USRA 0-6-0 Lights on, smoke on, No movement

[Vizzardrix]

Hello,

Ive run into an issue regarding this engine, it will not move, what-so-ever, the lights come on. and the smoke works, i have checked all of my track, and for some reason my normal engines run, but the new engine ive bought will not. I am a VERY novice train person, Had one as a kid, bought this Bachmann set, and thought it would be really cool for christmas for my girls, but it wont move. Do i need more power? Or am i missing something?

Lights are on. Smoke works. Train doesnt move when turning up the E-Z Command Plus. Been all over the internet and i dont see much about this, i did see where i need to check electrical to the track and also to the command plus. Does anyone know what i am missing? Track is clean, i just dont know if i am missing a needed part or something since i cant get the train to move. Any help would be appeciated! Thanks!

[trainman203]

If you have an EZ command, your locomotive is DCC equipped, meaning that there is a decoder in either your locomotive or the tender that is controlling everything.  Since some of the functions work, we know you have track power.

I'd be pretty sure that the problem is stemming from either of two possibilities.  1.  A broken wire somewhere supplying power to the motor. Or, 2. DCC motor control values incorrectly set.

DCC operates by a number of parameters within the decoder that are called control values , or CV's. There are probably a couple hundred in this engine. The fact that a number of functions in your engine are working means that at least some of them are set correctly. If I'm not mistaken, there are four CVs directly affect motor control and they could have been inadvertently improperly set to an incorrect value.

With an advanced DCC system, these values are easily checked in corrected, but the EZ command is not an advanced system, it is a DCC version of the old train set transformer, just basically makes the train go and stop, with a few sounds added.  To check these values you'll need to find a Model Railroad somewhere that operates with Advanced DCC and have the those values checked on the programming track, which of course you don't have.

You might need to send the locomotive back the Bachmann Service department if you have no other alternatives. You can call them, they are friendly and accommodating, and have served me well over the years.

[Vizzardrix]

Thank you for the reply, i will call them today and see what they say. Is there a better controller that I can look at for the future that would make this easier? Maybe one you'd recommend? I am hoping to be able to set it up in our basement after Xmas and maybe get some more track.

[trainman203]

This forum is dedicated to the discussion of Bachmann products so it wouldn't be proper to mention systems by other vendors. Bachmann does offer a more advanced DCC system, but since I don't use it, I can't recall its name, maybe someone else can posted here.  You can go online and find discussions that compare different DCC systems to each other.