Durango & Silverton Tender

[dixierider]

NOOB question... I bought the Durango and Silverton set from Amazon a few days ago.  Got it in and the locomotive quit running... not a track issue because an older engine I have works on it fine and pulls the cars.  I've contacted CS for warranty work.. in the meantime, I'm curious about the tender.  there's obviously a speaker and circuit board in it, but there's no way to get a battery in there, nor a switch anywhere on the locomotive.  Nothing in the directions explained how to turn the tender "on."

[GN.2-6-8-0]

which scale ? if its the large scale the water hatch on the tender should open that's where a 9v battery will go.
also the smokebox door should open and you will find a switch inside.

[dixierider]

which scale ? if its the large scale the water hatch on the tender should open that's where a 9v battery will go.
also the smokebox door should open and you will find a switch inside.

It's HO scale, so nothing opens that I can tell. 

[dixierider]

I snapped out the "coal" and while I can see some of the internals there's nothing there to turn on or off. 

[dixierider]

There are no switches, or any way I can see to get into the coal tender.

[dixierider]

  The bottom of the engine.  No switches here either. 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Ok HO scale.
You said it did run at first so the following may be your best bet.
there won't be any switches or such or batteries' as a set I assume it to be DC only not DCC best bet wouldbe to contact Bachmann service Dept. Though I'm not sure of their policy on sets hopefully you can just send them the enginefor repair or replacement.

[Doneldon]

best bet wouldbe to contact Bachmann service Dept. Though I'm not sure of their policy on sets hopefully you can just send them the enginefor repair or replacement.

Dix-

I believe the lifetime warranty applies to sets as well as individual items.

                                                                                                  -- D

[richg]

You forgot to include the photo of the inside of the tender. I believe this is a DCC ready loco and the DC adapter might not have been installed in the socket on the PC board.
With DCC, do not assume. DCC ready comes with a speaker hole but no speaker.

Think this is what you have.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H114X-IS001.PDF

Too bad Bachmann did not show the six pin adapter that plugs into the eight pin socket.
Some of the diagrams do show this but some do not.

Rich

[dixierider]

thanks Richg, you're right.  Without taking it apart, that looks like exactly what I have.  The top comes off the tender just like the diagram.    I hate to sound ignorant, but I'm not familier with DCC...but I'm assuming that's the household plug in? (since DC is battery operated?)  Also, what's the purpose of the connections from the tender to the engine if not to provide sound when the train is moving? 

[Jerrys HO]

Dixie,
The purpose of the connections is that one plug usually is for the DCC decoder and the other is for the sound. There is a lot more room under the tender than the engine for all this.

jerry

[richg]

The two pin plug carries track pickup from the loco drivers.
The four pin, two wires for pulse power to the motor and the other two wires, power to the headlight which is a light bulb in this loco. Some locos have LED's. Light Emitting Diode. Another discussion.
All locos with decoders get pulse power from the decoder, not DC like a power pack type loco.
The loco will not operate without the tender. Some people put a decoder in a loco.
The Spectrum 0-6-0T is like that. No tender.

Below is a link about many aspects of DCC and DCC with sound. There is quite a learning curve. Many variations in DCC power for model trains.

http://www.mrdccu.com/

The Bachmann with on board sound use decoders made by SoundTraxx. SoundTraxx also sells non sound decoders.

Bachmann also sells three locos that get a Sound Module that plugs into a non sound motor/light decoder.
Look at the different loco diagrams in the Parts page.

Rich

[richg]

This will make it much clearer. Even if you never go into DCC, keep the link to share with others who might want to do this conversion.
A picture is worth a thousand words and quite a few pictures here.
There is a video also.
This person bought the DCC ready that did not have a speaker hole. Maybe first generation of a DCC 2-8-0.

http://www.garbo.org/MRR/2-8-0con.html

Rich