Hello, my other project atm is fixing the 2-10-0 that I broke. In an effort to alleviate stalls I temporarily removed the sound board from it, replacing it with a standard decoder from a 2-8-0 that I am working on. Anyway, the wires from the rear headlight came off the board and I was wondering if rthere is a schematic of it since I cannot find the contacts to solder them back on.

While I'm at it, It ran much better with the regular decoder (for some reason), I just needed the decoder back. Is there a way to tweak the sound decoder to get the same stall improvements?

Hey all. I just obtained an old Spectrum GP30. I'm usually a steam guy but the price was like 30 bucks and I'm somewhat fond of the Gp's. Anyway, turns out it was older than I thought because it has a split frame design. Is there  a good guide to converting it to DCC? I'm having trouble figuring out what to do and my attempt to isolate the motor failed.

Also, the decoder I was using had a few wires come out when I reclaimed it from a failed project. Is there a good schematic showing which contact on the main decoder board do what? I'd rather not waste it since decoders are expensive.

One thing I'd try, if you have access to another controller, is to reprogram the decoder.

Did somebody mention a long time ago that the 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 shared a belt? I can't recall but that seems like something I heard somewhere...

I have double loops on a 4*8, 18 radius and 22 radius. The 2-8-4 makes it around the 18, but barely. You'll find that most small-mid locos need 18 or 22, and most large need 22+. I'd love the room to use larger curves but.... space is tight.

Opening the tender is not the hard part, what I'm confused about is what I have to leave in and what I can take out for the sound. Granted, I could tear the whole lot of it and hardwire but I'd rather not.

So I've just about had it with my 2-10-0. Its constantly disappointed me with its relatively poor running, low speed (WAY too low), frequent stalls, and the fact that to get it moving at any decent rate when pulling just 8 cars, you need to throttle it to max (which defeats the purpose of sound since the chuff rate is ridiculous). Now, I love the 2-10-0, but its driving me crazy. On a whim I plugged it into the tender from a 2-8-0 and the running quality improved dramatically. Now, I like the sound and all, but its not worth this headache. I happen to have a decoder from a 2-8-0 that had an... accident, and as such was wondering how much wwork I need to do to swap the sound board in the 2-10-0 with a plain decoder.

Quote from: jbrock27 on October 28, 2015, 11:03:56 PM

Quote from: Trainman203 on October 27, 2015, 07:08:02 PM
This gets asked a lot.  Ought to be a FAQ topic.  Along with nickel silver vs steel rail .

Ya got that right!

If it was then it should be "can run" not "should be according to my opinion". I've, as previously mentioned, run 0-6-0, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, and even the 2-8-4 on 18. Just because some people prefer not to let locomotives w/ more than 3 driver axles run on 18, doesn't mean they CAN'T. The 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 run just fine on 18 inch, even on the close drawbar, and they look fine doing it. the 2-8-4 looks odd, I'll admit, but it still tracks well most of the time (though I have had a driver jump the rails on rare occasions).

For reference, here are two pictures I took ages ago of the 2-8-4 and 2-8-0 on 18 and 22

I run, without problems, the 2-8-0, 2-10-0 (multiple versions, all fine, and even on the close drawbar setting), the 4-4-0, the 2-8-2 (the SY mikado, don't have the new one), and the 0-6-0. The 2-8-4 I have will do it too but I have a feeling that not all will and it looks kind of odd.

Yeah... Don't get me wrong, it would be a nice set and a cool collectors item, but licensing with Disney is a nightmare. In the town I grew up in, the local movie theater wouldn't show any disney movies after the management got into a fight with disney.

I put one of Bachmann's basic decoders in an IHC pacific. I had to hardwire it though, they sell them with and without 8 pin plugs

One more thing I'll throw in, I've found that sometimes the trucks track better if you tighten the screw a bit, on at least one locomotive I saw an immediate improvement with 1/4 of a turn,

Quote from: rogertra on October 04, 2015, 09:57:21 PM

Quote from: Len on October 04, 2015, 08:07:08 PM
Quick, get the defribillator! My heart about came to a screeching halt when I saw those prices. Was someone looking at an O-gauge price list when they posted that??

Len

And they're not even up to Spectrum standards.   

Roger T.

I think people really need to stop with the "spectrum standards" thing. Fact is, these run just as well as the Spectrum Locos, and are actually fairly well detailed. They have more detail than the spectrum mountain.  Yes, they aren't coated in the level of detail some higher end models have but imagine the price of models in that tier. At the prices those would run, they wouldn't sell nearly as well. The majority of the Market are people who either wouldn't care about that detail, or people who can add it themselves. I personally don't fall into either group but again, I said majority. Bachmann has to play to that majority.

As for the price, things just keep getting more expensive. Its not enjoyable, but its true.

Hah, seems Bachmann is operating on valve time. Still, between getting one with some flaws and waiting a little, I'd take the wait. That said, radio silence isn't the best Policy.

Quote from: rogertra on September 28, 2015, 12:31:28 PM

Quote from: Irbricksceo on September 27, 2015, 10:56:33 PM
I would love a 4-6-0, but I'd rather get the high boiler version with the same tender as the 2-10-0. I wish I could get those tenders separate, I much prefer it to the tender with the low boiler, 4-4-0, and even the 2-8-0. I bet the 2-8-0s would look good with those short tenders actually...

Why not simply kitbash the tender into what you want?

Tenders are easy kitbashes.  I've done something like half a dozen so far.  They range from converting the Hicken oil tender into a shorter Canadian style coal tender, the most tricky,  to raising the coal sheets, easy, to shortening tenders by about three scale feet, fairly easy.  The latter two in various combinations.

Cheers

Roger T.

Cause I've not got he time, money, or skill to Kitbash. Buying the parts is also out, checked, would be 54 bucks a tender. better off watching ebay for 2-10-0's that are listed as "for parts".