Loco Testing, 1...2...3...

 DB powers up:

In the past few days, I've repainted 5 tarpaulined four wheelers and a KP, added another layer of decals to the ZH, made up/recycled three new container wagons to 40-foot boxes, replaced a broken Peco chassis and half a dozen broken couplers, oh, and made those two extra AOs for the TranzAlpine. A few missing handrails and broken headstocks were re-attached or refabricated on some of the diesels.  There's nothing like the chance to run a few trains in a few days to motivate some action.

In fact it feels like I've been doing everything and anything that I can to avoid cranking up the Digitrax to see if anything actually works. 

Yesterday I started some testing. I didn't bother testing the DXCs, as they are pretty reliable. 

The DGs were up first, as old-cab 2376 was also such a great performer at the start of the year when I was planning Elmer Lane. I figured that new-cab (once 2330, now 2007), with the same Kato PA-1 chassis and clip-in Digitrax decoder would operate identically. Nope. Couldn't even detect the decoder. Disassembled and reassembled. It looks like I'd put the copper strips in upside down. These transmit track power between the bogies and decoder, so they were not making contact with the latter. Eventually I got it going, but 2007 wasn't working nearly as well as the original cab. Much slower, and a bit erratic.

At this stage, I needed to look up the Digitrax manuals online, as its been a dozen or more years since I have tried programming and couldn't remember how to get it into programming track mode (run/stop+F0 if anyone else needs to know, then Disp and Set).

With that figured out, I checked that I hadn't set the VelicityMax and VMid CVs on 2007's decoder. Nope.

It was time for another pull apart. I seems the driveshafts and worms aren't seating that well on the bogie gears. After comparing the two locos innards, 2007 was reassembled carefully and everything clicked into place.  Finally! Progress. The two ran beautifully. They had no problem pulling the 30+ wagon 4-wheeled coal train around the ballon loop, and then pushed it back. I then tried this pushing and pulling with the engines at the back end of the train (flipping the positions of the locos and van). All good, so it seems this curve behind the roundhouse should be OK. 

The Atlas SD-35 based locos were up next. I vaguely remember these being a bit reluctant, skitzy and slow, and 4559 and 4421 certainly didn't achieve many millimetres on our last outing. 

DBR 1213 was first. It unexpectedly ran really well!  DC 4421 was stubborn and erratic, but after some running in and wheel cleaning ...ah the smell of carbon brushes and oil takes me back to Hornby models of the late 1970s...  After five minutes, this was running nicely. Sweet.

Ideally DC 4559 should pair with DFT 7132 on the Tranz.  Again it was similarly hesitant, but with the same treatment was soon humming after a few minutes. 

So that means it should run nicely with 7132, but alas 7132 was only running about half as fast as 4559. After some prodding into the Digitrax, it seems I had set the VMax and VMid on this one to slow it down. I'm not sure why. For some reason I thought the SD 35s had the Altas slow motors, but that wasn't the reality here, so I moved those two CVs up on the DFT a few times until the two MU'd together nicely. 7132 is a Kato SD40-2 dating from about 2010, so runs well, but periodically has that annoying screech that some Katos have. I might try oiling the worm bearings. 

DA 230 was the last of the Atlas SD35s, and it ran quite well on its first go without needing much encouragement. 

Old DFs 6277 and 6064, both Kato SD40-2s with hardwired decoders, wouldn't do anything other than sit there humming, but I'm not sure whether they are worth digging further into further, but I might have a look tomorrow.

DJ 3067 is a tough one. It was decodered just before I stopped with NZ120 in about 2013, and I couldn't get much out of it at all. Periodic flickering of the lights but nothing more than a quarter of a second of action out of it.  This was the big disappointment of today's testing, because the loco top will have to be pulled apart to get into the chassis and decoder. Obviously there is a wire or contact that isn't doing its job.

DI 1843 has a frankenstein chassis. It runs quite smoothly, but is pretty slow. The way the body twists when the direction changes makes me wonder if there isn't something binding in there.

Blue DX 5448, on a Kato U30C with a hardwired decoder was a surprise, moving well on its first try. This used to sit on a Bachmann Spectrum Dash 8, so it has no rear headstock. Given its success in the Moving Department, this and some rear brake pipes, were added...

DC 4939 is sitting on the same Kato SD9 chassis that it had on Otaki to Cass, also with a hardwired decoder. These hard-wired jobs were DCC'd about 1997 for my wee Wellington layout. This ran perfectly too. Unexpected!

DXR 8007, made a screeching sound. It turns out this Atlas Dash-8 chassis, with its modified DXR fuel tank, has no decoder! As I use two digit addressing, there will be an obvious issue as '07' is now taken by DG 2007. Its a trivial task to add a decoder, but this really needs some bogie work as well. I might concentrate on the DJs instead.

So today I did. I had 3067 running 'moderately well' after a few minutes, so then started to decoder 3021. Seems like a long time since I pulled it apart. It is. 

After about 5 straight hours without a break I still didn't have it going. Initially the new (Digitrax Z decoder from 2002) couldn't be seen by the programming track. Pull apart, check. No luck. Try again. No luck. 

Decided that my chassis-to-decoder link, via the old mini headlight board, wasn't connecting. Drilled holes for screws and made up some brass tabs.

Still no luck. Touched the chassis to the programming track and could finally see the decoder. Aha the bogies are filthy, covered in black gunge inside. 

Pulled them apart, cleaned them thoroughly. Put them back together. Shorts. Pulled apart. Checked a few bits, put some Kapton tape around the motor leads.  Shorts. 

Pulled apart, put electrical tape around the whole motor. Shorts. So far the DJ has taken up 5 hours of my time with no success. Bloody hell. 

I put it aside (before I threw it across the room).

Instead, I decided to add a decoder to my 'third DJ chassis'. Borrowed one from DF 6064. Modified the chassis and applied the decoder in about 20 minutes. It works!

But it has a different style of motor runs about ten times faster than 3067. And I didn't succeed in slowing it down. I slowed down the DGs so they run about the same speed as 3067, but that DJ is pretty noisey and sometimes erratic. It probably needs a clean, but that would take a pull apart.

The DI runs about ten times slower than everything else. So much for the South Island fleet!