PolarExpress Legacy Berk Issue……Update, Resolution!

I'd suspect an intermittently broken wire on the IR tether.  Is it always seem to do it on curves?

Peter, my guess is the IR receiver  is getting out of alignment. The sounds emitting from the tender are the same sounds you will here when the tender is placed on the track by itself. Reversing the engine is probably allowing the drawbar to reseat itself. It’s tough to tell in the video  but it looks like the drawbar on the tender maybe sagging allowing the IR receiver to get out of align. The hooked portion on the engine side seems to be riding higher.

@Dave_C posted:

Peter, my guess is the IR receiver  is getting out of alignment. The sounds emitting from the tender are the same sounds you will here when the tender is placed on the track by itself. Reversing the engine is probably allowing the drawbar to reseat itself. It’s tough to tell in the video  but it looks like the drawbar on the tender maybe sagging allowing the IR receiver to get out of align. The hooked portion on the engine side seems to be riding higher.

I agree. At about 10 seconds into the video it would appear the draw bar is not fully seated. I have found some tender draw bars are out of tolerance forcing only a fraction of the loco's draw bar to seat. I would suggest taking a small file and open up the hole on the tender's draw bar.

I would check the alignment too.  That's an easy start. Good call guys.   Maybe the drawbar need adjusted.  Before taking a file to it I would definitely exam to see if it's bent or out of alignment because of something loose.

Peter on a side note. Your urban scenery is really starting to take shape. Looking Good.

@Dave_C posted:

Peter, my guess is the IR receiver  is getting out of alignment. The sounds emitting from the tender are the same sounds you will here when the tender is placed on the track by itself. Reversing the engine is probably allowing the drawbar to reseat itself. It’s tough to tell in the video  but it looks like the drawbar on the tender maybe sagging allowing the IR receiver to get out of align. The hooked portion on the engine side seems to be riding higher.

Dave…..the video is 2.5 minutes long…..I will look at some of the segments on the straghtaways to see if I have tether shots.

Peter

I want to thank everyone for their responses. I will report back when I know something.

Peter

From my modular colleague, Jim:

The Forum was spot on! Tender draw bar was the issue.

Upon close examination of the tender’s drawbar, could see a slight downward tilt. Made upward adjustment and placed on the track, ran  45 minutes straight at various speeds without any drop of sound whatsoever.

Berk is alive and doing well! Thank you for all the help today with the run time and post on the forum. I would also appreciate it if you would thank the folks on the Forum for me.

Thanks to all who commented!

August will be 25 years on this site for me, and this generous sharing of knowledge still keeps teaching me things!

Peter