Challenger.MOV (1,805kb) downloaded 133 time(s).

Hello all,

I've finally received my 39911 - Challenger.

I installed the two 7226 smoke generators in it, according to the scant instructions included. They do operate, and give off a lot of smoke!

However, one thing that I'm noticing, which worries me, is that when I turn the smoke function on, the headlight (both front and rear) flickers for a few seconds and then everything seems to operate normally again: headlights on and smoke generation.

Has anyone experienced the same situation with his Challenger?

The video that I have attached shows the instant when I turn on the smoke function on my CS2 and when the smoke generators start operating, after the lights stop flickering. BTW, this has never ever happened with any of my Big Boys which also take 2 smoke generators!

Another issue that I found, right at the beginning, was that one of the 4 screws that hold the locomotive onto its protective base was stripped and it gave me some trouble to finally be able to remove. BTW, the screws are not the same alloy as the ones on the Big Boy.

Edited by user 05 March 2017 06:15:24(UTC)  | Reason: Added a video attachment, added more text.

I got mine too.Simply amazing.

Only when i am sure about the result.The only that i have to do is to set the sounds a little lower,i think they are very loud.I have to wait to run the locomotive in another layout to enjoy her,mine have catenary system and in some positions is impossible to run.Thank you Armando,regards,Panayotis.

Received my copy as well. What is Marklin trying to prove by setting the sound levels so unrealistically high?

Speaking of which...I have tried every single possibility available on my ECOS, there seems to be noway to accomplish any re-programming of any CV from this 39911 decoder.
Is this the one that will baffle me?
Don't tell me I have to buy an MS or CS, because I won't!
Opinion/advice anyone?

Hi Tom
I have tried changing CV's using DCC programming, MM and also temporarily disabling M4 as you said.
Nothing works!
It looks like the Ecos cannot modify the CVs (but it reads them) , starting with CV50 which contains the bits to set up priorities on the various modes (analog, MM, DCC, M4 etc)
I'm dumdfounded

I do not know the way to change locomotive's parameters with my CS2.If it is necessary i am using my old trusty 6021.Maybe i will leave the sounds of the challenger the way they are.

I figured you of all people would have one ...

I hope to be in Goeppingen. probably will not be there until the Friday evening. Wife wants to have a couple of days in St marie au Mines first to visit the quilt show that is there every year, and every year it is on the same weekend as the Marklin do!

Sorry for resurrecting an old topic. I just received my 39911 back from Märklin where it had spent about two months in repair. When I had purchased it new at my local dealer in February, the same problem as Tower's became apparent upon opening the box – broken coupler.

Today, the coupler is OK, but now that I can actually run the loc there is a new problem: it's quite prone to derailments on tracks that have not caused any derailments of the two Big Boys presently active. The tender derailed easily in an R2 curve, while the front wheels did so at a slight bump in the tracks.

In view of the very positive remarks in preceding posts, I wonder if I have overlooked something in preparing it to run, or there is something wrong with the loc?

Jeroen

Thanks Jim, for strenghtening my suspicion that my Challenger is a problem child.

In the weekend I ran it again to see if I could diagnose the problem, and one glaring symptom that something is wrong is shown in the following picture (on R3 track no less):



The entire loc body tilts a little into the curve, but that happens with the Big Boys too and all their wheels remain in contact with the track, so the picture hints at a problem with the connection of the second set of drive wheels to the loc body. Indeed, when I laid a Big Boy and the Challenger on their sides, the second set of drivers of the Big Boy could be tilted both lenghtwise and sideways relative to the loc body, while that of the Challenger could only be tilted lengthwise.

Another difference, probably caused by the (deplorable) move of the Challenger slider to the tender, is that the third and sixth axles of the tender, which for a Big Boy do have less lateral flexibility than the other tender axles, have almost no lateral flexibility. Whether this by itself caused the derailment of the tender I experienced, or it was related to the problem with the second set of drive wheels, I do not know.

So, back to the dealer again …

Jeroen

Today I took my Challenger to my dealer, and as expected, it derailed immediately on entering the first curve. The dealer then undertook a diagnose-and-repair session on the spot, which after removal of the loc shell showed that the loc end of the loc–tender coupler could not move freely in its guiding slot. After some manipulation, freedom of movement was restored, but it was not clear whether this was the result of smoothing the guide or the chance removal of some object that had impaired movement. Upon reassembly, the Challenger then happily ran around R2, into R1 along narrow curved turnout, and back again. It is now running on my layout as it should. Kudos to the dealer!

Jeroen

Indeed, I was lucky to have the dealer make the repair instead of sending it off to Märklin again for two months or so. As the dealer said, "the person who repaired the coupler must have been sleepwalking or half asleep". A simple test run at Märklin should have exposed the failed repair immediately. The note on the repair form from Märklin was ominous in hindsight: "coupler repaired, and functions [not "function", JS] tested" …

Jeroen