I recently purchased a MTH HO K4 at a train show. I did not test it before I took it home. When I got it home, it would not run. The sound comes on occasionally, but not all the time. Seems like when I switch directions from forward to backwards the sound will come on. The engine will not run what so ever. I push it by hand backwards and forwards still nothing happens. The headlight does not shine either. I got an RA from MTH to have it fixed. Before I send it in, does anyone know what the problem could be? I have tried to run this locomotive using both DC and DCC systems power. Thanks.
If it is an early run of that locomotive, when our hosts first reported on it with a test, they observed that their particular test unit took an unusually high voltage to get under way over other steam locomotive models they had tested.
It could be a bad connection from tender to loco if the headlight doesn’t come on. I have four of them that I have modified with jumpers from tender to engine. They all work fine.
-Stan
Sometimes MTH locos have trouble resetting themselves. When my engine sat and didn’t move when it was supposed to but instead went through a series of sound effects, I was advised to back the throttle off to seven volts and try again. Often that was enough to restore normal operation. As for power, MTH HO locos are designed to absorb as much as twenty-four volts (!). I use the G-Scale setting on my MRC Controlmaster 20 to get enough amperage to move the engine at a reasonable speed. At twelve volts of HO Scale power it just crawls along. MTH locos have their crochets but once you know them they’re fairly reliable.