260E Missing the Chugger

For goodness sake, don't loose the little lever piece that's on the steam chests. 

The chugger units frequently show up in parts bins at train shows or ebay....thats the easy part.

The little switch for the steam chest usually gets thrown out once the chest castings break....this is the hard part.

Should be a "U" shape switch in the cab...this switch turns the reverse unit off/on and activates the chugger.  The chugger is basically just an electric buzzer/noisemaker.  The little steam chest switch is driven from the drive rod and makes contact on each stroke, thus providing brief power to the chugger/buzzer unit and it makes noise.....so at speed you get a "buzz....buzz....buzz....buzz...." sound.

You need a really good imagination to hear a steam loco in the noise, but if you look at it from a toy perspective, it really is quite charming.  Luckily the cab switch will turn it off when you get tired of it.

As such, if you stop the loco with the chest switch in contact, and have power applied (loco in neutral or powered up, but not moving) it will just buzz non-stop (I hope this makes sense as to how it works).

So the chugger unit has power going to it constantly, but the circuit only completes (and makes noise) when the steam chest switch makes contact on a stroke.

Your lucky to have the switch unit it is the most difficult part to find.  The chugger can be found on eBay sometimes.

And for your information not every 260e came with a chugger. Ones that do and are in pretty good condition go from $300 to $500.

Train Tender has original chuggers in stock.

Thanks for the information guys. I have the switch on the steamchest (which is in great shape) and the switch in the cab. I'll look into getting the chugger from those people. Thanks everyone!

I have an extra chugger.

Mr. OGR AD MAN....

Why did you modify my post?



I simply added a link to the guys who helped me add a chugger to my 1835e loco.

http://www.jwtrains.com/

Why was this deleted when other OGR members post numerous links to other train sites to help them out with repairs and restoration?

I'm confused.  What did I say that deserved editing?

My apologies if I did something wrong.  Just tell me what it wuz and I wont doit anymore.