I have a C&O 4-8-2 locomotive with Vanderbuilt tender which I purchased from a train show. The label on the box says the following: ITEM NO. 82503 "HO" USRA HEAVY MOUNTAIN 4-8-2 STEAM LOCOMOTIVE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO J2 (Flying Pumps w/Vandy Tender). There is no indication on the box that it is DCC or DCC ready. Should I presume it is DC?
I tried to program it on my NCE program track but all it said in the program window was DIR MODE, and nothing happened.
There are two wiring harnesses leading from the tender to the locomotive, a 2-wire and a 4-wire. I took the tender shell off and there is a board in the tender, but not 8 prongs for a decoder.
Does that mean it is strictly DC locomotive system?
In Walthers catalog, Spectrum has the same tender featured on page 64, under "Vanderbilt Tenders", which includes both their shorter four-wheel tenders and their longer six-wheel tenders (160-89841). The discription also says "These four-wheel tenders are DCC ready", but it does not say wheather or not the six-wheel tenders are DCC ready.
Does anyone know for sure if the six-wheel tenders are DCC ready?
Thanks much.
The easiest thing would be to remove the hold down screws from the tender. You'll then be able to remove the shroud and see if there is an 8-pin NMRA socket attached to the base. If you see one then you know that it's DCC-ready.
Tom
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Tom,
Thanks for the message. Yes, indeed, I took the cover off the tender as I explained and there were no prongs or 8-pins on the base. That tells me it is not DCC ready.
So now the question is..........Is the tender featured in Walthers catalog DCC ready?
Steve
If the tender is DCC ready, there may be a DC adapter plugged into the connector on the PC board. You would probably not recognize the 8 pin NMRA socket. A photo of the tender PC board would help. Some people have run into this before.
Below is a photo of the USRA Medium Spectrum tender that is DCC ready. You can see the NMRA connector without a DC adapter.
ALSO, realize not all Spectrum tenders are wired the same. Sheldon might be around and comment as he is on the Bachmann forums and has extensive knowledge about the Spectrum tender issues.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Timber,
The Spectrum 82503 is "DCC Ready" - that does NOT mean it has a decoder, only that a decoder can be easily installed into it. The Tender has an NMRA 8 pin female receptical that will accept a DCC decoder with an NMRA 8 pin plug.
Out of the box it is a DC locomotive. None of the Spectrum tenders sold seperately come with decoders installed, but all are "DCC ready" as explained above.
One of the DCC guys on here should be able to suggest agood decoder to simply plug in.
Sheldon
timber2Yes, indeed, I took the cover off the tender as I explained and there were no prongs or 8-pins on the base.
Oops! Sorry, Steve. I scanned instead of completely reading your opening post so I ended up missing that.
All of the Spectrum 4-8-2's are DCC Ready.
I have one and I installed an NCE decoder, D13SRP.
The D14SRP would work as well.
Alton Junction
I have a couple of these, the Heavy Mountain #82503's in storage.
I had thought they were DCC ready so I checked and both have the DCC socket with the plug installed. When you take out the two screws which fasted the tender body you will find the circuit board fastened underneath the coal load. What you see plugged into the circuit board is the 8 prong plug for the DCC decoder.
The other heavy mountain #82505 I have has the long haul tender and it too is DCC ready. The circuit board is mounted to the tender floor and the 8 prong plug for the DCC is in place there.
Take a look at the diagrams of the Heavy Mountains located on this web page and you will see the 8 dots on the circuit board which is the location of the DCC socket.
timber2 In Walthers catalog, Spectrum has the same tender featured on page 64, under "Vanderbilt Tenders", which includes both their shorter four-wheel tenders and their longer six-wheel tenders (160-89841). The discription also says "These four-wheel tenders are DCC ready", but it does not say wheather or not the six-wheel tenders are DCC ready. Does anyone know for sure if the six-wheel tenders are DCC ready?
So, timber2, what's the bottom line? Did we answer your question, solve your problem?
"DCC Ready" isn't something that the NMRA sets standards for. So, it means what the manufacturer wants it to mean. To some, that means a socket to accept a decoder - plug and play. To others, it means the motor is already isolated. Since a tender doesn't have a motor, I suppose you could claim that any tender is automatically DCC Ready.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
One thing I will mention... If you try to use one of the tenders that are available seperately, they may not work out of the box with the loco. When I applied my 6-axle Vandy tender to my USRA Light 4-8-2, it didn't work. Why? Because somehow, the headlight leads and motor lead are wired to different sockets in the boiler vs. the tender. It's a pain in the rear to figure it out initially, but once you move the wires around, it works like a charm.
Paul A. Cutler III
All Spectrum Locomotives are DCC ready as well as their tenders. When a Bachmann locomotive has a decoder installed from the nice little folks over in China the box will say "DCC on board" All their tenders are interchangeable as the pugs are all wired identical. Paul more then likely you got one wired incorrectly from the factory I've seen it happen more then once even on brands other then Bachmann. I have switched out all of the tenders on my 6 Spectrum mountains with long haul tenders and took the board and wiring out of one short tender and placed it in a brass tender so I know that they are all the same. If you think about it it only makes sense to have them all wired the same. Just the other night one of the guys at the club had a problem with his heavy mountain stopping dead in it's tracks.He was blaming everything but his engine for the problem. I said we'll put an end to this right now and swapped tenders with my Southern 4-8-2 equipped with a Tsunami TS1000 decoder. As soon as the locomotive was placed on the track he throttled up and still nothing. THERE YOU SEE I WAS RIGHT! he yelled. II tapped him on the shoulder and said punch in my road number genius, it worked like a champ
All Bachmann tenders are Not been interchangeable. I and others have had issues with the DCC ready tenders having different wiring from the factory. Hopefully that is changing. I have seen this issue here, the Bachmann forums and a couple other forums.
The Medium USRA tender has issues, one being no resistor for a LED headlight. The tenders for 12 volt light bulb headlights.
Some Bachmann Spectrum's have 12 volt light bulbs and some LED's. Most of the Spectrum tenders are being discontinued according to the Bachmann site.