# Percy's polarity!



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Last year at about this time I started a thread on Thomas. I pointed out the he was wired to NMRA standards, not what we regard as the defacto LS standard. I reversed his wires and he then happily ran with his new friends, not away.

When we were setting up our train show, at Colvin Run Mill in Great Falls, Va, We had two of the new Percy Bachmann engines. One was from the set, troublesome trucks, track etc. and the other was sold as a single engine. The engine sold separately has a polarity switch on the bottom. We all cheered that Bachmann had listened to us. Great, you say. Then we looked at the Percy in the set, whoops no polarity switch!!!


So if you want a Percy, my suggestion would be to buy him and the troublesome trucks as separate items, not as part of a set. Especially, since we all know about the Bachmann tracks and the powerful power supply.


Merry Christmas.

Chuck N


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

Yup Chuck... I purchased some of the first "Thomas" sets when they came out last year and found the same problem.. I called Bachmann and spoke with Lee Riley, the main man, and he felt that they could design in the polarity switch that you're speeking of.

He said that they'd try to have it in the next production run which I beleave arrived last late summer.

The ones from the first run simply dont have the switch in them.. sort of makes that first edition more valuable to colecters I guess.

Im sorry now that I re-wired my Percy & Thomas. Does anyone have the new red James & tender yet


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I was wondering the same thing about James, thought I saw him in the other Dec 18,19 posted show.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Marty:

If you are talking about the pictures I posted on the Large Scale Events Forum, that James is a Lionel. Dr and Mrs Rivet have had him for years. The Bachmann James is due out sometime next year.





Chuck N (Your cousin in law (in northern Virginia) XXX times removed).

PS My wife's maiden name is Cozad 


Railcandy

If you did the switch I did and you want to return it to the original, just reverse the wiper wires in the bottom of the engine. If you switched and re-soldered the wires on the motor that may be harder to return to original condition.


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

Here's the only video of an actual Bachmann "G" scale "James" I've ever seen.. (see below) Its a quick shot !!
James should be availabel right now as its listed in the Bachmann catalog online.



"Good things come to those that wait"


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

well... *@ **chuck n* Bachmann is aware that many of us have had to reverse the wireing on the "Thomas" locos.. so I don't think they will hold that against us when repairs or replacements are needed. I have that one from the source. we'll have to see if the new "James" has the switch or not ? ...But I gotta' a feeling he will !


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Railcandy:

I made the switch in polarity because at train shows we have a "Thomas Loop" with a passing siding so with polarity to the tracks: engine "A" will run clockwise througth the passing siding. As long as we don't change the polarity it will continue to run. We use spring switches to control the train. The switch for clockwise running directs the train on to the passing siding and the switch at the other end of the passing siding keeps the counterclockwise train on the main. No further attention is needed. When we want to run engine "B" counterclockwise we park "A" on the siding and then change the polarity to the track and "B" runs in the opposite direction on the main past the passing siding. We could not do this with the original factory wiring on Thomas. 


If you are only going to run Thomas alone, it doesn't matter how he is wired. For our layout we needed both engines (Thomas and James) to be wired so that they would go in the same direction for a given polarity to the track. James (Lionel) and all of our other engines (LGB, Aristocraft, Bachmann, Accucraft, Denton and USAT) are wired for the LS standard, THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE, if we wanted to include Thomas in our plans.


Chuck N


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

We just rewired ours to run the same direction as the rest of our locos for our club layout. Don't expect any changes soon even for the new run. Later RJD


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

Yup *@ **chuck n* I do the same with my "Thomas" series locos... I run them with a mix of other bachmanns and USAT locos on the same track with the same power supply. So its no different here.. Thats why Lee at Bachmann understood the issue and engeneered the change to the polarity switch on the next edition. He's a good guy and was very helpfull in my situation at the time. The folks down in Philly really care about their product.

Lee & I hit it right off on the phone cause we both have RF engeneering in our past's.. A lot of railfans & hobbiest seem to have strong tech backgrounds I've found.

I'll be ordering a "James with tender" around the middle of next month.. I'll let ya' know if it has the switch.


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

I cant wait for James to come along.


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