I bought this loco many years ago and just dug it out to run. I remember many tmcc locos needing a 9v battery to ensure tmcc continuity and I was concerned this loco may have sat too long and risked a battery leak. Well, the owners manual doesn't mention it and after opening the tender, there appears to be no accommodation for a battery. Is there one perhaps in the front part of the locomotive? It's not real apparent to me. When I tried running it, it ran but kept losing signal (probably need to clean the track). I figured if the battery was in place, it would run smoothly as I remember it doing. Is there a battery somewhere?
You’re heading down the wrong track in your troubleshooting approach. As Marty pointed out, the battery has nothing to do with how smooth the locomotive runs. It only maintains TMCC sounds during power interruptions or shutdown sequences.
The obvious steps you must take if this locomotive has been in storage for “many years” includes relubrication at the minimum. Dirty track? Yeah, that too, but if you are not in the habit of keeping everything clean and then running locomotives on the grime, you’ll also need to clean the wheels and pickups on this locomotive.
If these steps don’t solve the problem, you may have signal problems or more serious concerns. But start with the basics first and maybe brush up on your awareness of how TMCC works.
