MTH Santa Fe 20-2151LP with ZW

Evening sir! I have that identical engine and it runs flawless with both my postwar zw-r. All proto functions as well. The best advice , if you haven't already is before any power is applied, open up the power unit (I believe), and replace the battery with a red bcr. Proto 1 boards are technically conventional, but a white MTH battery or old battery will be the death of that board. Hope this helps.

Hello Donnie and thank you very much for the feedback.  My apologies for my ignorance but what is a Red BCR and where can I purchase from?  Best, Charles.

A BCR is a Battery Component replacement   Its actually a capacitor   They cost about 28 dollars   The Tenergy Premium or Centura rechargable Ni-MH is just as good for alot less

In that spirit it helps to be precise.  Nothing is going to burn up or fry if you don't change the battery.

The software may be scrambled, but if this occurs it's quite fixable.

There will be no real damage, just inconvenience.

Still it's a good idea to replace such an old battery (especially if from 1997) with a new one, or a BCR, before powering up.

Lastly, remember that Proto 1's can be finicky.  Power must be applied, and then removed, smoothly and precisely in order to go successfully from the power-on 'Reset' state to 'Forward'.

If you don't do this correctly it will just sit there spitting out sounds but not moving.

Those of us who have patience for this kind of thing love them.  Be aware that there are quite a few others who don't.

Mike

Really appreciate everyone's input.  Besides the MTH, I am also looking at the Lion Chief F3 used in the starter set.  It looks like I could use either the hand-held remote or Blu Tooth  via my phone and not have to worry about the ZW.  I suspect it can run on the traditional tube track.  Decisions-Decisions. LOL!