Wanted: MTH PS1 "mechanic"

four questions.

1. Did you put in a new battery?  If your BCR is old, try it with a fresh battery.

2. When you first apply power, does your engine come up in reset?

3. Did you follow the battery wires (red and black) to the board and check to see if ther are both attached.  This is a common problem with the trains getting age.

Did you check to see if the wires on your motor are ok?

My guess is a relay on your bottom board has thrown in the towel.  I do not like to guess on anything but do see this often.  

Does a BCR get old?  Can they short of break?

I have only seen one bad one.  The red BCR is a good product.  This is an old engine and anything is possible.   I do not mind going over basic items.  Hopefully the poster will let us know how they are doing with the problem.

Sounds like a transistor is blown on the  bottom board( DCRU). Why? had the same experience years ago   and at time I  able to replace it. I wouldn't even try it now  .

Marty, he says it works in reverse. Might be the forward relay on the bottom board I would think.

corrected the relay to forward instead or reverse

I would just change the board out Joe.  You are most likely correct.  I am sitting on many sets of new PS-1 boards and that is the way I would go.  Hitting those connections with a hot iron sometimes produces miracles.

I have seen the transistor the pulls in the relay go bad. It's usually the one for the forward direction. A fellow club member checked the specs and said that transistor is operated near its limits. I replaced it with the same model transistor, but epoxied on a heat sink with special, heat transfer epoxy.

Thanks for the responses. Sounds as if this has happened before.

Marty, all the wires seem to be connected, with no pinches. The engine does come up in reset. I don't have a battery handy to swap out with the BCR - the BCR was installed in March 2004.

I know GGG who posts here services and repairs PS-1 boards.

Sounds like the Relay Joe mentioned.  Your call on send the board out or replace the bottom board.  If you want to pull the boards, I have a PS-1 board tester and I would be happy to check them out.  I actually have the same engine you have, I placed it in a showcase new and never used it.

Thanks to all who responded!

Seems to be a consensus re: transistor issue. I have been in contact with GGG and am confident he'll get to the root of the problem.

Marty, I am extremely electronically challenged, so thanks for the suggestion.

As a side remark, I sure like the sound of the "wet" low pressure whistle on this early 4-4-0.