GN M-2 2-6-8-0 from 3RD RAIL

Some pictures and videos taken on Bob Bartizek's outstanding Pennsy layout.

Video on his horseshoe curve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

Had a few problems loading the engine into the original cab remote.

Took it over to Bob's house and he had no problems up loading the engine and all worked well at my house.

One thing I did do before going to Bob's house was to firmly attach the end of the antenna to the tender shell.

Originally, the end of the antenna wire was loosely connected to the tender shell.

I replaced the blackened bolt with a plain steel bolt plus I used a nut to secure the wire to the tender shell.  This may have been the 'problem'.

Bob said 'they' were having trouble with radio reception and it looks like 'they' have solved it: the tender is isolated from the wheels, the wheels are insulated on both sides and a 4-way brass makes contact with the inside of the insulated wheels (see pic below).

Smoke problem:

This is my first TMCC engine and, all my contacts don't use smoke, this unit doesn't smoke in TMCC mode.  I put the smoke switch in conv mode and she smokes (but no where near what my MTH engine do).  Aux 1 + 9 is suppose to be for engaging smoke but it's not working.  I'm using the ZW-C (with the 180w bricks added).  I'm thinking that maybe the 18 volts isn't enough 'juice', especially if lighted passenger cars are also on the track.  I put another brick on the B terminal, hoping it may draw more volts but nada.  On the MTH, I'm using the Z-4000, which puts out 22 volts and, maybe that's why the MTH engines 'puff' like the 12" to the foot engines do!  I'm a little reluctant to put 22 volts on the TMCC engine as the manual says don't go over 18 volts.

I'm assuming the following is the proper way to run the engine:

TR + 1 and throttle to get power to the track.

ENG + 81 and throttle to operate the engine.

I'm thinking the next step is to take the boiler off and look for some loose wires.

Engine dis-assembly to check smoke switch.

After removing the one screw holding the lead trucks, the two screws holding the cow catcher assembly was removed. This base is the ground for the lights since the paint on the bottom plate was filed off for grounding the negative side of the head light bulb.

The two engine assemblies (driver assemblies) remove similar to HO models with two long screws holding the front of the back engine assembly to the boiler with two more short screws at the back.

The two selection switches located at the back below the cab are attached to two long narrow plates, each has 2 screws that have to be removed so the large motor will come out of the boiler. 

The wires to the smoke switch appeared good as well as the wires going to the small circuit board where the tender tether connector is connected.

Looks like I'm going to have to be satisfied with no smoke in the TMCC mode.

The motor has a brass fly wheel on the back and a belt is used to transfer power from the motor to the driver train. 

Send it back to 3rd rail and they will fix  the smoke unit; beautiful engine!

I think I'll just 'suffer' without the smoke.  If she wasn't running, I would, but not just for smoke.  Being a GN nut, the bulk of my engines are MTH as they are the only ones that have made any scale GN steam/electrics.  The M-2 is my first TMCC engine.  I've got a NP Z-5 coming in a week, or so, and I'll see if she smokes well or if that's the nature of TMCC smoke units.  My MTH GN Z-6, R-2 and S-2 smoke like the full size engines. 

Thanks, though, as that does give me the idea of emailing Scott and checking if he has any suggestions. 

Yes send it back, pack it well and insure it.

I just emailed Scott: see what he says.

Scott had a few suggestions.

Re-loaded the engine back into the CAB-1.

There is a heat sensor on the smoke unit that may need adjusting.

The heater coil sometimes is too high in the smoke unit's stack and needs to be pushed down with a toothpick.

I reloaded the engine and the engine puts out a light smoke exhaust (more like a full size drifting down hill).  I think that's as good as it's going to get.  No big deal as the engine is a fine, smooth runner with lots of detail and excellent paint job.

I took off the boiler front plate (held on by friction) but unable to move the smoke unit out of the boiler (it appears to be glued in) for any sensor adjustment.

The heating coil was difficult to look at from the smoke stack so I left it as is (no use rooting around in there with foreign objects).

I was just expecting too much after having MTH's engine smoke.

Each brand has their strong and weak points.

Chuffing stopped/fixed:

I was enjoying some reading with the pleasant background of a GN M-2 chuffing along when all of a sudden there was silence   

I did all the usual stuff (even read through the manual!).

Logged onto OGR and advanced searched 'no chuff' under TMCC threads.

Tried all those suggestions, nada, but still knowledgeable and good info.

Reload, reset, move chuff switch, shake real hard (no, not that!), etc

Initially, I thought the chuff was electronically controlled.

I put her on her back and started rooting around:

Found a plate on the front set of drivers, removed it and voila, two cams (one for 2 chuffs and one for 4 chuffs).

Hooked up  the ZW and TMCC to the wheels and started her up.

Some contacts inside are moving against the cams, that's good: must be something else.

Remove two engines from boiler and the two green/blue wires going to the cam mechanism are no longer attached: MMM, looks like a possible problem !

The original wires were pretty short to I added about a 3" long extension to them.  Got some 22 gauge, multi strand wire, some heat shrink tubing and reconnected everything using electrical solder. 

Tried her again and "all's right in the world again'

The original wires have a stiff insulation on them and I think that caused them to break.  I used some very flexible wires (got them from my RC plane stuff).  I also had the engines removed from the boiler, previously, to check out the smoke system so that also may have weakened them.  Obviously, this break is most applicable to articulated engines since the front engine is always rotating on curves.

I did not worry about which way the wires were originally connected as I figured it's like a light bulb (either way works).

Also, it appears the cam system feeds the cruise control because the engine would slow down on the far side of the loop when not chuffing but works OK when the chuffing is operating.

Oh, and don't be an idiot, like me and use a red wire: best to use black,green,brown: something that is less visible.

One more item: there is a short piece of wire wrapped around the wires going to the cam and head light.  It is held in place, by friction, under the two valve mount brackets, so one bracket's screws need to be loosened to easily solder up all the wires.

SMOKE PROBLEM RESOLVED:

She's smoking pretty good now.

Again, after searching OGR, I find JT's mega smoke to work best on this engine.

After a few hours of running, the smoke improved.  Probably due to having to burn out the existing smoke fluid from other manufacturers before the fluid was all JT's.

Also, I find putting the switch to conv for smoke gives me the best output: still not as much as my MTH's units but at least I can see it, now, from a distance, and not have to be with 2 feet!

Now this is how I like 'em to smoke

This MTH GN S-2 4-8-4 is nicely detailed.  This is the only 3 rail engine that I have that has lanyard lines going to the bell and whistle. 

I noticed that the M-2 has an 'eye bolt' along one side of the sand dome so I'll have to get some fine brass wire and paint it black (probably can use some stranded 22 gauge wire and strip the cover off for the needed material). 

There's also a hole in the top front of the cab to run the lines through to the cab interior.

Lanyards added to bell and whistle.

An easy mod that was cheap and quick.

Stripped some 22 gauge wire and sprayed the strands black. Best to separate the strands before painting and leave hanging over a table top to dry individually.  Had to do 3-4 sprays by the time I finally covered all sides.

The holes in the bell and whistle arms had paint in them so they had to be re-drilled.

First I put the wires through the eye bolt on the side of sand dome and then ran it into the hole in the front of the cab, then the wire could be bent and placed into the hole on the bell arm.  Same with the whistle, only on the engineers side.

Bending the wire removed some of the paint but a black magic marker worked well on covering the brass wire.

Now that is a nice touch with the lanyards.  I'll need to go back and see what I can add to my models.  

Glad you were able to get it running again.

Nick