Spectrum 4-6-0's

[Pacific Northern]

This afternoon I addressed my to do list and found my next chore was to convert five Spectrum 4-6-0's to DCC.

I first cut the capacitors and then installed Digitrax DH163PS in the engines. Some of the 4-6-0's ran erratic when the capacitors were not cut.

These engines are both the high boiler and low boiler versions. . I also added some additional weight to each of the boilers and taped in the decoders and reattached to tender bodies to the frames.

I then tested the engines on my layouts and much to my surprise I had no problems with any of the 4 wheel lead trucks or with the wiring bundles between the tender and engine I find this surprising as with my other Spectrum 4-6-0's I was having problems (like many others had) with the wiring bundle between the engine and tender.

I checked with one of the 4-6-0's that I had previously converted and noticed that there is a difference with the wiring bundles between the engine and tender. The older 4-6-0's do not have the small rubber rings that hold the wiring bundles in place.

When did Bachmann update their wiring?

The difference is night and day I remember spending what I thought was hours bending and placing the wiring bundles in various positions before I would get these engines running properly without any derailing or other problems.