Tender conversion

[ydoghp]

I have a Bachmann USRA light 4-8-2 and want to use the Hicken style vanderbilt tender on this engine.  The circuit boards are different and the wiring is not compatible.  Has anyone made this change?  Are there wiring diagrams available?

Thanks, Steve

[ACY]

I put a Hicken or Vanderbilt long behind my heavy mountain and had no issues, but I'm not sure about the light mountain. I am not aware of any diagrams except for the exploded parts diagrams for most of the locos.

[richg]

Get your multimeter out and do a continuity check. Draw out the wiring diagram. I had to do that with a Medium USRA tender to go with my 4-6-0. I had to install a resistor for the loco LED headlight.

Rich

[bmjcook]

Gidday Steve
                      You could just swap the electronics board in the tenders as I did, very simple.
           Cookie                                                                                                         

[rogertra]

Gidday Steve
                     You could just swap the electronics board in the tenders as I did, very simple.
          Cookie                                                                                                        

Agreed. Simple solution is to swap circuit boards so that the loco's circuit board is removed from the original tender and placed inside the "new" tender.

Easiest swap in the world.

I even have P2K tenders behind Spectrum 2-8-0s that were done by the simple expedient of putting the Spectrum 2-8-0 circuit board inside the P2K tender. Why anyone would want to do it any other way is beyond me.  

Look at the two links in my signature line and you'll see several examples of tender swaps between Spectrum and Spectrum and Spectrum and non Spectrum locomotives, all done by simply swapping the circuit boards.

[jonathan]

Steve,

I learned the circuit-board-swap trick on this forum. Using this method, you can theoretically put any kind of tender behind any kind of locomotive.

The first time I swapped circuit boards, it took about two hours.  There's a little learning curve involved.  Now I can do it much faster.

Going a little further, you can swap tender trucks the same way.  Leads to some really wild possibilities with making your own customized tender.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ydoghp]

Thanks for the input.  The swap was easy (easier than taking the vanderbilt tender apart) and everything works fine.  I did not solder the rear tender light to the circuit board (didn't know if it would cause a problem) but I can live without the tender light.  Steve

[Doneldon]

ydog-

You won't hurt the PCB by soldering the rear light to it. Electrically,
it's the same as soldering a wire which goes to a light. Well,
not quite exactly the same because the wire will add a tiny bit
of resistance, but you get my point.
                                                                     -- D

[ydoghp]

Doneldon-

Thanks, I wasn't sure if the extra resistance would be a problem.  I will try it. 

Steve