Hello all. I’m new to O scale and have gone the route of setting up for 2 rail operation. I have a few locos (all MTH) that I have been test running on a small oval that I have laying down at the moment.
The problem I’m experiencing comes from the following. I’m running a Z1000 brick, hooked to the accessory MTH controller (sorry, I don’t have the p/n) that has the horn/bell/direction buttons next to the throttle adjuster.
I picked up a sick, 2 rail, MTH Dash 8 for a good price, knowing that it was not operational. For giggles, I set it on the rails and slowly initiated power, to witness what the loco was doing. As voltage increased the Z1000 brick hummed, I had no lights or function on the loco, and the breaker tripped.
Knowing that I did not plan on repairing the loco, intending to create a dummy unit, I removed the shell and completely removed all internals, motors, disconnected all wiring leads, plug-ins, switches, etc....removed the entire harness, and reassembled. I then set it down on the rails, coupled to a brand new MTH SD70 loco and, much to my surprise, I received the indentical result....humming power brick, circuit breaker trip.
I removed both from the track, put the SD back on the rails, and it performed as intended. I’m lost, as to what is the issue with having this Dash 8 on the rails with no power draw ? The unit DOES have scale wheels installed, and no cars lashed up in the scenario, so I’m stumped at what could be going on.
Any help or input is greatly appreciated.