Meet Murphy, MY new (?) revived FM C-Liner

[arealgijoe]

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.

 

[arealgijoe]

Well I won(?) the auction for another pair of FM C-liners, a Santa Clause (oops Fe) & Milwaukee road. Now if they ever get here. I may try for another re-power on one, the other one will become a dummy. Heck I might end up with a FLEET of these tings. Then again, I might make both into dummies, we shall see. As listed they come with original powered chassis, probably pure junk. With the very heavy, 52 grams, chassis they were made with, its no wonder they motors give up their ghost. Another thing is the gears are ALL METAL, which means a lot of NOISE!

 

[arealgijoe]

Re-powering another Atlas/RR FM C-liner

I took a photo showing my latest FM C liner project/s IN the far back is my Santa Fe shell, (I am using it for pattern/fit). mid range is my NYC loco I re-powered recently. In the foreground is my current, IN WORK, FM C-liner power chassis.

I am using the same gut as I did in my NYC loco. I used short bits of rather stiff white tubing, bright white line, connecting the motor shafts to the worm gears. Left is the rear and the Digitrax DCC decoder will go above the worm gear box. A LED headlight will rest above the front (on right) worm gear box. A motor exactly like the ones I used in the NYC and current power chassis is in the background (left). That one runs but needs some work, maybe brushes, and not used. The wires are a mess, (so is my bench) its a temp hookup for testing the loco on DC before finishing up with DCC & a light. The wires will get trimmed and dressed before SHELLing. (funny term, normally we think of shelling as REMOVING a shell, I reversed t, seemed proper use to me??)

BTW, the newest chassis is running very well. I still need to affix a rear coupler.

 

[arealgijoe]

PHOTO below.

I finished up the power-chassis I was building, then lo and behold the mail lady brought me the 2 FM-cliner parts units I had ordered. I now have it fully installed in the Milwaukee Road loco & running good! It has a 5 pole motor, DCC and LED headlight (DCC controlled)

Photo Top to bottom, L to R;
Top-L NYC fully powered 5 pole motor & DCC
Top-R Mill road fully powered 5 pole motor & DCC
Mid-L Santa Fe my custom dummy chassis
Mid-R Union Pacific is my SOUND car/loco.
Bot-R is a spare Santa Fe shell, I may make another dummy chassis for it. I used the newer one that came today, since its paint was a little nicer.
OOps blank/empty slot & bit of foam on very bot row.

The case they are in, is what I use for storing my locos not on my layout or in one of my wooden display cases (scattered around the wall below my 16x20 photos, & above my layout.

I love these Iris cases for storing my N scale trains (locos & cars). They can hold up to 16 locos if I stand them up, instead of laying down as shown. I can even fit 4 Big Boy locos in one of these cases. They are well made, soft plastic with adjustable dividers etc. & did I say perfect size?