Recent content by victortorgrimson

Hi, I've been installing crossing gates. I'm using the "WeHonest" system. The train sensors, the sound, and the lights all work well. It also can trigger a servo motor to rotate, so you can have the crossing gate arm go down. Attaching the servo to the crossing gate arm was quite a trick...

I was just finishing up adding a DCC chip to a 50 or so year old locomotive when suddenly a drive bar fell out of its wheel! Surprising since I hadn’t been doing anything to it. Anyway, I can see how to line everything up to reattach it, but I can’t figure out how to screw it back in. The pin...

My Dad was an avid model railroader. I ran the trains and made a few models and scenery with him, but I didn’t do too much because he was more of a perfectionist than a teacher, so teaching a kid to model railroad was challenging. He had a complete B&O model railroad in our house, and then as...

I am trying to take the shell off a steam locomotive my Dad bought. Its probably about 15 to 25 years old. I don't know the brand or have any documentation on it. I found two tabs on the sides of the cab that allowed the back of the shell to lift up. I also removed one screw from the bottom...

Hi, I've been hard wiring decoders into non-DCC engines, but my Dad had one DCC-ready steam locomotive that he bought 10 to 20 years ago that has never had a decoder. It has the attached adapter. It looks to me like a 9-pin, but I don't see how a 9-pin decoder would fit into it. Does...

Thanks for all the tips! I'm sold that I'm going to try some econamy and maybe mix in a couple tsunami's. I'm still running them on my Dad's old tracks, so the wheels have been no problem. Thanks, Victor

Hi, I'm starting to convert a bunch of my Dad's old DC diesel and steam locomotives that are mostly about 50 years old to DCC. So far I started with converting two, one with no sound and one with sound. The number of options of sound decoders and speakers is a bit overwhelming to parse...

Agreed, I didn't get to switching the direction of the second locomotive yet, but I was planning on doing that next. Thanks!

Thank you for everyone's help with this! After lots of mistakes and lots of learning I got it all working. I did two locomotives, adding sound to the second one. Indeed it turned out isolating the motor case was irrelevant with these motors. I suspect that in an earlier version I probably...

Thank you for that clarification! Indeed, I was able to screw the motor into the frame and it worked. From the voltmeter I can see that is causing power to go the motor casing, but its not causing any issue. I had misunderstood and thought that power getting to the motor casing would be a...

Thank you for the help! I have been mostly successful. Resetting the decoder to factory default did stop it from getting warm, although it was still non-functional. When I put a new decoder in, it worked. I added insulating tape to the weight. And I verified the leads have no connection with...

Hi, I am for the first time upgrading a DC locomotive to DCC. Its an Athearn locomotive and I am using a Digitrax decoder. I am greatly benefiting from videos by Dennis461 and the DCC Guy. I initially had some success, but it quickly failed. I had some sparking inside the engine and...

Thank you all so much. All of your responses are incredibly helpful!

Hi, My 8 year old twins and I are starting to work on my Dad's old model railroad. I was considering trying to convert some of his old DC locomotives to DCC. I would guess this locomotive is about 50 to 65 years old. It runs well. I recall my Dad put new motors in many of his locomotive...