one of the wires on the harness from the cab to the tender is either broken and causes a short.I think this is the wiring for dcc and i would like to try to repair it myself.thanks and a good morning to all.
The first post in this LINK outlines the disassembly procedure for the Athearn USRA Light Mikado (and it’s probably similar for their USRA Light Pacific, too).
Wayne
I followed that procedure, and it does work. Just be careful–it seems everytime I handle that locomotive I knock off or break a detail part.
Yeah, that “pigtail” has a place on the free end of it into which you can plug a decoder. I run DC, and removed the pigtail completely, as I felt that it interfered with the tracking of the tender.
If you don’t plan to add DCC, you can remove that pigtail completely, and rewire directly to the motor. If you read past the disassembly procedure, the rewiring is explained, and it also tells how to add additional pick-ups on the tender, for more reliable operation.
Wayne
Weren’t those Genesis 2-8-2 Mikado’s known for cracked/split gears a while back?
Which is better? A BLI 2-8-2 or a Genesis 2-8-2?
The BLI Mikados seem to run fine, our club president Harry Buehurle has a few and so far no problems.
I have six of the Athearn ones,with four in-service and two waiting for me to upgrade them as outlined in the link which I posted earlier. They also need to be detailed to match two specific CNR prototypes.
Here’s a BLI Mikado that I modified for a friend…
I wasn’t especially impressed by it, although in all fairness, it was DCC-equipped, so didn’t run very well on my DC layout.
The Athearn Mikes are poorly balanced (back-heavy), so are poor pullers. However, mine, modified with additional weight and balanced, are decent pullers (two of them will handle 12 loaded hoppers and a caboose up my 2.5% grades, (a trailing weight, not counting the tenders with “live” coal loads, of 100oz.). None of them have had gear problems.
They’re very smooth runners, and doublehead well
Wayne,
That modified mikado looks excellent! Wish I could do something like that.
Thanks ATSFGuy! [:D]
If you’re referring to the Broadway Mike, it was fairly simple work. The vestibule-type cab is a one-piece resin casting, but I can’t recall the manufacturer… a google search came up with Miniatures by Eric, but the one I used was from Canadian…something?
The detail parts are from Cal-Scale (Bowser).
A couple of construction photos…
The locomotive doesn’t represent a specific prototype, but rather one with a generic CNR-appearance, as per the owner’s wishes.
Wayne