i was runing the locomotive when it just stoped and wont move a single bit and it was not a burn out because it smelled fine so what could it be?
Brand new, as in bought from Kato? or a dealer/hobby shop?
Make sure your track has power.
If your not familiar with trouble shooting a locomotive, and all that’s involved, and, it is brand new from a Kato, or a hobby shop, take it back, as most hobby shops have test track set up, let them try it.
If you are familiar with Kato locomotives, check where the wires connect to the pick-up strip, that is on the inside of the trucks.
The wire is held in place with little black push-on caps. One of those might have come off.
Mike.
I agree that if you bought it at a store, take it back and let them test it. Don’t even try to do it yourself.
If you bought it online, then you can check wires, connections, etc., before you lose several weeks of shipping and trying to communcate long distance.
Good luck. Let us know what happens.
Is this HO or N scale? I have had both and never had this happen, but there was some time back that Kato had some electrical pick up issues with some HO SD40-2 locomotives that had to be hard wired to get to operate well, but this has been a while and Kato fixed the problem of future runs. Could this be new old stock or is it a recent run?
Ralph
Make sure your layout isnt shorted.
If its not, then try to take off the shell and put power leads onto the motor, and see if it runs.
Charles
I have tested the track it works fine and the loco is ho scale i think i am just gonna have my local hobby shop fix it
Before you take the shell off just apply power directly to the drive wheels. That will eliminate one of the two possible issues: power to the track or power to the locomotive motor.
Then test a different locomotive just to eliminate a power pack problem.
I’d take the unit back to the store before taking off the shell.
Did it stop while running at speed?
DCC equipped or just DCC ready?
Powered by DC or DCC at the time?
No I meant make sure your layout isnt shorted when the engine is placed on the track. Aka, put another engine on the track along with the kato engine and see if it runs. If its not responding either, then your kato engine is creating a short.
i have tested it and it is the locomotive that is having issues and i dont think i should try to fix it i am just having my local hobby store do it
Good idea.
Don’t start messing around inside a brand new locomotive when you have the store nearby. If they can’t get it running, you’ll probably get a new locomotive. If you mess around with it, they may claim you did the damage.
If I bought something brand new and it broke the first day, it would go right back to whomever I bought it from. I wouldn’t even attempt to fix it. I wouldn’t do that with anything else I bought. Why should I be expected to do that with a model railroading item?
In another post, the OP said that he painted the loco first so I don’t know if it would be returnable.
Dislodged something when it was taken apart for painting and put back together?
Once you lift off the shell it is no longer brand new.
Sometimes, you just have to admit that this engine is yours, and you’re a Model Railroader. And a Model Railroader can fix it.
What are you going to do in two years when something breaks? I bought a GG-1, and it didn’t make it around the layout on Day 1. I realized the couplers were garbage, so I swapped them for Kadees. Probably voided the warranty. But I got good couplers.
Believe in yourself.
Believe in yourself.
Why should it be the job of a model railroader to fix defective merchandise? If you bought a toaster and it didn’t work, would you try to fix it or take it back to the store you bought it from? I’ve never understood why we in this hobby are willing to put up with poor quality merchandise. If it’s defective it should go back to the store where you bought it for replacement or refund. They can return it to where they got it from and get credit for it. Let the manufacture with the poor quality control eat the cost of fixing it.
Well, if he did take it apart and paint it, I think it is his…
Now a good dealer or manufacturer might help him out, but at that point is is not just a defective toaster.
If I buy a brand new car, and start messing around with adding or changing things, the more I do the more I limit the responsibility of the manufacturer.
But this is becoming a hobby of “model collectors” not model builders…
This is why modeles should get some test run time before they get painted, kit bashed or whatever.
If it is still out of the box "pristine&quo
Yeah, but what if you painted the toaster? [swg]
Rich
Yes, that is the issue. If it was undecortated, or the factory paint was stripped and the model repainted, it’s not really returnable. Likely problem is simply a loose wire from having the shell off to paint it, really. Simple fix. Costs less of my time to simply fix it than to drive back to the store, or pack it up and mail it back if purchased online.
Hopefully not something more serious like paint getting on the motor. But even that can be cleaned up, just have to be careful with what is used so as not to damage the shell in the process.
As Sheldon mentioned - test first. If it worked perfectly fine before taking it apart to paint, guarantee it’s a loose wire type of thing - of course with DCC a loose wire can mean a blown decoder if it touches the wrong spot. I guess I need to follow that advice with the Atlas RS3 I got a few months ago, DC version which I haven’t even had out of the box yet. Don’t have a way to run it, but I can power it from my bench power supply to verify it at least turns. Even if I will be putting a sound decoder in it before it every actually runs on the rails.
–Randy
I recall a run of KATO SD40-2’s (early) had electrical issues with the pickups and contacts. I wonder if this is from that run.