That's been an issue with this forum forever. You have to upload photos to a web hosting site, e.g., photobucket, flikr, etc., and then link the url for the photo in you comment here using img tags, which can insert using the blue icon immediately to the right of the 'YouTube' icon in the icon bar above where you enter your comments.

Len

Sounds like you may have a loco with a split frame and the side of the trucks without a wire is passing power directly through one side of the frame. The easiest way to check is with the Ohm function of a multimeter. If you get a short, or very low resistance, reading between the wheels without a wire and one side of the frame, it's a split frame set up. If that's the case, you'll have to isolate the side of the motor connected to the frame in order to install a decoder.

Len

You will quickly find in model railroading the multimeter is your friend. Whether it's using the Ohm meter function to trace wires, or the voltmeter function to verify power is getting where it's supposed to or not.

If you don't already have one, you can get one for less than $25 at most hardware stores and home improvement centers.

Len

In a word, sometimes.

It depends on whether the switches you plan on using are "DCC Friendly" or not. An excellant explanation of that can be found on Alan Gartner's "Wiring for DCC" web site. The page on switches can be found here:
https://wiringfordcc.com/switches.htm

Len

Quote from: trainman203 on March 01, 2023, 10:05:57 AMAll the books recommend "earth colored latex paint."  That's a hard thing to find.

If you have a Home Depot in your area you can get just about any 'earth' color you can think of, except they don't call any of them 'earth' color. They have names like "bison brown", "Canyon View", etc. If you go to their web site and search for Behr Paint, then select Brown/Tan familiy over on the left, you'll be able to see what they have. And you can get roughly 1/2 pint sample bottles of the colors to try out and see what works best in your lighting.

Len

Jeff's right. According to the exploded diagram, the BL23-7 uses a can motor with dual flywheels:
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/HO_B23-7_DIESEL.pdf

Or is the pancake motor for something else? If 'something else', in many cases you can find a can motor chassis that will fit the old shell. Which gives you a better running loco, even if you have to do a bit of cutting and fitting to make the old shell fit.

Len

" Do not try to run DCC equipped trains with an old toy train transformer. I will destroy the decoder."

If you are talking about the AC transformers used to operate Lionel, Marx, American Flyer and other O/O27 trains, this is true.

It is not true for DC output power packs typically used to operate HO and N trains. As long as the decoder is set for 'dual mode', they will operate on DC fine. The only problem is the decoder will 'eat' roughly 5 volts of track power before the motor starts turning over. So the throttle has to be turned higher than you'd expect compared to a straight DC only locomotive. If the decoder is not set for 'dual mode', it will just sit there regardless of the DC voltage on the track.

Len

Quote from: Geeper on February 27, 2023, 08:55:22 PMFrom the motor, the shaft leaves the motor and goes into the flywheel. The problem is NOT with that shaft or the flywheel location on it.
The shaft exits the flywheel and goes to the universal connector (usually plastic) which slides onto the motor shaft... and this plastic piece might be too close to the flywheel. That would mean I need to increase distance between the flywheel and that universal shaft.
Is that the correct picture???

That's it exactly

Len

In that case check the play of the drive shafts. I've had some Bachmann locos where the universal piece on the motor shaft with the flywheel was pushed to far onto the shaft. This gave the ball end of the connecting shaft too much room to move around in, creating vibrations in the trucks and frame. Shell off you would not really hear it, shell on the noise was obvious.

Len

Sometimes body shells get a slight warp when they come out of the mold, which can leave gaps that vibrate when installed on a loco. You can check for this by looking through the cab window while shining a bright flashlight along the bottom of the shell where it meets the chassis. If you see light inside the body, there's a gap.

The simple fix is to just build up the area on the shell where light came through with a few layers of electrical tape.

Len

Something to consider regarding structures for a TT layout, short of scratch building, would be cardstock buildings. They are mostly available in HO or OO scales, but it just takes changing the scaling setting on your printer to change them to other scales. I generally print multiple copies and 'layer' window frames and doors to give them depth, so they don't just look like they're printed on cardstock.

This folks have a pretty decent selection of US style buildings for HO layouts, that can be reduced on the printer for TT:
https://www.modelbuildings.org/

And Scale Scenes has one of the better UK/European building selections in OO scale, again that can be scaled down on the printer.
https://scalescenes.com/

Keep in mind the PDF files on both sites are set for A4 size paper and cardstock, available from Amazon and some stationary dealers. Some adjustment are necessary to print on standard letter size paper and cardstock.

Len

Since standards have been set, the 9th wire should be violet. It was sometimes brown before the NMRA standardized the colors. According to Standard 9.1.1, it's used as 'Output 4 (Aux 2)' for decoders that support it.

And yes, if the harness is plugged into an 8-pin socket you can unplug it and install an 8-pin decoder. Be aware that on some, not all, P2K locos there is not enough room between the socket and shell to plug a decoder directly into the socket. So you would use something like a DH126D or DH166PS that comes with a harness like the one in the pic of my earlier post, allowing the decoder itself to be placed in a location that allows the shell to be installed without interferance.

Len

All of my P2K locos have 8-pin sockets. So when you say your loco has a 9-pin socket, is what you're describing something like this?


If so, someone unplugged a previously installed decoder from the JST plug and left the wiring harness in place. You should be able to unplug the harness from the loco's 8-pin socket and plug your decoder directly into the loco's socket.

Len

Quote from: wfletcher on February 23, 2023, 04:34:50 PMIf I were to take these engines and put them both on the same track; one would go in reverse. 
This is a DC setup NOT a DCC.

If this is happening, one of the locos is not wired correctly. Use a multimeter to verify which rail is positive when this is happening. Whichever loco is going forward when it's right side is on the positive rail is wired correctly. The loco going in reverse with it's right side on the positive rail has the motor leads backwards from standard.

Len

Color me confused, I've never heard of such a thing. Are you talking about the locomotive reversing direction, or the points of the turnout moving to the opposite setting?

As for the "polarity" of locomotives, the standard for non-DCC locomotives is if the right hand rail relative to the direction the loco is facing is positive, the loco should move in the forward direction. If it's negative, the loco should move in reverse.

Len