Kato F7 A issue???


It WORKS!

After posting I checked the wheels for dirt and build up as I suspected that may have been the issue as my other engines ran nicely. The wheels looked good, nice and shiny so I gave the track the once (or twice) around with my CMX and low and behold the darn engine ran and is STILL running :)


The thing that confuses me is the other engines didn't have an issue running around the track, I guess this particular engine was a bit more finicky and just wanted to test my patience :rolleyes:

So this entire project began as my wanting an F7 to pull my Royal Pacific cars, one F7 A/B unit and nothing more. It has ended with my having the following:

1 X FP7 Milwaulkee Road
1 X F7 CB&Q
1 X F7 WP and,
1 X F7 Royal Pacific

Lucky I really like the F7 family of engines huh :)
 
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I think we need a new international organization...Model Railroaders Anonymous! For those of us who can't resist "just one more [fill in the blank] model railroad engine, car, building, miscellaneous"! I do NOT have room on my layout for another engine. I am in the process of kitbashing another Mantua steam locomotive. Because it has/had a short swing arm lead truck that derailed no matter what I did, I decided to remove both lead and trailing truck, turning it into an 0-8-0 switch engine. The Burlington had ONE, #5020, which they classified as an F-3, the only one they ever did. Why? Don't know why the Q did that. Why I did this...why not? Couldn't resist, I guess. Same reason I have bought GP30's which are about 2 years beyond my era of 1940's through 1960! Ah, well... Such is the vississitudes of the hobby! :p
 
trailrider said:
I think we need a new international organization...Model Railroaders Anonymous! For those of us who can't resist "just one more [fill in the blank] model railroad engine, car, building, miscellaneous"! I do NOT have room on my layout for another engine. I am in the process of kitbashing another Mantua steam locomotive. Because it has/had a short swing arm lead truck that derailed no matter what I did, I decided to remove both lead and trailing truck, turning it into an 0-8-0 switch engine. The Burlington had ONE, #5020, which they classified as an F-3, the only one they ever did. Why? Don't know why the Q did that. Why I did this...why not? Couldn't resist, I guess. Same reason I have bought GP30's which are about 2 years beyond my era of 1940's through 1960! Ah, well... Such is the vississitudes of the hobby! :p
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That sounds like a great idea! Can you imagine how many members we would have .... well, everyone seriously involved with the hobby! o_O

There are other engines I want as well, SD70's for example but if I were to get even one that would bring my "engine count" to 9. Now that may not sound like much BUT when all you will be running at any given time is 3 (max) then I think I have more than enough to keep me busy. Added to that, I don't even have a layout to run them on yet ... still in the process of doing that :rolleyes:

For some reason, we just can't resist the urge to buy just one more of whatever it is ... and I feel that will always be the case with this hobby :)
 
I've been in HO for nearly 61 years, since I was 15, so I've collected a bunch of engines (actually have lost count). But my current layout is relatively small, and I don't do "operation" with others except very occasionally. Otherwise, even with DCC, I can't walk and chew gum at the same time, so I usually run one train at a time, or do limited switching. I do NOT NEED any more rolling stock or motive power, but... "stop me before I buy another engine!" :p;)
 
wombat457 said:
When I applied the DCC current (hope that is the right way to put it) to the motor tabs I got the hum sound. That tells me that power, albeit the wrong type of power, is getting to the motor and that the motor is okay. That is to be confirmed using DC power though.
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Power is getting to the motor, yes. Motor is okay, not necessarily. Agree must confirm with a DC supply.

Now, when I tested the decoder, by placing leads directly to the tabs of the decoder the motor tabs are attached to, nothing happens other than the two (2) decoder components (shown in red in the following diagram) burst into flames. The ONLY thing I touch with the leads is the center of the tabs on the decoder. In other words, I am not touching anything with the leads that may inadvertently cause a short.
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I don't know if I understand, or if this was originally an April fools day post. By "leads" do you mean power from the DCC source? And you are touching them to the motor outputs of the decoder as indicated by the red and yellow lines below? One never wants to put power backwards into an electronic device. In that case, while I wouldn't have expected flames, I would have expected the circuits to be destroyed.

Funit.jpg
 
Horseman,

No this wasn't an April Fool's day joke. I did as you stated above as that was what was suggested to test the engine. Since doing that the advice I was given was corrected by the guys here and the engine was tested the "correct way", using a 9 volt battery to the Motor Tabs.

Once I did that, the motor ran freely and the wheels turned as they should have. That told me the engine was okay and a new decoder was installed. The engine now runs fine.

My conclusion is/was the problem was with the decoder and not the engine.
 
wombat457 said:
No this wasn't an April Fool's day joke. I did as you stated above as that was what was suggested to test the engine. Since doing that the advice I was given was corrected by the guys here and the engine was tested the "correct way", using a 9 volt battery to the Motor Tabs.

Once I did that, the motor ran freely and the wheels turned as they should have. That told me the engine was okay and a new decoder was installed. The engine now runs fine.

My conclusion is/was the problem was with the decoder and not the engine.
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Ok, That is odd though. Yesterday when I posted that, I could only see one page of this. There were only a couple messages. Today I can see the whole thread and see my comments were redundant. Oops.
 
A couple of teething problems with the change over maybe? Anyway, no comment is ever redundant ... they all confirm or refute something so that is a good thing in my mind.

I learnt a lot about DCC power and checking things as a result of this issue, so I am sort of glad the problem occurred.

At the end of the day, the engine is up and running and all is right with the world, well will be when my new NCE system arrives - THEN everything will be right with the world :)
 
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