Installing a Bowser sound/power chassis in an FT B

[BIG JERR]

got mine @ mb kline ,but havent tried it yet but now Im currious ?  Jerry

[WPAllen]

I got mine from MB Klien. No problems at all with mine.

[rrinker]

 I got mine from YankeeDabbler's table at the Timonium show, but MB Klein has them as well - Modeltrainstuff.com. Klein's is about the lowest price - watch the items ebcause Bowser made 2 different ones, some have Tsunami and some have Loksound. Then there's 2 variations of each, one with silver sideframes and one with black. And then dummy versions, witht he sound decoder and speaker but no motor.

                   --Randy

[espeecab4ward]

Question --Where did you find the "FTB" chassis with power and sound

[rrinker]

 DOn't think this is a general problem, I picked one up at the Timonium show in February and it ran great right out of the box. I was there with the club modular layout so I was able to test it right away but not with the shell on, I didn;t have my FT's with me. When I got home I took the B shell off the dummy chassis and put it on the new sound one, no problems at all. I have a TCS T-1 in the A so it has BEMF as well, and they both started and ran reasonably well together with no adjustment so I just screwed on the drawbar and called it a day.

 I do think someone made a mistake, the box was labeled 'dummy' and I paid less then the MSRP of a Tsunami for it - but it's a powered B unit chassis.

                          --Randy

 

[wjstix]

I'd check with Bowser, if this problem is built-in I'm sure many folks have complained...although this is the first I've heard of it.

A cheaper alternative would be to put a board-replacement sound decoder in a regular power chassis. On a B unit, the space where the cab would normally go leaves a nice area for a 1" speaker and enclosure.

[mobilman44]

Hi!

I've been posting lately in this section of the Forum, and have one more situation to chat about.

My latest decoder project was enabling a Stewart FT ATSF ABBA consist.  The locos were powered As, and dummy Bs.  The first thing I did was install NCE D13SRP decoders in the A units, which even for me was fairly easy.  They run beautifully on the layout, and so now its time to fix up the B units.

A couple months ago I picked up two of the Bowser FT-B powered Chassis w/sound (#691-1214) for the two B units.  These are with the Tsunami sound systems, and I was pretty excited about them.

I pulled the B unit shells, and carefully got them on the new chassis.  Before I attached the details, I thought I would try them out.  Well, when I applied power the sounds kicked in nicely - but one loco barely moved, and the other was pretty much just sitting there. 

It took me a bit to realize that the speaker enclosures were pressed down on the flywheels making them barely movable.  Well, I lifted the speakers up a bit, freeing the flywheels, and the locos ran beautifully (w/o the shells).  However, when I put the shells on, that end of the chassis just did not want to go on completely.

To make a long story short, I had to do some trimming on the enclosures, and careful movement of the power wires (from the truck on that end).  One set was shorter than they should be, but I think I can work around it.  I'm stll messing with it, but expect to get it running OK fairly soon.

I have to say, I'm somewhat disappointed in the lack of an initial fit.  Lately it seems like it gets harder and harder to buy a "quality" item and get something you don't have to mess with to get it working properly.

For what its worth..................