N&W 611 trouble

[tweetsieengineer]

My 611 locomotive just stopped today with no warning or indications of any issues.  I have a tsunami 2-2 installed in the tender. First I suspected the decoder died or shorted.  After disconnecting the tender the decoder performed flawlessly.  So I switched the locomotives out with another J class I have to make sure it wasn't the engine. The other engine worked fine with the tender.   

So i'm now trying to troubleshoot the faulty engine, the drivers don't seem to be bound up.  Is it the motor or the wiring harness going into the engine?  Anyone had any experience with these engines acting up?

The locomotive that won't run has the stiff wires running between the engine and tender. The other one has a different type of wiring that is much more flexible.  I don't know if the one type of wire is the issue over the other one.

I plan to repair the engine myself with parts from Bachmann.

[lpcard]

I found one of these for a steal at a train show and found the wiring harness from the loco was bad. The harnesses are available from the parts website. I have two of these (601 and 611) and have had to replace the wiring harness on both of them, but once that was done they both run beautifully. I just wish I could get replacement tender shells (and a loco shell, too, but just for the windows which have fallen out and gotten lost).

[thenudehamster]

I had a similar problem with my Class J (also bought at an exhibition) and obtained a new harness from Bachmann. The original one seemed to be made with bare stranded wire covered in a sort of matt black paint - which had crumbled. IIRC, the replacement was with 'regular' insulated wires.
You may be having a similar issue.

Regards