DCS , MTH ENGINE WON'T RESPOND

Do you have a part number for the engine? Is this a PS2 or PS3?

The engine you are having an issue with is not an MTH engine. It is a K-Line USRA Mikado with TMCC (K3670-1838CC) and will not work with DCS unless you have a Lionel TMCC or Legacy command base hooked up with the TIU using MTH 50-1032 TIU/TMCC-Legacy Connector Cable. Once you have those pieces, you will be able to add the engine to your DCS remote.

Tim, good catch. K-Line is the only one to offer a Mikado with a freight style pilot.

@TRAINMANTIM posted:

The engine you are having an issue with is not an MTH engine. It is a K-Line USRA Mikado with TMCC (K3670-1838CC) and will not work with DCS unless you have a Lionel TMCC or Legacy command base hooked up with the TIU using MTH 50-1032 TIU/TMCC-Legacy Connector Cable. Once you have those pieces, you will be able to add the engine to your DCS remote.

It is MTH, proto 2: ITEM NUMBER 20-3051-1 "USRA 2-8-2 STEAM ENGINE

Bruce,

That product number comes back to this:

Perhaps you posted the wrong picture.

The picture you posted is definitely the K-Line

How about the battery in the engine? Could it be bad or need to sit and charge?

He did say that he installed a BCR.

Was the engine already in the remote when you tried to run it ?

Or are you trying to add it ?

If it was in the remote and moved to the active list. If the battery died while off the layout. The engine lost it’s ID. the remote would be looking for an engine that no longer has the same ID it’s trying to access. I’m guessing when you add a BCR to an engine with a dead battery. You have to re add it. You can try deleting it and hopefully it should re add.

@John H posted:

He did say that he installed a BCR.

Where did he write that? I see no mention of a BCR being installed.

Mark,  I believe he had 2 threads going on the same subject. I responded to another one and it disappeared.

Ok thanks.

If it's the K-Line, the lights coming on with power would be normal for a TMCC engine, so I think he's working with the K-Line and not an MTH engine.

We still don't know which is right; the picture or the model number.

Picture:

Model #

@John H posted:

We still don't know which is right; the picture or the model number.

Correct, my observation was just that the behavior noted was consistent with a TMCC locomotive.

Here are some things to determine that this Mikado is in fact a K-Line USRA Mikado and not a MTH one. But first I want start this off by saying that I have both K-Line NYC Mikado's (NYC 1838 and NYC 1849 (K3670-1849W) ) but anyway lets get started.

1) On a K-Line Mikado, the coal load is molded into the tender shell, whereas the MTH Mikado have real coal load.

2) The tether on the K-Line scale steam engines is thinner looking then the MTH tether. Also the plug on tether are different looking too.

3) The MTH Mikado should have the battery charging port underneath as well as the volume pot, at least that is what I believe. Now on K-Line's Mikado's, there is no charging port because the engine has TMCC and not DCS. The volume pot on the K-Line Mikado is underneath the water hatch on the tender. Next to volume pot is the Railsounds - Signalsounds switch which the MTH Mikado doesn't have.

4) In the pictures, the engine is sitting on the track with power on and the Lights on with no sound on. <- That is standard TMCC or early Legacy practice. When a MTH engine is sitting on the track with power on, it's light don't come on do it seeing the DCS signal. <- That is standard MTH operating practice.

5) The coil on a MTH Proto-Coupler looks different than what the coil on a Electro Coupler is.

6) Different pilots on the front of each engine as what Dave C said above.

7) The boilers between the MTH and K-Line Mikado's don't look the same. The MTH model, number 20-3051-1, looks more like a USRA Heavy Mikado where as the K-Line one looks like a Light Mikado.

8) Lastly the supposed MTH Mikado in question came out in 2001 where as the K-Line one came in 2003. 

With that all being said, I strongly believe that the Mikado Bruce has is a K-Line model and not MTH.