There are 2 screws 1 on each end that hold the couplers on. There might be more screws that are holding on the body. Look on the bottom where the cab is. There might be a screw on each side going through the frame into the body. Remove the fuel tank and see if there is/are screws there as well. Joe

Do you have the eaarly Zypher (dcs50) or the newer one(dcs51)? If the early one the resister accross the track should work. If the newer one it has a blast mode for programming decoders. You might want to look into getting the PR3 and Ps14 from Digitrax. This is a programmer that hooks up to a computer. Install JMRI which is free. This has Decoder Pro in it. I have one and use it to read and write cv's. You can save the cv's in a folder on your computer so if you experiment with programming cv's that way if you mess some thing up, you'll have a list of the old ones. I would also suggest joining the Digitrax Yahoo group.  Joe.

How many locos are on the track when you put the Zypher on? Could it be the system is over loaded? Try programming  a different address on either the Acela or Zypher  to see if this works. Digitrax has a yahoo chat group that may help. Go to the digitrax web site and look under technical help as well. To find the chat group google yahoo group for digitrax.  Joe

I installed a SOundtraxx TSU-GB1000-EMD645. This is aboard style and has 1.5V out put for the lights which is what Athearn uses. I had to modify the pick up on the rear truck, took out the cab interior forspeaker place ment. If this sound like a lot ,a sound decoder with an 8 or 9 pin plug will work. The cab interior still needs to be removed for the speaker to fit in. I cut a piece of plastic the size of the PC board and drilled holes in the corners to fit over the tabs where the board fit. I put a piece of tape over the ends to cover th metal. I had to put the cound decoder in backwards and up side down. I cut down the metal part on the truck where the power wire is soldered to. This was needed to clear the the caps on the decoder. I placed a piece of tape over the caps to prevent a possible short.It took about 4 hours to do this. I am very pleased with the results. Mine is a Great Northern model with a cab mounted strobe light. I hooked up the bulb to out putF5 and programmed this to work as a strobe light. It's great. I know tis is long winded, but it was worth it.  Joe.

Is there a way to run this loco onDC? It might be some thing as simple as the mechanism binding up. If possible, run the loco in one direction increasing the speed every 10 minutes. Do this for about 1 hour. Run the loco in reverse with the same procedure. Might help. This is a good idea any way to loosen up the lcoc.  Joe.

I should have stated that if a speaker will fit in the hole under the fule tank be sure and replace the fuel tank cover. I agree with the magnet attrackting metal. Joe

Pull off the fuel tank and see if there is space for a small speaker there. There might be a small square or rectangle hole there that could be milled out

Model Railroader did a review of this decoder in the Sept.2010 issue I think. The review talked about the chuff rate as I recall. If you have back issues look in this one. One of the cv's you list has to do with the type of loco: Shay, Climax etc. This needs to be set to the 1 to 1 setting for a normal type. The other one is detemined by wheel diameter and I can't remember the formula. Try the Digitrax web site. The have a FAQ section that might have some thing listed. Joe

Did you check the guage of the wheels? Also what size of turn out? IE #4,5,6,8. How many axles on the truck. Did you try turning the loco around and see if it shorts out that way as well?

Cut sevral lengths of balsa wider than the idth of rail. Figure out how long to make them. Put the wood on top of the rali and gently pound each side on top of the rail. This will leave an impression in the wood to use as a guide to cut the wood to shape. Trin a little at a time to get it to fit between the rails.  Joe.

If you want ditch lights you need a DCC decoder with this type of function. Does the board have an 8 pin or 9pin recepter or both. DCC ready means you can attach a DCC decoder with out having to hard wire one.Digitrax lists their decoders as FX3 or FX4.This says how many light functions you can set up.   

Soundtraxx decoder # 827104. I believe this is a hard wired decoder. You will need an adapter for it. The adapter has an 8 pin plug on one end and a 9 pin on the other. Also a good 28mm speaker is needed. I get decoders from Accu-lites as they have discount prices. On the decoder.one end has the wires coming out  of the decoder to wire iit in. This has a 9pin plug that plugs into the decoder. This plug must be CAREFUULY removed and replaced with the adapter. Then it can be plugged into the board on the RS3. Digitrax makes these adapters: DHWHP and DHWHPS. The PS has a shot lengt of wire. Hoe this helps. Joe

I think you may have to add a DCC decoder to this loco to run on DCC. Try going to the websight of BLI. The instuctions that came with the loco might have the answer as well. Joe

I have 2 Athearn RS3's with MRC sound decoders in them. I've had not had any problems with them. I have 2 with Soundtraxx decoders-one factory one I installed. I would go with the Soundtraxx one my self, but a newbie might have problems with the instalation vif you go with the board style as the old board has to come out and the new one installed,plus does the Bachmann RS3 use LEDS for the headlights? Then you have to install resisters if you go with the board replacement or go with a decoder with 8pin harness and not have to deal with resisters. Then all you do is take out the old decoder and plur in hte new one. Don't forget to get a 28mm speaker!.  Joe.

There are several ways to go about this. The easiest and least expensive is to buy an MRC sound decoder with an Alco 244 engine sound sceme. They just came out with a new line of decoders priced around $65.00. Check their web sight for part #1614. The other is to get a Soundtraxx board decoder to replace the one that came in the loco. This is more expensive. Either way, you need a 28mm speaker that should fit in the hole in the fuel tank. The MRC decoder has an 8 pin harness theat will plug into the PC board on the RS  . Take out the decoder thats installed from the factory and replce it with this one. Make sure there is room inside for the capacitor to fit.  Joe