Apparently the MTH 44-Ton has a much smaller cap and uses the smaller board that you'd find in S-scale stuff. At least one member here has had larger caps added that helped, I have on my list to take mine apart and see how that would work.
let me know how that works and how you got the darn shell off i did find out that it runs great over mth switches
Trust me, it's easier to get off than get back on. The railings are delicate, and the innards are squeezed.
Loco also runs well over Gargraves switches. Mine currently has 4 supercaps, all identical to the original supercaps. I will not say how they got there, nor will I say that this is a cure. That way, I can't be blamed if anything gets screwed up. I'll just say the resulting characteristics are similar to O-gauge PS3 board.
i cant even get the darn shell off
I seem to recall that there was one more screw.
i dont see any screws at all i am not going to worry about it
Look harder. There are at least 4, partially hidden by the trucks or couplers as I recall
So I have a Virginian model. Mine does the same thing, sounds cut off shortly after power is turned off (I only run it in conventional). From what I heard the boards in the 44 tonner are the same as the HO boards so maybe that has something to do with it.
I also have had issues with it not wanting to run after start up. I pull the power up and wait a few seconds, hit the direction button and it starts the start up sounds. I've had that problem with an engine with battery in it but never a capacitor. Any thoughts on that?
My other issue was the one motor was actually slipping. My dad and I took it apart (which is a trip in it's self lol) and changed the grease on the worm wheels and it seems to work better. I had the same problem on my proto 2 era DD1s.
I love the 44 tonner but was a little annoyed at first run.
44-tonner boards are not the HO boards.
@RJR posted:44-tonner boards are not the HO boards.
Very fine. I thought I had read that in George Brown's review in the magazine but I must have read it wrong. Thanks for the correction.
they got there boards from the trash can just my opinion
All the problems and fixes for these 44 tonners is in another thread somewhere
Notwithstanding the comments above, the 44-ton board was new. It was not, as a wag suggested above, procured from a third party. Many new products, in any field, have deficiencies that show up in real world use. The only fault I have heard of in the 44-ton boards is that the supercapacitors should have been sized slightly larger. Sizing them larger, does add to the load on the charging circuit, so somewhere along the line a decision was made to size them as they were.
