My Railking Royal Hudson won't budge

Transformer type in use?
Sounds like a PS1... you did not specify.
Verify the tether is in square and fully inserted.
Also make sure you just crack the power on (5 to 8 volts) and wait for it to come out of initial reset before adding more power.

It's a PS2, and I used a brand new Lionel CW80 transformer (the only one I have with a horn and a bell control). The tether is on tight - the engine light and the smoke unit come on, but I'll check again.

quote:

Lionel CW80 transformer

Yep.....


Incoming about 20+ people all saying it's the CW80!

If it is not too late, return the CW80 for credit and get another transformer. One down, and 19 more posts to go.

Here's one more! The CW-80 is NOT compatible with PS2 electronics due to the way lionel designed the bell/whistle circuitry. PS2 needs fast on/off (rise/fall) pulses to trigger the programming. The CW80's bell/ whistle have too slow rise/fall times, so they are not recognized as such by PS2. BUY a Z1000/Z750 or even a Z500. They are usually available on Ebay.

I'm guessing you got the CW80 with a starter set. I may be the oddball here but I have had good luck with my CW80 for running the set that it came with (0-36 Polar Express) as well as other conventional stuff. I wouldn't be quick to get rid of it but I would try using a different power pack for your PS-2.

WOW! This post lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as I mentioned the CW 80! That thing also makes my old Williams F7 squeal like a stuck pig. For the record, I did try firing up the Railking Hudson with an LW (with a K-line whistle/bell controller attached to it). The same thing happened - it wouldn't budge. I'll try it again with my ZW (which has an external bell button hooked up to it).

Winnipeg, the K-line bell/whistle controller won't work either. You need to use a Z controller from MTH. there are a few z-500's available now-- one is selling for 25$+ shipping.

OK, I'll Pile on...
Did you read the instructions?

They list about 25 Transformers that will all work fine.
The CW-80 is not on the list nor will it be due to the way it works.
Most PS-1 and PS-2 engines (there are exceptions) Will NOT work with it.

Yes, the CW-80 works fine for most conventional engines. BUT Not all of them.

Sorry if I come across harsh, But this post recurs so often it should be a sticky.

No Russell, I don't mind your frankness at all. I need all the help I can get on this one.
I got out the booklet, and sure enough, there is no CW 80 listed on the Transformer compatibility and wiring chart. I (wrongly) assumed that it was because the CW80 was a newer transformer.
I'm going to try the ZW or the LW hooked up to a Lionel digital horn button. If that doesn't work, I'll order a Z-500 or a Z-1000.
MTH service just got back to me this morning. I'll se what they have to say. I'll include all of your comments and suggestions. Thanks again!

I tried it with the ZW and the external bell button. No luck. The sound came on, the whistle blew, the bell rang, but when I powered down and throttled up again, it wouldn't budge, and the sound conked out. MTS suggested I try it with a battery pack (again). So I hooked up one that I knew was charged from a Proto 2 switcher (which had AA batteries, not AAA's like the one the engine came with). Still no luck.

Before Winnipeg Train Guy runs out and buys a new transformer to replace his Lionel CW-80 transformer, he should read this. I don't think his CW-80 is the problem. It wasn't for me. Like him, I hadn't run my MTH Royal Hudson with PS2 for a while and, when I tried to, it just sat in neutral making all the sounds, but not budging. Like him, I also tried the resets with the horn and bell buttons, but that didn't work for me either. For some reason I put a Lionel RS-3 on the same tracks, and the Hudson began to move. It kept operating even after I lifted the RS-3 off the tracks. But if stopped, it wouldn't budge again until the Lionel engine was there too. Now, this Hudson had worked beautifully with the CW-80 until I put it away, so I started to think about what I had been doing differently back then. I realized I was now running an unlighted caboose at the end of the train when, in the past, the Hudson had always run with a lighted CP caboose. So I have switched back to the lighted caboose and everything works beautifully again. For some reason, the MTH Hudson wants something else on the track drawing electrical current or it will not operate. Does anyone have an explanation for this? 

My understanding is that PS2 needs impedance under some circumstances, which the
big caboose bulb (or a lighted lockon) provides. Williams steamers without big headlight
bulbs can need this (027 Hudson, for example). I understand that early DCS/PS2
needed impedance - the magic light bulb - but no longer does, and I have never
heard of such a thing in PS2/conventional running. I have TMCC mostly, but have run PS2
with no bulb for years. But, boards can vary.

It wouldn't hurt to install a lighted lockon on all our layouts, just to avoid this oddity.

Electrical impedance effects are something about which i know very little - but I'm sure that
someone out there is conversant with it.

This too has been gone over many times in the past. The CW-80 has a problem with some engines in that it will not return the track voltage to "0" volts if there is not a sufficient load on the track, thus the engine will not cycle the reversing circuit. The recomended solution is to connect a light of some kind to the track as a load. If you have other problems running a PS2 with a CW-80 remember it is not a recomended transformer with MTH.

 

Al

I would be carefful with the electronics in that engine, I have the same engine from the first PS2 run, in fact it came out before the DCS handheld was available. I started mine up recently, there was a loud bang, then white smoke poured out, now it won't do a thing. A capacitor blew and because of the old style circuit board, it is going to be real difficult to change out, for now its a shelf queen.