I bought one at an auction. (HO scale) It had the Indiana Harbor tender, It was still in the orginal box, but the box was basically unreadable. Anyways I took it home and put it on my layout and it didn't move or do anything. I did notice a little jerk when I touched the engine one time. All the power comes thru the tender I believe, I took the tender apart but didn't see anything wrong, so I put it back together but still no movement. I did notice that the tender hooked in the engine drawbar. The draw bar had a wire running or beside the draw bar to the connector hole is this correct ? I order another tender in hopes this might cure the problem. This engine does run on DC power correct ?. I use a TECH 700 for power on my layout. I do know that the track is ok because my other engines run ok. Any help would be appreciated
The tender picks up power from one rail, and the engine from the other. Have you cleaned the wheels? If it's been sitting for a couple decades, then the tarnish might be thick enough to prevent all electrical contact.
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Try connecting leads from a power pack directly to the two brushes on the motor. It could be the motor is dead.
But assuming the motor works and the wheels all turn without binding, you might have the same problem as I did one with I bought cheap and that is that somehow the frame was no longer feeding electricity to the motor anymore. A subtle bit of wire from frame to motor fixed the problem temporarily and I have never gotten back to the engine to do a more permanent fix.
Dave Nelson
I'd take your steamer to a LHS, they can tell you what the problem is.
There may be enough corrosion in the pickups and wheels to prevent proper current from reaching the motor. You said it did move when you touched it.
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.
I had a couple of those AHM IHB 0-8-0 switchers when I was a kid. One had the motor in the tender and drove the engine through a universal coupling. The other had a motor in the cab like most Rivarossi-AHM engines of the period.
I sort of remember the tender motor engine had all the power pickup through just the tender trucks. It actually ran much better than the cab version. I'm sure the other engine was "normal" with the power pickup split between the tender on one side and the engine on the opposite side.
One had the Franklin booster tender truck which was pretty neat.
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works