Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[TMo]

More clues found in the death of the decoder. I had cut down the green wire in the wiring harness for my decoder since it has no function in that decoder prior to programming. Unfortunately, that left a short length of bare wire on the cut end that I suspect carried a stray voltage during my first checkout after programming. Upon a detailed inspection of the wiring harness I found that the green wire and the orange wire (the motor brush lead on the right side) were melted together in one spot, which is probably the short that did the little beast in. Repaired said harness and made sure I had no bare spots coming through the insulation on any of the wires in the harness.

A new decoder headed home from work with me and a quick plug in, programming to the correct locomotive address and a test of the chassis.... motor works fine through the whole speed range, forward and reverse. The unit is still on the loud side - primarily due to the noise of the gear towers. Might be a little less noisy once I get the shell installed, but maybe not. I did learn a good deal about these KMT drivetrains and what is possible and what isn't.

I'll try to hook up the front and rear lights tonight or tomorrow night (a 22 Ohm resistor going on the + (common) side of each incandescent) before I move on to the painting touchups and weathering of the unit. As with most of my locomotives, this one's also going to show its age and the EL's propensity for letting things go in the 70's.