Atlas O FM Erie Built Locomotive not Running?

Have you taken the shell off and looked for loose or broken wires? I went to the Atlas site and see these shipped with Train America Studios Engineer On Board electronics which is long gone and near impossible to get a replacement board IMO. I'm not familiar with this set up maybe someone will chime in has experience with it.

Doug

Thanks, good idea and I did look under the hood and no obvious visual clues.  I did have another Atlas unit (C424) that had an untimely demise (long story but thoroughly destroyed) but I did save all the electronics.  On a long shot, one by one I swapped the circuit boards and on try #3 it came back to life. I am no electronics wiz but I think it was the reciever board from what I could gather online? I sure wish there was more readily available info on how all these components work but man I continue to be surpised how complex these engines are.  Had I not had the spare electronics I gather that this is how a pro would have approached the repair? I learned a few things and did not realize model railroading was about to sign me up for the electronics hobby?  I have a fleet of about 20 units and I hope this is a rare occurance as Lionels TMCC has to this point been fairly reliable. I also wonder over time will these electronics become more prone to failure??

Doug

In the past year or so I've seen several early 2000s Atlas diesels with the Train America Studios Engineer On Board electronics just die. On most the FETs on the motherboard fried. Once that happens the only real fix is an ERR upgrade. You're lucky you had spare boards, as the EOB electronics are pretty much made of unobtanium now.  Which board did you end up replacing?

The factory Lionel TMCC boards and ERR boards are very reliable. The Train America Studios Engineer On Board stuff seems to be succumbing to age related failures. I've still got 25 year old LCRU equipped stuff that runs fine.

Glad to hear your up and running again. Just so you know the top 3 boards are Lionel:

Railsounds power board,Railsounds board and the R2LC radio board and are available.

Like Lou states above the motherboard and tach sensor are TAS boards. If you still have the shell off try putting the original radio board back and see if it works,sometimes it's just the pins that get oxidized. Just saying before you throw a possible good board in the trash.

Doug

Thanks, all your information appreciated!

This was the board I replaced...

These are the other 2 spares I have, of all 3 I am not sure the role of each. Is the TAS cruise  control (that was mentioned) another one?

@DMBX posted:

This was the board I replaced...

That's the radio board. It's possible that the pins on the motherboard had a thin layer of corrosion. Removing the board may have cleaned them up.

@DMBX posted:

These are the other 2 spares I have, of all 3 I am not sure the role of each. Is the TAS cruise  control (that was mentioned) another one?

The top board is the Railsounds board(notice the chips) and the bottom is The power board for the Railsounds.

Doug