My "NIB" NYC Niagara doesn't light up, out of the box. It has the TAS motherboard, which I'm told has chronic reliability issues.
My "NIB" NYC ESE Hudson emitted smoke signals from its tender when first powered up. I don't know the origin of its motherboard. H-bridge semiconductors suspicioned to have failed or motor locked up. (FWIW, the similar-vintage Dreyfuss and Super both powered up uneventfully.)
I have yet to fully troubleshoot either. But the motherboards of both are suspect. So the question is whether I should spend much time trying to resolve what's wrong with them as-is or just gut out the old electronics and put in new ERR. I'm an EE with 50+ years of electronics troubleshooting experience and the appropriate instruments in my shop, so digging deeply is readily achievable, subject to eyesight and patience limitations. But I don't want to spend weeks wasting time on reverse-engineering and troubleshooting if the ultimate solution is most likely gutting out what's there and replacing it.
