I have used the cable found in picture hanging kits.  Found in most big box stores.

Thank you ricnpat,   I am trying to help a computerless friend. I will call him right now and ask. oops forgot they were going out to dinner with friends. I will have to ask tommorow.

Can any one tell me how to change to the new trucks on an early shay? The trucks don't come with instructions. Thanks in advance, Phil

Hi Chris, The small controller you are using is only good for starter set use. It will do fine on a low draw engine, such as 10 wheeler. As you know the 2-6-6-2 has 2 motors and is much heavier to move. If you are trying to use the bachmann track , the curves are too short for the larger 1:20.3 engines. It may not de-rail but it will surly bind and in doing so will draw more amps. Next time you try it, listen for a click as the controller shuts down. This is due to over-load. You might as well bite the bullit and get a real controller and some proper track.Save the bachmann track for x-mas tree use.

I think I finally have it. The batt. I am using is a home assembled 5 cell pack. I made the pack up from cells I got on sale. It took a charge as well as any, but apparently it was not holding the charge very well. After cycling the pack a few times it is now working much better. Amazing how the perception of a problem can be clouded by looking for glitches in all the wrong places rather the obvious. I ran 5 & 1/2 hrs. today at various speeds from a slow crawl to moving it right along. When I cked. the batt. I got 6.35 volts at the end of the day. This is with out a doubt one of the best engines I have. It will see a lot of track time this summer. 

Ran the batt down again. running at about 9.2 volts  and that is a little faster than I like to run this engine I prefer to slow it down to about 8 volts.

I will be going to the club this week end. I am taking my fast charger and mini tester and tool box and  plan to get to the bottom of this.  I would be happy to learn a simple fix. That would cure more than the 2-6-6-2. I have 2 others that come to mind.  shay and climax are others that run slow and have no space for large battery packs. I can not under stand why the sound system producers can not use the same method of powering their products as LGB has for years and do away with the cost and problems that batterys cause.  Phil

  After reading the review on 120 point me I could not ck mine fast enough.  I had 3 the same and 1 different. I found my little rc car wrench that fits this sort of thing and used it to spin the bolt out on the 1 that was different. once the bolt was out I was able to pull the crank off with my fingers and turn it 90 degrees to match the others and re install it.   After the bolt was back on and snugged up it looks like every thing is cool. test ran the engine , works fine [just like before]  this took about 2 min. Could have been done in 1 min. if I had known how simple it was.---Phil

John, You were right, I did have it wired direct. I changed it as you sugested but it did not help. [I thought sure it would] I next removed the conection to the optical sensor and re-programed it for auto chuff. still no help. I think the only way to get around this is maybe to disconect from the board entirely and re install it totaly independent [as if it were in a tender]  Even if I get my power from the pick up on the wheels there is no way to avoid back feed from the board if that is the root of the problem. I think I need to go back to school [Electronics school] A thought just occured to me- I wonder if it could be the boards on the motors. I guess that will be my next place to ck. They have been known to cause problems on other models.   Thanks for the help    Phil

After using the sound for approx. 5 hr. on the club layout. ...... The batt. was badly discharged after only about 1/2 hr.of running at a speed that normally would keep the batt. up. The batt was fully charged to 6.8 volts prior to starting  This made it nessesary to run faster to maintain the charging rate on the batt. I checked the voltage and got a reading of nearly 9 volts on the rails to run the sierra with the system hooked up to the optical sensors and give it just a little to charge the batt.  I am not sure what is draining the charge off so fast but I suspect the optical sensors because that is the only thing in use. I am not using the lighting options. I think I will try unhooking the optical sensors and use the auto chuff mode on my next try. I really wish this would have worked out. The sound was sensational using just one optical sensor with the sound systems programed for articulated mode. FYI I am using sierra K-37----- This one has a great chuff and fantastic whistle. A bell is a bell. There also seems to be a poss. problem with the sierra board being back fed from the bachmann board with the sound turned off. I am hearing a nasty noise in the speaker that sounds like a short if that is possable----Phil

Ralph, I used the sierra in mine with the sierra speaker. I had to raise the board about 3/16 of an in. for clearance  You might be able to get a little more. I think you coulld get as much as 1/4 in. A friend of mine told me he looked at and considered drilling holes inthe back of his cab and mounting a larger speaker in the coal bunker. Another thought if things get close and you are not feeling good about it would be to  insulate the top of the speaker with foam tape just for peace of mind. Good luck-----Phil

After running about 5 hours on Sat. I re-checked the bolts and found them all to be tight. When I first recieved the engine most of them were loose and needed to be snugged down. I did not use any thread lock. good news for a change. Have fun ---Phil

O.K.  4th time is a charm. Above seemed like it was working but , alas , it was still wrong. The sierra track power needs to be hooked up to the solder pad [ + to j1-12] [- to j1-1]The chuff leads need to go to the solder pad [+ to j2-2] and - to the ground next to it. The way I had it before  things that should be working were not, such as start up bells and whistle, and the batt was not charging. The optical sensors work great, and they do require the 6 volt batt hook up to the 6 volt screw pad to work. I would advise not to try using both optical sensors with the sierra because I think it would quickly over whelm the system. The way I did it was to use 1 optical sensor and program the sierra for the articulated chuff. I used the extra wires in the coal bunker for batt. wires [2 of them] and left the batt. in the bunker. I have not done this yet but I intend to add a different on- off switch to the batt. lead so the power to the optical sensors will be off as well as the sound board. Have fun ---Phil     [P.S. The 18 volt screw pad is for batt. power vs. track power]

I really need to proof read prior to posting. Above reads 12 volt input, should read 18 volt input. ---- sorry

I should have added . The sierra board is powered in the same manner as any other instalation. the leads that go to the 6 volt screw terminal are just jumpers off the batt leads. The left and rt rail power leads are connected to the 12 volt  input screw terminal.