I bought the engine sans tender for a really good price, the guy says call Piko for a replacement. Called Piko they tell me nope, they don’t sell the tender separate from the loco. Called the store up, they will refund me if I bring it back but I will ask the question here first. How do you rewire the engine so it will run without the electronics inside the tender? All I want is straight DC track power, no sound no DCC. If this is relatively simple I might do it myself but if it’s complicated it’s going back immediately. I have the assembly diagram like LGB or bachmann provide.

Is it as simple as bridging the two pairs of power pins on top of the the motor block like on a USA block, I have done the same on a pair of Piko Taurus blocks as well. Thanks

Well, if you have a volt ohm meter, you should be able to figure out what 2 pins are the track power. Then you just need to figure out what 2 pins are the motor. You could open it up and trace wires.

Dave I have seen these same dual pairing of pins on the top of Piko and USA blocks, I suspect if they are like the USA block, in each pairing one pin is from the track pick-ups and the other next to it is too the motor. The wiring leads taking the track power to the tender electronic circuit board before returning to the motor block. I have successfully bridged these pins with a brass strip and successfully made them operable from track power.

I can get another tender that will look right but I need to get the engine working first. I think I’m on the right track with this.

I was on the right track, the pins work identical to the USA block, was even able to keep the headlight working, now to find a tender the looks right behind it.

Huzzah! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Doing some backhead detailing right now. $200-600 and it’s detailed less than a 40 year old HO Tyco locomotive

I never thought finding a tender could be so difficult. I would like to find a slope back tender from an Aristo switcher, but they are rare by themselves, you have to buy the pair.

You want a slope-back tender? I believe that I have one.

Try Nicholas Smith for a slope back tender.