I’ve just broken one of the wires between the loco and the tender on my new Russian Decapod 2-10-0 in trying to unplug the main connector from the tender, the first time I’ve had this problem (eight other Spectrums in service). The break in the brown lead is right at the connector, no stub sticking out.
Obviously I can splice a wire direct from the loco to the decoder, by-passing the connector, however I’m interested in knowing if it’s practical to replace the entire connector - part and tool availability etc. I’d like to be able to readily disconnect the tender and loco. Comments welcomed, as always.
Contact Bachmann and send it to them. That has happened to a member of our HO scale club and Bachmann replaced the engine when it was sent to them for repair. They said they do not sell the plugs as a repair item, probably because the average modeler is not going to have the necessary tools to deal with something so small.
As near as I know, those plugs are not an item that can be purchased from any electronics supplier.
I hope sometime Bachmann and other manufacturers change that messy system. I have many steam locos “always togheter” (so, not in their respective boxes) to avoid unplug it. Bye
There seems to be a trend toward intentionally designing model trains such that they are not servicable by consumers. I would prefer to buy the appropriate parts and make my own repairs. With these modern designs, when something breaks the options are either return the engine for warranty repair or toss it in the trash and buy a new one.
If you have the time, dig through the gigantic micro connector selections at AMP and Molex. They designed most of the connectors currently in use in the electronics world. Samtec is another good manufacturer of micro connectors, but I don’t think they have anything that’s a direct replacement to what Bachmann uses: