I have a roundhouse 2-8-0 i bought but r desnt want to run. Has anyone had experience with this little consolidation? I'd love to get it running. Does anyone know where a guy. Could Send it for repair if i can't get it runnbg?
Most hobby shops have someone who does repairs or failing that, can refer you to someone. Finding a hobby shop that is still open may be the biggest problem.
We had a good one in Mesa,AZ, but they closed ayear ago. What's left won't be much help, have visited a couple, most are into large scale stuff. Guess I'll have to tear into it and see if i can do anything. Wasn't a cheap l o co either. I wanted it because it is a small one, good logger. Thanks sir.
Oh, I'm sorry to read that. I always stopped there when visiting my in-laws. I think An Affair With Trains survives, albeit in a smaller location on North 7th Street in Phoenix. Not sure if they could help.
Remember the motor is in the tender. http://www.spookshow.net/loco/mdc280.html Start there, figure out how to get the shell off and hotwire to the motor brush holders with a pair of probes. See if the motor works. If it does, report back.
I have a number of these and the 2-6-0s, both the original MDCs and the Athearns, which are pretty much copies of the old MDCs. For years, they were among the few N scale steam locomotives that operated decently out-of-the-box. This does not indicate that some of the other N scale steam locomotives that appeared at the same time or shortly afterward were poor, it is just that they required some tinkering, which the MDc/Athearns did not. There were others that were try-before-you-buy to make sure that you did not get a lemon, but with these, you could simply put it onto the test track to make sure that it would run. You should not have paid a large sum of money for yours. There are many of these things out there at shows, in hobby stores and on various auction sites for reasonable prices. To be sure, there are some who will put high prices on theirs, but if you look, you will be able to find them for a good price. If you plan to acquire any more of these, look around a bit before you buy one. I do not k now if you bought yours used or new. I have not had problems with these things new out of the box, but I have bought a few used that had problems. One had a broken pin that holds the drawbar to the locomotive. I fashioned another one. One had misaligned contact wipers on the split contact pole under the locomotive cab. I simply took out the pin (and, in the process learned why the other one had a broken pin--they break easily), aligned the wipers properly, fashioned a new pin and put it back together. The question that bremner asked is a key question. The locomotive and tender are both live. There are two pair of traction tyres on the locomotive, so the contact there is limited, but the other driver pairs are fully live (plus whatever contact you can manage from the tyred pairs). If the headlight lights but the locomotive will not move, this indicates that there may be a problem in the drawbar and possibly in the tender. You will need some basic tools to correct this as well as a magnifying lamp or Optivisor®. The first, and most obvious, is to make sure that the drive shaft from tender to locomotive is present and properly seated. The next place to look is where the drawbar goes into the locomotive underneath the cab. You should be able to see the ends of two copper colored wiper strips, there, one on either side. If you do not see one on either side, that might be the culprit. What you must do is take off the drawbar from the locomotive at that point. Again, take care, here, as the pin that holds the drawbar to the locomotive is extremely delicate--it breaks easily. The safest way to remove it is to remove the boiler and cab assembly. This requires undoing the two screws under the cab on either side of it and a screw that the pilot truck covers. Some have managed to undo that long screw without removing the pilot truck, but I have never been willing to push it that far to the side for fear of causing collateral damage. To remove the pilot truck, loosen, do not take o ut, the forward screw that holds the retainer plate over the drivers. That retainer plate also covers a pin on which the pilot truck pivots. Lift up the plate slightly, pop up the pilot truck, pull it forward and out. Screw the forward screw back lest you lose it or the loose retainer plate causes the drivers to pop out and go out of quarter. At that point, loosen the back screw that holds together the frame halves just enough to part the halves sufficiently that the pin will slide out. Take a sanding strip, clean the contact strips as much as you can (I use these little sanding things that look like thick toothpicks or some that look like square pipe cleaners) and clean the surfaces of the split contact pole under the locomotive. Remember, the three principal enemies of N scale power (and, of almost all things N scale) are dirt, Dirt and DIRT. Re-align the contact strips as you put the drawbar back in its place. At that point, I would hold the whole business together, put it onto the track and see if that solved the problem. If not, you have done all that you can do there. Put the pin somewhere you will not lose it and proceed to the next step. Pop out the coal load. You will see four screws that anchor the tender shell to the chassis, Take them out and remove the tender shell. At this point, I will emphasise the need for GREAT CARE. Unless you are highly skilled with a soldering iron (and even then, you really do not want to spend the time making corrections for your ham-handedness), you must take GREAT CARE. There are several solder connexions on the older issue MDC 2-8-0s, ONLY, that are not present on later issues of this, are not present on the Athearn issues and are not present on either 2-6-0. These solder connexions are VERY DELICATE. They come undone EASILY. BE CAREFUL. Once you have removed the tender shell, make sure that the contact strips where the drawbar meets the tender are aligned properly. I have yet to see a misalignment there, but if there is one, unless you are highly skilled at this, I would recommend sending it to someone who knows what he is doing. It is extremely difficult to get that pin out of the tender. If you have the earlier issue of this one, you will note that there are wires soldered to the contact strips on the tender floor and the poles of the motor. Make sure that all of those solder joints are sound. (I use the term "sound" loosely, those joints are delicate). If not, you can re-solder them if you can do that. Finally, I would do what I could to make sure that the tender trucks are making proper contact. Unless you are highly skilled with a soldering iron, I would discommend unscrewing the tender trucks. There is a wire soldered to those things, too, and, of course, the joint is delicate. You might make sure that the screws are properly tightened. Do not tighten them excessively, as that will inhibit the trucks' pivotting, which will cause derailments. I have had a similar problem show in two of the MDC 2-6-0s. MDC changed construction methods on the 2-6-0 and some of the latest 2-8-0s also had the change. MDC fixed the contact in the trucks so that it was pressure contact and eliminated the soldered wires. It did the same between the contact strips on the tender floor and the poles on the motor. Sometimes, the contacts became dirty or poor, so you had to do a little bending (and took GREAT CARE while you did it) as well as some cleaning. Further, in the tender, you had to make sure that the pressure contacts did not touch the opposite pole and cause a short. If you have a very late MDC 2-8-0, you might have this problem. The way to tell a very late MDC 2-8-0 is that there are no soldered wires on either the tender truck or the motor. The MDC 2-8-0s like this are very few, but I did find one like that and was surprised. Someone who would know told me that MDC did issue a last few like that. I am assuming that you have the common version of this one, so I can not over emphasise that you must take GREAT CARE when working with this thing. Another thing of which you must be VERY CAREFUL is that the whistle detail on the steam dome BREAKS OFF EASILY. Ask me how I know this. Once you fix it, you will be rewarded with an excellent locomotive, The pulling power is good for its size and it creeps better than many locomotives, steam or diesel. Be sure that you spend the time to run it in in BOTH directions. It will run nicely at five or ten SMPH, which is a good speed for logging power. You might have to put a pilot on the tender and a back-up light somewhere, as many logging locomotives were not turned. Most logging operations could barely afford the locomotive, so they did not expend too much on trackage for turning. This is one reason why tank locomotives were popular with the logging operations. You also saw many that looked like a 2-8-0 or 2-6-0 with a trailing wheelset or truck that looks like an afterthought. What the trailing trucks did on the logging power was guide the locomotive when it was running in reverse, which cut down on driver tyre wear. Once the driver tyres were worn, that meant shop time, which cost the logging operation twice. Once for what it paid to do the maintenance and once for the revenue lost because it could not haul logs. For these reasons, logging operations tried to avoid down time.
First, i bought it new, has necer ran. The motor turns, but the drivers do not. I did not realise the motr is n the tender. Ill have to check the drive shaft and see why it's not turning. I didn't think of checking the tender or drive shaft. Thanks guys. Will ceck it out and get back to you. I love this site and the help you guy
I feel like an idiot. The drive shaft was out of the socket i n the locomotive. Connected it and the drivers turn now. One problem, the drivers come up off the track wheni apply power. Am thinking about adding a loco behind it so it doesnt stall in my tunel . Maybesome running will loosen it up? It's a smaller consolidationso would be nice on my ligging rr
Ok, i think the drawbar is to stiff and is raising the drivers up off the rail. It acts like theres no slack or play between the loco and the tender. Not sure what to do to remedy this yet.
OK, we'll get you there. Photos will help tons on this forum. But if it makes you feel any better, the MDC 2-8-0 is a pretty dead ringer for the Southwest Lumber Mills 2-8-0 on display at Flagstaff, Az. That old 2-8-0 lasted until 1967 and outlasted everything else including a diesel. And it pulled log trains. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Southwest_Lumber_Mills_locomotive,_1959.jpg
acptulsa: Possibly not. I own 4 of the 2-8-0's, and no screws are used on the drawbar. They may have changed that on later runs, as the "matching" 2-6-0 version I have has a tiny screw to attach the tender end.
Mine has a screw, don't recall putting it there myself when I installed the decoder, so should be factory Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Loosening that screw a bit will allow the locomotive and tender to tilt in relation to each other, so one does not cause the other to lift wheels on uneven track, or going into superelevated curves. The bad news is, on some models that screw conducts electricity, and loosening the screw could make that connection intermittent. That connection could be made with a wire instead. The other possible issue is, if the screw is loosened to could get looser with running, and eventually fall out. That can be cured with a short sleeve of thin tubing. Slide it over the screw and inside the drawbar, and it'll allow you to tighten the screw enough that it doesn't move, but will still leave enough room between the screw head and the body of the car to avoid pinching the drawbar.
Are the drivers on both sides of the locomotive raising simultaneously or does one side stay on the track while the other side raises? As the wheels turn, does the raised side go back onto the track while the other side raises? If the former, the problem likely is in the drawbar, but it could be in the gearing or the rods. Make sure that all of the rods are in place and going back and forth properly. As Original Poster did state that the drive shaft had popped out, I would not be surprised to learn that a rod may have popped out of place. If the rods are in place, remove the retainer plate over the drivers and make sure that everything is meshing properly and seated properly. I suspect that the latter is what is showing. The likely culprit on this one is that the drivers are out of quarter. Make sure that all drivers are in quarter. If they are in quarter, the problem is in the gearing and how everything is seated.
Do all the drivers on one side lift off the rail, or just one or two? If it's all of them, see my post. If one or two, see brokemoto's.
