The PS4 Southern is my all time favorite loco, so probably overpaid a little, but I'm OK with that. So, for Christmas my company bought me a CLW PS-4 (Southern) that was described as running (with DCC) but needed tweaking to get it running better and to finish the paint job. I got it, but only in the last few days have had time to take it apart and try to see what was wrong. The guy I bought it from "thought" the DCC address was 3...it was not. I got lucky tried 1-4 and #4 was it. I didn't want to reset the decoder unless I had to. There are only 9999 combos right? So when I tested, it would run for a short period and short out. So I took the tender apart (he said the tender held the DCC board...it does not! So I took the boiler off and was not much to see. The decoder was stuffed inside the boiler and I couldn't see most of it. Has a good sized speaker also...but no idea what brand...probably Tsunami like the decoder. It does have a Pittman can motor in it.
Anyway long story short, I inspected all aspects of the loco...one of the tender brake shoes was touching a wheel causing a short. I slightly bent the brake shoe and it is now alive!
It runs pretty well on straight track...haven't tried on curved yet. All I have is 36" radius which I assume is too narrow. Anyone know the minimum curve for this engine?
Here are a few pictures and a short video of it running. I need to reinstall the front trucks also. I wanted to get it running before I finished the paint job. I still want to do more tweaking but was encouraged it is now moving on its own and making sound. Now to clean and lube it better and make sure it runs on curves without shorting then on to the paint shop!
