arealgijoe
Member
I DID IT ...........
Using the atlas/RR dummy chassis & trucks, I made the original dummy trucks into track pick-up trucks.
These ole Atlas/RR locos are a B1*** to work with. The front truck had more typical style axels, the rear, as noted before the same complicated half-axle w/springs & more. I used a Digitrax SDN136 for the sound, just leave the motor wires disconnected. I placed the speaker just under the two round holes in the roof near the rear of the loco.
For truck mounting I had to drill out the bolster pins and tap them for 1-56 screws. I had to change out all 5 axels to regular half insulated loco axels salvaged from an old dummy loco chassis. regular car wheels are just too small to look right, plus they complicate the already tight under-side clearance. I used wire-wrap wire, 30ga solid, stripping the insulation where they wrap around the axels.
So, I used the original dummy truck frames, used old salvaged dummy loco axels (NO gear noise), & wire wrapped electrical pick-up and BINGO! While the decoder can be used to control a motor, I am just using it for sound & light. I added a LED for the headlight, also controlled by the DCC decoder. (with the sound scheme set for diesel)
TEST RUN ....... all worked well. I paired it up very un-protypicaly with my NYC lightning stripe FM-C-liner for spin around my test loop. I ran the pair as I do with any separate/dedicated sound car. I simply place the sound car/loco on the programming track & set the ID to match whatever loco/s its going to run with. Far simpler than setting up & programming a formal MU consist. Bottom line, It works!
When I wired the front truck, using the salvaged axels, all went typical compared to doing box cars for sound and caboose lighting. The rear 3 axel truck were another matter altogether. I had planned to wire just 2 axels with my usual 5-6 wraps on each. I ran into a problem and had to drop down to just 3 wraps on each axel. So, to get good pickup, I wired all 3 axels.
I now have 1 powered NYC FM C-liner (w/LL power chassis), a Santa Fe dummy using a cobbled home-brew chassis & A/RR trucks and a Union Pacific un-powered, but no dummy when it comes to SOUND or lighting.
Using the atlas/RR dummy chassis & trucks, I made the original dummy trucks into track pick-up trucks.
These ole Atlas/RR locos are a B1*** to work with. The front truck had more typical style axels, the rear, as noted before the same complicated half-axle w/springs & more. I used a Digitrax SDN136 for the sound, just leave the motor wires disconnected. I placed the speaker just under the two round holes in the roof near the rear of the loco.
For truck mounting I had to drill out the bolster pins and tap them for 1-56 screws. I had to change out all 5 axels to regular half insulated loco axels salvaged from an old dummy loco chassis. regular car wheels are just too small to look right, plus they complicate the already tight under-side clearance. I used wire-wrap wire, 30ga solid, stripping the insulation where they wrap around the axels.
So, I used the original dummy truck frames, used old salvaged dummy loco axels (NO gear noise), & wire wrapped electrical pick-up and BINGO! While the decoder can be used to control a motor, I am just using it for sound & light. I added a LED for the headlight, also controlled by the DCC decoder. (with the sound scheme set for diesel)
TEST RUN ....... all worked well. I paired it up very un-protypicaly with my NYC lightning stripe FM-C-liner for spin around my test loop. I ran the pair as I do with any separate/dedicated sound car. I simply place the sound car/loco on the programming track & set the ID to match whatever loco/s its going to run with. Far simpler than setting up & programming a formal MU consist. Bottom line, It works!
When I wired the front truck, using the salvaged axels, all went typical compared to doing box cars for sound and caboose lighting. The rear 3 axel truck were another matter altogether. I had planned to wire just 2 axels with my usual 5-6 wraps on each. I ran into a problem and had to drop down to just 3 wraps on each axel. So, to get good pickup, I wired all 3 axels.
I now have 1 powered NYC FM C-liner (w/LL power chassis), a Santa Fe dummy using a cobbled home-brew chassis & A/RR trucks and a Union Pacific un-powered, but no dummy when it comes to SOUND or lighting.