Auscision AN 830 838, with DCC Sound, was shorting. As soon as it went on the track, bang circuit breaker thrown. . Quick check of the continuity of the wheels indicated a deeper problem. Disassembly was called for. As I pondered the process I noted some gruesome repairs had been undertaken on the handrails on the back end. I took out the screws retaining the couplers, which should fall out, but they wouldn’t budge. Hmmmm. What to do….
Open my set of stainless steel dental tools. With gentle prising I managed to lever out the couplers, they had been super glued in????
I noted four retaining screws on the underside which when removed allowed the body to be removed, but it was tight. Bugger, in removing the body a mirror dislodged and fell to the desktop. Shit, the piping on the side of the under frame dislodged and joined the mirror. The driver was glued to the body not his seat and some side frame crossmembers were separated loco had done some parasailing methinks.
Repaired sideframe crossmember
Unplugged the lighting circuit from the main board and viola, the exposed ESU Sound decoder appears.
I prised the decoder off the circuit board and placed it on my ESU Decoder Tester. Immediate short.
I had a spare 21 pin Lokpilot non sound decoder, put that on the loco circuit board , put the loco on the program track, dialled up Address 3 and put it into motion. Lights on, sweet as.
Reassembled the body save for side frames which need 24 hr to harden up glued mirror and under frame piping, readdressed decoder to 838.
I know it’s wrong era, but I immediately rang the owner and offered to acquire the culprit. Deal agreed, 838 now joins 833 in a green and gold consist on the GSD. Will eventually buy a Sound decoder for it. Cant have enough 830’s on a SAR Layout.
Ps I will also be on the lookout for SAR 830 bodies to replace these in the fullness of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment