New locomotive won't run

[will]

Help! I'm a complete newbie, trying to rehab some HO trains I had as a kid. Just purchased a new Bachman locomotive thru the mail (DCC -- but supposedly compatible with old DC Atlas setups). It won't run. It's light flickers a bit and it makes a noise but it doesn't power up. Although the transformer is old, I know the track/electronics are okay, b/c I got one of my old Athearn locos to work fine. Is it possible the new loco needs more voltage than the 12 volts the transformer supplies? Or do I need to do a different wiring setup other than having just the two wires coming from the DC port? Or is it something else? I'd greatly appreciate any help ASAP as I'd love to have that new train work for my son under the tree tomorrow

 

[LongIslandTom]

I don't know if this also applies to Bachmann DCC-equipped locomotives, but I have an Atlas DCC-equipped locomotive which requires me to set a jumper on its circuit board to select DC or DCC mode of operation. Perhaps the Bachmann needs to have something similar done to select a mode? Check the instruction sheet that came with the locomotive and see if that's the case.

Good luck.

 

[will]

Thanks

Unfortunately, the locomotive came without much in the way of instructions (I'll look again). I don't see any sort of switch on the loco exterior. Would it perhaps be located inside the casing?

 

[shaygetz]

While it's true that most DCC is supposed to run on DC, it's also true that it doesn't do it very well. Make sure your track is really clean and try it again.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

It won't be a switch, it will be a jumper plug that replaces the decoder. This is only true if your locomotive is sold "dcc equipped." Check your box it came in. If it is dcc equipped, it will have to run on dcc unless it came with a jumper plug. I'm not sure if they would bother supplying a jumper because they normally charge extra for dcc equipped locomotives and expect the person wanting to run dc to buy a standard locomotive. If it is new out of the box, don't do too much to it. Bachmann has a lifetime warranty on their locomotives. If it is under 1 year old, shipping is free, after 1 year, you pay for shipping. You send the locomotive to Bachmann and they will repair or replace it. If you do a bunch of work to it that results in any sort of modification, they will just reject it..