MTH Mallet Steamer

@trainnerd posted:

The board in my Mallet Tender 2.0 is Bad. Can I use and hook up a Tender that has 3.0 in it...and will it work ? If not,where can I find a replacement board for my Tender ?

DO NOT plug in a tender from a PS3 locomotive to your PS2 model. The two systems are completely different electrically.

Do you have an item number for this model? If the PS2 board has failed the correct replacement is a PS32 board.

@Lou1985 posted:

DO NOT plug in a tender from a PS3 locomotive to your PS2 model. The two systems are completely different electrically.

Do you have an item number for this model? If the PS2 board has failed the correct replacement is a PS32 board.

it's a MTH 2-8-8-2 USFA Mallet ...Northern Pacific #30-1157-1 with...Proto-Sounds 1 (QSI..Proto 1). Does anyone know where I can find a board...New or Used...or even a Tender that I can connect to it ?

PS-1 is totally non-compatible with either PS-2 or PS-3! You need a PS-1 steam setup, or to do an up grade and completely replace all the electronics with a DCS upgrade kit or Lionel's TMCC. Try contacting Gunrunner John on this Forum for PS-1 boards. He may have what you need.

Chris

LVHR

@lehighline posted:

PS-1 is totally non-compatible with either PS-2 or PS-3! You need a PS-1 steam setup, or to do an up grade and completely replace all the electronics with a DCS upgrade kit or Lionel's TMCC. Try contacting Gunrunner John on this Forum for PS-1 boards. He may have what you need.

Chris

LVHR

I do not want to put P.S 2 or P.s. 3 into it. It is not worth spending that kind of money on this old of an engine. I just want to get it back to running.

This can be something as simple as broken solder joint, bad tether, or a fixable problem on the tender board.  I can repair this.  So get it to a tech who knows PS-1 or you can send to me.  My email in my profile.  G

@GGG posted:

This can be something as simple as broken solder joint, bad tether, or a fixable problem on the tender board.  I can repair this.  So get it to a tech who knows PS-1 or you can send to me.  My email in my profile.  G

I sent it out to a Train Dealer March of 2021...over a year ago...and he finally told me when I called him...after not hearing from him for over a year.... that it needed a new board or upgraded to 2.0 or 3.0 system in it. When i talked to him over the phone before I sent it out to him...and told him what was happening..(put pressure on the tether plug in the engine..and it would move and all of the sounds were working) he said it was an easy fix.He also told me that turn around time ..repaired would be about 3 weeks. One year later...he gives me this bad news. He said he is waiting for new boards to come in. I don't want to mention the dealers name...but his store is very well known. All I want is for the engine to be fixed at a reasonable price. I am looking for the least expensive way to get it up and running. When fixed,this steamer couldn't be worth more than $250.00 if that. It is on it's way back to me now and should have it within the next 3 to 5 days. When it ran it was a very good running engine until it fell off of a elevated trestle and was hanging by the tether.

I got the Steamer back today and I learned a lot. I put it on the track and powered it up. Light and sounds work,but it won't move. I put pressure on the tether going to the engine and it moved forward and backward,but it will only move about 25% of the time...the rest of the time it won't move. I was told by the dealer that the board in the tender is fried. Well I did some investigating for myself. I have a similar engine and tender,but a different road name that is like knew. So what I done was connect the so called bad tender with the other new engine. Surprise,it worked flawlessly. I than took the bad engine and connected the good tender to it. It acted like the original engine and tender...so it looks like the problem is in the engine...somewhere near the tether connector. I don't know if there is a big board or small board in the engine. I will not attempt to open up the engine myself. Any help with repairing this engine is much appreciated. I am open to any suggestions.

@trainnerd posted:

I got the Steamer back today and I learned a lot. I put it on the track and powered it up. Light and sounds work,but it won't move. I put pressure on the tether going to the engine and it moved forward and backward,but it will only move about 25% of the time...the rest of the time it won't move. I was told by the dealer that the board in the tender is fried. Well I did some investigating for myself. I have a similar engine and tender,but a different road name that is like knew. So what I done was connect the so called bad tender with the other new engine. Surprise,it worked flawlessly. I than took the bad engine and connected the good tender to it. It acted like the original engine and tender...so it looks like the problem is in the engine...somewhere near the tether connector. I don't know if there is a big board or small board in the engine. I will not attempt to open up the engine myself. Any help with repairing this engine is much appreciated. I am open to any suggestions.

As GGG mentioned, this sounds like a classic cold solder joint on the engine’s female tether port. Sometimes with a magnifying glass, you can actually see the the solder around the ailing pin look like a miniature volcano,…….I’ve even got lucky a couple of times with the shell off, and observe the tale tell faint spark in low light as the pin tries to make contact when I’d wiggle the tether…..best bet if you’re handy with a soldering iron is to touch up all the pins,….cause where there’s one, there’s likely more…..at least that’s how my luck rolls,….😉

Pat

trainnerd - You’ve got to make a decision as to what you want to do.  FWIW all I will say is I’ve used GGG before, he knows his stuff, will diagnose the problem in a timely manner, and provide an estimated cost to get the train running as it should.  Then it’s YOUR decision as to how you want to proceed.  Good Luck!

And I’d second using George  ( GGG ) he’s very good …and does precise work….definitely can’t go wrong with him,…

Pat

how do I get in touch with him ? I can't solder. I would really make a mess and make it worse.

@trainnerd posted:

how do I get in touch with him ? I can't solder. I would really make a mess and make it worse.

He’s replied on this thread, ….click on his profile, and send him an email,…

Pat

Click on what I’ve circled in the above reply he’s already made to you,…I’ve circled it for you,…

Pat

I responded to your email.  More than happy to fix this.  Hard for me to understand how some dealers keep stuff for a year and have the diagnose wrong anyway. G

@GGG posted:

I responded to your email.  More than happy to fix this.  Hard for me to understand how some dealers keep stuff for a year and have the diagnose wrong anyway. G

i will tell you in a email who that dealer is. Dealers like that don't want to find out what might be wrong. They just want to take out the old and replace with new. Thank you for responding.

I contacted GGG as someone had told me..and it was a great experience. I shipped out for repairs the RailKing Mallet plus a MTH..Worlds Fair Powered Subway train that had major issues...on Good Friday. He got them on Easter Sunday and on the following Tuesday morning I got an email telling me that they were both repaired & ready to be shipped back to me. He told me what he had repaired on them...and even went a step further & repaired what he thought needed to be repaired too. He is the kind of MTH Tech we need more of...great service..very knowledgeable & quick. He is also a real class act. I thank him and everyone for the help I got on getting my trains repaired. This is what this train forum is all about....like a family.

    Thank You Again

    Pat

trainnerd - Glad everything worked out for you.  BTW I could relate to your frustration with the person to whom you initially took your train, because I also wasted almost a year waiting for a train shop repair man to fix a train of mine - only to ultimately be told "it was irrepairable."  Bunk, because soon after I took it to a pro (similar to GGG) and it was repaired shortly thereafter - just like another time when GGG worked on a different train of mine and repaired it in a very timely manner.

Enjoy running your trains!

I was told that all of the electronics had to be replaced with a complete new board set...2.0 or 3.0 which are not available. Repair dealers like that are by name only. I learned a lesson and just wanted the train people who are the good ones.