Question to the Mallet addicts on here.....

Zerogee

Zerogee

Clencher's Bogleman
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What would be a fair price for a good condition, boxed, little-used LGB22852 Mallet - the late 90's black DR one, fitted with factory sound and factory-chipped for MTS...?
I know the green-tank ones (even early gearbox models) seem to fetch in the region of £300-£400 at the moment, and that is usually analogue and without sound.
Any ideas? (I'm thinking of buying, not selling).

Jon.
 
I paid £450 for mine two years ago with similar spec but I don't think this model has factory MTS but was sold MTS ready with MTS compatible sound system.

I would say that market price would be £450-£500. Most of the higher bidders on ebay recently have been from the Eurozone so I don't expect so many silly prices to occur with the Euro dropping rapidly in value at the moment.
 
funandtrains said:
I paid £450 for mine two years ago with similar spec but I don't think this model has factory MTS but was sold MTS ready with MTS compatible sound system.
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You're quite right on that, as far as the catalogue listing is concerned - but the example I'm looking at has a big factory-applied MTS "D" sticker on the box, and the rectangular "D" labels on both power units... I'd guess it has a pair of early LGB (type 1?) decoders in it.

As a secondary question - if I got it, would there be any real advantage in stripping out these two older decoders and putting in a single XL or XXL instead?

Jon.
 
The sticker on the gearbox is a bit odd, maybe someone paid LGB to fit the decoders. I've been meaning to fit a single Massoth decoder to mine. The loco as standard required the decoder(s) to be fitted with the LGB decoder leads sold seperately. If the decoders date back to new the instructions I think said use one decoder and a power booters unit which they then discontinued. If it has two decoders the decoder motor outputs have to be matched or the bogies may turn at different speeds.
 
If it has two V1 decoders in it then I would recommend replacing with a three amp one . Whether that be an MTS 3 XL/XLS. The reason V1 have no back emf and I personally have had problems getting two motors to run in tandem with two chips. One always seems fast than the other
 
As Steve says chipping was extra.
 
Hi Jon

Some of the 99201 Mallets for the German market were factory-fitted with 55020 chips in an attempt to get rid of the chips since they were obsolete after the introduction of the 55021 (and other manufacturers' equivalents). I presume that yours is one of those. There was a deal of grumpiness amongst German buyers when they realised that the "MTS on board" locos had 55020s!

With sound, I would guess at GBP500-550 as a guide price. If the chips are 55020s, they should definitely be exchanged for a single Massoth XL as you get smoother running with back-EMF as standard. Resale value for each 55020 perhaps £20, so you're pretty much covering the cost of the new chip.

Hope that helps.
 
to the point-(and i dont know if US price is helpful)
about 4 -5 years back-(i think)
i paid 995 -mint -from a dealer i have had a long time relationship with, and who always stands behind his NOS and used items-25852-the one with all the extra stuff atop it

the sound feature, the comparative uniqueness of this particualr model mallet, as well as LGB's demise added to price (or at least it did in my mind at the time)

as far as price, often its all about condition
i still see mallets and Sumpters with sound going for very high prices provided theyre truly like new
 
Personally unless I've seen an LGB loco running fitted with old MTS decoders I why not pay any extra for them as I've bought a couple of locos with faulty decoders and it is often more hassel and expense to change them than to fit new ones from scratch. The old Lens made decoders don't seem to be very robust and the larger locos often burn them out.
 
More developments on the Mallet saga.... I now have the loco here and have been able to test it (haven't yet committed to buying it) - with mixed results.....
It's in lovely overall condition and the sound system is 100% good, but when I put it on the test rollers it would only run in one direction (forwards) with no reverse at all, and the rear power unit ran VERY jerkily. A brief investigation showed that the rear unit was out-of-quarter by a tooth or two - dropping off the bottom gearbox plate and adjusting the quartering has got over the jerkiness, both units now run smoothly forward, but still no reverse drive at all. Please note this is testing on ANALOGUE power. Though now smooth, the rear unit is also definitely running slower than the front unit - the front bogie starts up a volt or two lower than the rear, and the speed discrepancy continues across the voltage range. Those of you who have experience with this sort of thing, do you think there is a likely fault with either or both of the MTS chips? Would chip damage allow movement in one direction but nothing in the other, on analogue power? Do you reckon stripping them out and fitting a single XL would solve both the direction and speed problems?

As there is absolutely NO response from either power unit in reverse, I'm guessing that this is most likely an electronics problem rather than a motor or gearbox fault - if the latter, I would have expected at least one unit to respond even if the other didn't.

What do you reckon, any advice any of you can offer?

Thanks! :bigsmile:

Jon.
 
PM sent. Ruritanian Railways workshops are at your disposal if needed!
 
Jon, have you tried swapping the wires on the motor connections and seeing if it runs backwards then forwards?

This might help in proving that the moros are fine but the decoder output is faullty....
 
Gizzy said:
Jon, have you tried swapping the wires on the motor connections and seeing if it runs backwards then forwards?

This might help in proving that the moros are fine but the decoder output is faullty....
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A small addendum. Earlier, I missed the comment that the two motors are working at differing speeds. It'll likely be necessary to check each motor with an ammeter to see what current each is drawing.
 
I'd highly reccomend the service at Ruritanian Railways workshops. Slightly mad but thouroughly professional and quicker than kwik fit.
 
Update on the Mallet saga....

Opening it up, I found an interesting (in the Chinese proverb sense) set of presumably factory-installed electronics inside the smokebox.... a somewhat rickety lash-up of a 55020 (Lenz) decoder and one of the short-lived 55030 power boosters. Whatlep kindly provided much advice including some history on the 55030, which I hadn't been familiar with before. Apparently these were used to allow a 2-motor loco to run from a single 55020, but were problem-ridden and prone to failure, plus they were more costly than putting in a second 55020 in the first place!

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Following Peter's advice, I first removed the 55020/55030 assembly and flipped all the DIP switches to return the loco to pure analogue, then tested it like that - result: a huge improvement, both power units now running nicely in both directions! So, with it now being 99.9% certain that the problems were down to a duff decoder and/or booster, I sourced a Massoth XL and wired it up - result: 100% success, now runs perfectly and sounds great!

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After some negotiations with the seller, a suitable price reduction was agreed to cover what I'd spent on the new decoder plus a bit extra for all the faffing about, and I'm very happy with the end result. :bigsmile:
Thanks to Peter and everyone else who offered advice, I now have my first Mallet up and running, fully digital and sounding lovely. :thumbup:

Jon.
 
As I said earlier most any older LGB loco that is fited with MTS it is best to assume that that the decoders are junk as they are often duff if you are considering buying one and therefore the value may be less than an analogue version.
More recent locos with factorey MTS are more reliable but the decoders still sometime fail and if the decoder is built into the main board rather than an extra plug in board it will be expensive to get fixed. If you want MTS it is much better to get one with a direct decoder connection where it is an easy job to replace the decoder.
 
Zerogee said:
Thanks to Peter and everyone else who offered advice, I now have my first Mallet up and running, fully digital and sounding lovely. :thumbup:

Jon.
Click to expand...

Yeah - a love story with a happy ending! Remember: a Mallet is not just for Christmas, it's for life.... :love:
 
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