Once Again

Today I attempted once again to chip N&W 601.

First I disconnected the tender from the locomotive. Then I carefully installed a new in the package DZ126 decoder, paying close attention to which wire went where.

Then I took the extra wiring I had clipped from the decoder during the installation and used it to repair the loco to tender wiring harness, paying careful attention to what wire went where on each end. I carefully ohmed every wire out at both of the above steps, both to ensure continuity end to end in the loco wiring harness and to ensure that neither the loco wiring harness nor the tender decoder installation had any shorts from wire to wire.

Finally I reconnected the loco and tested it in DC. It worked perfectly, the correct LEDs lit up when the loco moved in both directions and the motor stopped and started smoothly in both directions.

However, when I attempted to program the locomotive the NCE PowerCab could not find the decoder.

I tried a new in the package DZ146 decoder. No joy. I reinstalled the old suspect DZ126 decoder. Nothing. I even connected all three of the decoders (one at a time) to alligator clips and clipped them first to the programming track rails and then directly to the output wiring of the NCE, and still the system did not see any of the decoders.

I then placed a good DCC loco on the tracks and attempted to reprogram it. I had no problems at all doing so.

I have several older locomotives using Bachmann Spectrum tenders, so I installed the decoder in one of those tenders. Still no luck. Finally I uninstalled the decoder and put the DC shorting clips back in, and once again the loco runs perfectly on DC. I reinstalled the decoder and verified that yes, it still does run fine in DC.

I then attempted to run it on my little snail speed DCC controller (which used to be sold through Z Scale Track but seems to have, unfortunately, been discontinued) and was able to program the loco to run in DCC mode with that controller. However, when the loco is programmed to run with this controller it will no longer work in DC. And since the NCE couldn't find the decoder I couldn't tell what the address was on it so I was not able to run it on the NCE.

I finally disconnected the loco from the tender and was able to get the NCE to recognize the decoder about half the attempts as I rolled the tender back and forth on the programming track. I was able to put it back in dual mode and program in the address, both long and short. I reconnected the tender and once again I was able to get it to run in DC, but not in DCC.

I have no idea what's up with this locomotive. I'm hoping that installing the stock Bachmann wiring harness will fix the issues and I'll be able to chip it and get it to work. But until that happens I have removed the decoder and reinstalled the shorting clips, the loco runs fine in DC, and it will stay that way for now.

And maybe I'll just leave it that way.