Reduced functionality?

Bill,

Can you simply remove the board and run the train as a DC or battery powered model, with fancy cars?  What functions do the tender board provide?  Will the cars work properly without the engine?  If so, you could pull them with your Annie (or Big Hauler).  You could go as far as modifying the New Bright engine for track power.  Also, would it be practical to replace the control board with a DCC decoder or two, and run the functions that way?

I have been considering all

I have been considering all of those options  but the fun part is determining which functions are controlled by the master board in the tender. And there are a lot of functions to cover such as: power to the loco, sounds, servos and lights on each car and all are connected by an 8 strand ribbon cable. I am studying each car and the engine to see what can be done.  The train is amazing to watch as it has Disney quality animation, lighting and sound. It requires several passes of ones viewing point to see what is going on throughout the entire train. And it definitely is not one of their typical holiday big box store offerings. I have seen sets on line for 200 to 250 apiece, add on cars are usually 35.

Have you taken the tender apart to inspect the board?

Often people presume that when a electronic component falls or in the case of a locomotive derails and then quits working the first thing that pops into peoples mind is "it must have shorted something."  I think it more likely that you have an "open" rather than a "short."  The difference is that an open circuit quits working.  An on-off switch creates an open circuit.  A short circuit will generally "let the smoke out."  Look your board over closely with a magnifying glass.  If it shorted and burned out a component, you should see evidence.  If it was an open circuit, you might be able to see a broken trace or a loose wire on either the board or the plug going into the board.  Don't forget to check to make sure any plugs did not come loose in the derail. 

One other thing, inspect the power pick ups on the train.  Power has to be transferred from the rail to the dcc board.  Sometimes the power goes directly from the wheels through the bearings to the board, but often the manufacturer will use brass wipers against the back of the wheels to pick up power.  LGB uses brass sliders between the wheels that slide on the rail top to pick up power.  Whatever method the manufacturer used to transfer power from the rails, if the component bent away from the wheels or is no longer contacting the track or any other part of the "chain of connection" is broken, you will have an open circuit.

Thanks for the assists

The train is currently on the table and so far here is what I have found. A loose wire in the tender was located and the presumed location on the board was located and the wire soldered. In the process I am tracking down all the problems that seem to be affecting things. So far the train will run, animation and lighting runs, no sounds currently but here is what is interesting. Every car has metal wheels and pickups for power that run back through the ribbon cable to the master board. Each car receives power for the servo onboard as well as power for lighting effects. My next step will be to set up a loop of the track and connect the whole train to see if the entire consist needs to be set up for the sound to work. As of the moment speed control may also be affected. One thought wouldn't we alll love our trains to be picking up power from every car, that would sure minimize dead spots at switches etc

Follow up

After several hours the train is running with lights and animation. At this point there is no sound but that's ok. Some notes of interest for anyone looking for info on this set.

    The set runs on a 10v ac output , not dc. I tried dc but nothing worked except a few lights. So the train is essentially a two rail ac set up. perhaps some of the two rail ac o guage power packs might work with it.  As it is the trains power supply and controller are an easy addition to my current rails. the controls clip onto the track but I can see where that could be modified to plug into my existing track feeders.

  New Bright gets the rap for its non existent customer service

I "googled" their web page.

They appear to be a toy company rather than a model railroad manufacturer.  Toy companies seem to be inclined to sell things that are expected to get broken and seldom carry replacement parts or offer customer service.

Sorry I missed this post

Sorry I missed this post earlier, but I am very familiar with the operation and functioning of the New Bright Christmas Train sets.  I have managed to keep a set, although designed for indoor use, running for four years on one loop of the Christmas display on the garden layout at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge.

The trains are designed to run on DC with signals sent over the rails by sequences of pulses (pulse modulation) similar to DCC. The commands are very simple and seem to be a character with start and stop bits which indicates which key has been pressed.  There is what seems to be a PIC processor in the keyboard for generating the commands and a PIC in the tender which receives and interrelates the commands.  The sounds are produced by separate IC in the tender which feeds directly to the amplifier.

The DC supply (unregulated) is in the track connector along with the switch (power transistor) which both generates the pulses to send signals over the tracks and turns track power on and off. 

But back to repairs:  I have to kept this set running because the kids really like it. I have replaced several components over the years, but not the PICs or sound generator.  I have; however, been lucky enough to find these train sets on sale at steep discounts after Christmas. Our first set is still operational, but I have two backups.  One was purchased for $45 at a local discount store.  So if your want to restore the full functionality I would check your local stores and ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Bright-Holiday-Express-380-/300635992599?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item45ff4d3217) after Christmas.

A final note: we bemoan the poor service from this "Toy" company, but recently I have had to purchase spare locomotives from major vendors due to a lack of spare parts availability.  This gets expensive for N, and HO but for  Large Scale we know that can mean really big bucks,

Ken

Help

I have this train set as well.  It is a little tricky to get it working each year, but I usually manage after 20 minutes or so.  I had the train working this morning and the kids left it running (moving) for a while, but then it stopped. I was not able to get much of a description out of them as to what happened, if anything.

The controller shows the power light, and when I turn the train on, it will light the front car and the back car.  I can hear an audible "click" when I turn on the power - so some sort of relay is working.  Other than that, I cannot get the train to do anything - no music or motion.  I cannot get the other cars to light up either.

I took apart the "tender" car and did not see any visible signs of damage on the board.

Any idea what can cause just a couple of the cars to light up?

For troubleshooting: I checked the track and every plug from front to back.  I tried just having the first two cars on the track.  I also tried just having two sections of track together with the two cars on.  When trying just two cars, the front car still lights, but the tender does not.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a posting on this train and even more surprised to find out it was just days ago.

Thanks for any help.

John

Testing

Has anyone tried any kind of meter tests on these units?  Mine stopped working altogether, and I'm trying to isolate the problem.  I expected 10v out of the transformer, but can't seem to get any reading.  However I seem to be getting nearly 30v at the track.  It could be my cheap tester is on the blink, but I was just wondering if anyone else has done any tests.

Fixed

I think I have a bad meter, because I cleaned up the track and the contacts and we seem to be back in business.  The Santa doesn't turn, but I'm not inclined to take the engine apart just to fix that.  This set has been sitting in storage for at least 10 years, and it's running great now.

It still seems strange that I was getting no reading out of the transformer, but a good reading at the track.

No reading at the transformer...

No reading at the transformer could be caused by either the screw or plating having a low conductivity. Yeah, I know metals tend to conduct. At work were we design and build electronics, we avoid certain coatings like black oxide, as well as stainless steel for any conductive connections such as ground, as they do not conduct as well.

Also, the screw may have been insulated from the contact (or threaded into a separate piece that made contact only when tightened properly) or you did not have a good contact in the first place.

No power to track

We are new to the model train game - we bought the Holiday Express off of e-bay used.  I can get 10v AC at the power clip, but it does not register when measuring on the track.  Is there one particular section that the power clip needs to hook up to or should I just bend the tabs until they make contact?  The power supply that I have does say it is a 10v AC output.  Thanks for any help you can offer!

Troubleshooting NB Toys

Basic testing of a New Bright train set:

Disconnect the track connector from the track.  Clean all contacts, the track and the power pickup on the tender.

Plug the transformer in and test the output of the transformer at the white connector.  You should get a reading of about 10 V AC.

Plug the transformer and the keyboard into the track connector block.  Press the ON / OFF button.   The LED on the keyboard should turn Green.  If the LED does not light check your connections.  If the LED is Red, your controller is probably dead. 

Press the ON / OFF button to turn the power off.  Connect volt meter to the track connectors on the track connector block.  With the meter set to DC Volts press the ON / OFF button repeatedly.  When the LED is green, you should measure between 10 and 11 V DC.  When the LED is off the voltage should be ~0 V DC.

If you are reading this "track" voltage, turn off power (Press the ON / OFF button) and switch you meter to AC Volts.  Turn the power back on.  You should now have a AC reading of less than 0.5 V AC.  Note: the reading may spike momentarily as the power comes on.  Now test to see if the controller is sending commands to the track.  With the power on and watching the meter closely, press any command key (e.g. Forward).  The meter should display a momentary reading of about 2 V AC indicating that a PWM signal was present on the track connectors.

Turn off power and connect the track connector block to the track.  Before placing the train on the track, turn on the power (LED green) and measure the track voltage.  Again you should see 10 V DC.

If you have track voltage, Place the tender on the track and check the track voltage again. The lights on the tender should come on  If not the tender is dragging or shorting the voltage and you maybe out of luck. But first try cleaning the track pickups and retest. 

If your tender lights, turn off power and connect the engine to the tender.  Lay the engine on its side on a piece of foam.   Turn on the power and measure the track voltage.  If you have about 10 V DC switch your meter to AC and measure to see if you are still getting a momentary AC voltage when a key is pressed.  Start with a command other than "Forward" just in case the engine is not stable. If the light are on and your a measuring momentary AC voltages and nothing happens, the board in the tender is probably dead.

Otherwise you should be operational.

Let us know how things turn out.

Ken

New Bright Holiday Express Running Slow

Came across this site today and found it very helpful.  Ken, thanks for your willingness to offer assistance.  

I have a New Bright Holiday Express set that has been running great until yesterday when it started acting sluggish.  Took the engine apart today and am of the opinion that the motor is going bad.  All the gears and axles seem to move freely.  There's 10 volts DC on the track, so it's not that there's not enough power.

Any idea what my options would be at this point?  I doubt if I can find a replacement motor.  Is there a way to give it a "tune up"?

Since New Bright doesn't seem to be making this set any more, prices I've found--even for just an engine--seem pretty high.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Rob

Had same issue - lights but nothing else!

Holiday Express with DCC anyone?

The New Bright Holiday Express has to be the best Christmas Train ever... I wrote to New Bright a couple of years ago and suggested add on pieces. They responded graciously, but did not seem interested in doing too much more with the line. I am actually surprised that Bachmann has not picked up such an animated set. It is truly something to see.

Generally, people must like the set. The prices on eBay seem to reflect that. A rather rare reindeer stable car sold for like $450 back in late Nov. or early December 2011. The musical station was selling for an average $90 - $100. Like anything, prices skyrocketed when certain pieces were no longer available. Of course, that might be the problem... It is ultimately a rather expensive Christmas train.

As soon as someone is brave enough to experiment with adding DCC, let me know. To make it very simple, there is a motor, some lights and a sound module. It just doesn't seem like it would be that hard to convert. I just do not want to fix something that is not broken...For now, my set still works and it has been under the tree for many years. If my control board or anything fails, I will be more than happy to experiment.

New Brightt Holiday Animated Express Train 384

I just purchased this set (#384)  from Walthers.com in Jan 2012. When it arrived the Elves on the Candy Dancer car were broken off their handles. I don't know if I can glue them on or not. there are no little 'stick' in the elves hands, yet there isn't a hole in the handle where their hands attach. I will have to figure that out later. 

I must have gotten the last train set Walthers had. They said they were out. I could not exchange the train  Spare parts  or cars are not made or sold by them. They told me to Contract New Bright and gave me the number etc. Well forget that. There is no service or spare parts to be had other than ebay. You can't get very far even talking with New Bright. Walthers told me the train was discontinued. New Bright said they hadn't heard that. I was told the train is made in Hong Kong. When I complained to New Bright, they told me to contact Walthers. They also said Walthers was the only hobby shop selling this train?????

 I just love this train, it is just beautiful, but it derails constantly, maybe making it around the track once if lucky. I used all of the track that comes with the set to make an oval.  I read on the internet where someone added a roll of pennies to the tender and make it heavier and it ran fine. I have not tried that yet. It does seem like it is the tender car that does most of the derailing. I clean the tracks and wheels etc. 

I am not a rail road hobbyist and I don't know much about trains, although I have Lionel or Bachmann train which I do like. And a small village train. 

But a Christmas train like this is what I really wanted. It is so expensive and problematic. Why is this train so expensive? Is it because of the lights etc. Because it doesn't run that well.

Also from what I read it seems like the one made in 1996 was one of the best made. Can anyone confirm that for me? That would be interesting to know. 

I do wish someone with some model railroad clout, would get someone to make this train, so we can run it and enjoy it and get parts for it. Why is this so Expensive?  Going for about 400.00 and many people are having problems with it. Maybe we need this to be 'Made in America'.

DCC yet?

I have the Holiday express, other than burning out a transformer, it has been a great source of fun at Christmas for 12 years. Now I want to run it with my DCC trains. This thread is as close as Ive come to finding out how to get DCC in the loco.

Any success yet? A club member asked if there is an electronic circuit diagram out there. Has anyone seen one?

Member said with the circuit diagram we could put a 583 to initiate the sound sequence.

Thanks. 

Surprised

I have found that an online hobby shop named Wholesale Trains has had the train set until recently. Currently I have the initial set along with two of the add on cars. Since I last wrote I have been able to get the train to light up and move but the sounds are missing. I have since come across a old time western freight set made by New Bright that used the same control set up. I have had no problem connecting the controller and power supply to my garden railroad to run the train. I would still like to find a way to trouble shoot  the electronics.

New Brite Christmas Train - Kitbash!!!

If there is still interest in this topic, let me know.

I about 3/4 of the way through a project that replaces the tender electronics with a Revolution receiver and an Arduino board for the lighting and animation.

The goal is to run on a standard cub module for the Christmas display at 12 VDC, so use of the original control and power supply is not in the plan.

If there is interest, I will document the project for everyone's use.

S far,I have everything working except the Ho Ho Ho ad the Merry Christmas, including chuff, horn and bell.

Absolutely !!!!

We (K noxville Area Model Railroaders) have been running New Bright Christmas trains on the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge Christmas in the Garden display for about five years.Things have gone fairly well considering that we are running equipment that was designed for indoor use outdoors in the cold and damp. We had two sets donated and fortunately only had one tender which includes the "decoder" smoke, but we have smoked two of the track couplers which include the signal and track power drivers. Given that the evilbay price for these components, especially around Christmas, is exorbitant (Some desperate parents or grandparents paid in the $40 to $100+ range for some replacements), I would love to have an option.

A similar project was on my list last year, but a quad bypass put quite a few museum projects on extended hold. As we already run the Crest (aka AristoCraft) system, a Crest Revolution with Arduino design would be greatly appreciated.

New Brite Christmas Kitbash....

Good to know Ken, and I can relate.

We are a G scale module group with 30x48 modules.  Our typical year includes Christmas trips to the local library and restored train station that serves as a community center.  We use Revolution trackside and on board controllers.  The radio controlled all-stop feature is a great safety for public display.

I have the Revolution part done.  It will work with both the "1 wire" and "2 wire" tenders. 

I have a first cut Arduino script that will cycle the 5 lamp leads and has 4 different blink patterns.  I still have to define and control the S1 and S2 leads.  I have mos-fets on order to drive those.  The LED switching section will then be complete, and at the mercy of the script, all under software control.

My ground rules are holding - all mods are in the tender.  I wanted all cars and the locomotive to be modified.  Currently the units operate on constant 10 volts, so I'm setting up to operate on constant 12 v track power onboard regulator to make 10 volts for LEDs and buss power

We are getting ready for the ECLS show, so it may be a few weeks before I pull this together.  Please let me know if you have additional thoughts or restrictions that I have not considered.  The project is still fluid in the music and sound department (other than chuff, horn and bell  toe are on the Crest bard and work well).

stay in touch,

Warren

East Coast Large Scale Train Show

Warren,

My first thoughts was to use one of my QSI decoders with the Linx receiver. It would be easy to program the sounds but that would be very expensive solution. The Crest solution would be substantially less expensive.

If my health permits i am planning to attend the York show in March, but will not know until that week if I can make it. If I make it maybe we can make arrangements to discuss the New Bright project.

Arduino progress ???

Well gang...

It is just about time to break out the Christmas train for the season. I was looking around for what anyone has done to save this unique animated train and saw the Arduino stuff...

So is there any continued progress with this? I would love to be able to add another Christmas Train to the mix... I mean what is a Christmas tree without a passing siding and a couple of industries, right?

It would be so neat to know my train has the possibility to continue even if the original New Bright stuff dies.

Maybe we could move this to a forum just for Christmas Train or holiday train issues?