do the same on the other side. You may have to do this several times going from one side to the other.

The dummy, I assume is the protective "fake" chip. That came off easily. The rest is 21 pins. The comments I made earlier was curiosity that maybe that was also a cover. A ridiculous idea now that I've learned even a tad more.