Messing about with N-scale diesels

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291137
Avatar
Full Member

Life-Like EMD Southern Railway E6A Resuscitation

Like HO/OO, you can choose RTR stock or mess around to whatever degree you want. I am a basher/tinkerer and enjoy turning a DC loco into a DCC one, preferably with sound. A bonus is that older locomotives cost considerably less than brand-new ones (as do passenger and freight cars). I routinely change plastic wheels for metal wheels, and I use code 70 track to allow pizza-cutter rims. I also swap the old rapido-type couplers for knuckle ones; they look better.

I have a collection of Great Northern Railway freight cars in "Big Sky Blue", all second-hand and around $10-$15 each. All my Southern Railway passenger cars are second-hand, usually around $20-$30. New ones are $75+.

I just bought a used BLI E6A DCC sound-equipped (ESU Loksound, probably V4) for $100. Brand new BLI models are around $250.

I thought I would have issues with my eyes and fingers, especially as I am waiting for cataract surgery and have chronic peripheral neuropathy. I started with some second-hand locomotives and a few passenger cars to see whether I liked the scale. It grew on me, especially as it didn't take up much space. It's no more difficult than HO/OO scale. Dip your tootsies in and see whether you like it. You could of course go to HO/OOn30. Now that's a lot of fun.

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291164
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

A slight change of plan. The renovated E6A chassis will be equipped with DCC no sound using a TCS split-board decoder with directional lights (TCS CN 1278), and will go into a CB&Q (Chicago, Quincy, and Burlington railroad) E8 shell, and the Southern E6a shell will get the BLI DCC sound chassis that is arriving shortly. The split board deocoder is what it says - 2 small boards with the decoder motor circuitry on one, and the directional lighting circuitry on the other, joined by 3 wires. I built 2 supports for the boards using odd scraps of plastic, and no, that's not Basset's licorice all sorts, those are 2 Lego pieces. Saves the bother of building a small square oblong, I will fill them with titanium putty, and will be adding further weight using titanium cylinders under the drive shafts. Titanium has just less than half the density of lead (with a fifth of its mass) but is much safer. Pictures to follow.



Nigel

Last edit: by BCDR


©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
Item has a rating of 5 (Liked by Ed)
#291165
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

Plastic covers for for the TCS decoder going into the E6A chassis. this is a split board design, one board for the motor, one goard for the directional lights.

E6A replacement covers for lead weights.JPG
Close-up of covers. Lego bricks and styrene sheet. Titanium putty will be used to give some additional weight. There is space under the drive tubes for some titanium discs.

E6A covers.JPG
Cheers,

Nigel

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291166
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

Wiring diagram for the decoder.

TCS CN 1278 diagram.jpg
Cheers,

Nigel

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291171
Ed
Avatar
Site staff
Ed is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’
I take it the LEDs light if the current is going through in the right direction, if it doesn't the LED remains off.

Thanks Nigel, always wondered how they do directional lighting.


Ed
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291177
Avatar
Full Member
"Split board decoder" - that sounds like an excellent idea.  Never heard of that before but clever.

'Petermac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291186
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

This decoder is meant for split frame chassis where there was previously a light board, but it is ideal for getting a DCC decoder where it was never intended and space is restricted. And it saves the hassle of wiring in directional LEDs. I may have to rethink those boxes though. The rear board is OK, the front one is running into space issues due to the lower height of the nose. A 'would you believe it" moment.

The Life-Like E6A chassis went into the BLI CB&Q body without major issues. OK lengthwise (space to spare), I just needed to take a smidgen off the sides.  I will install knuckle couplers front and rear, as the locomotive is intended to be coupled to some Great Northern locomotive and passenger stock. CB&Q E7As pulled Great Northern transcontinental trains from Chicago to St. Paul, MN, where the engines were swapped for Great Nothern E7As or later on F3s and F7s. The CB&Q would often sneak one or two of their passenger cars into the train for transfer to a CB&Q train departing St. Paul for Chicago. Angry telegrams would be exchanged when this happened.

The following photos show the CB&Q locomotive body shell with a Life-Life chassis. That gaping hole at the front is where the front coupler goes. If the locomotive was at the front of the train it was hydraulically retracted, and doors swung into place.

Cheers,

Nigel

CBQ 1.JPG
CBQ2.JPG
CBQ3.JPG

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
Item has a rating of 5 (Liked by Ed)
#291216
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

I modified the front DCC board support, it is now sloped and the LED is now opposite the headlights on the CB&Q shell. I also installed some tungsten putty under the 2 board supports (red arrows), and under the drive tubes, increasing the weight by nearly 40 gm. That translates to another 4 passenger cars. I suspect a lot of weight may be detrimental. I have modern diesel switchers comparable in weight (90 gm) that can pull up to 10 passenger cars. My passenger trains normally have around 5-6 cars, so it should be fine.

I'll finish the wiring and add some working knuckle couplers next, then do some testing with DCC power.

Cheers,

Nigel

Photo 1. Tungsten putty. The red arrows show locations.

Tungsten putty.JPG

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291220
Avatar
Full Member
Tungston putty - a new one on me …………..   Is it more expensive/safer than lead ?

'Petermac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291221
Avatar
Full Member
Ah - I haven't heard of it because I don't fish !!!

'Petermac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291224
Ed
Avatar
Site staff
Ed is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’

Petermac said

Ah - I haven't heard of it because I don't fish !!!

I fish and I'd never heard of it either, but I'm not a Carp fanatic.
 
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291225
Avatar
Full Member
Hi Peter,

Ha! Unfortunately, it is more expensive than lead (of which I have a 5 kg roll). I got a "Pine Car Derby" weight kit, Boy Scouts of America approved, no less. It is also useful as a substitute for lead shot fishing weights. This was a one-off experiment as this locomotive doesn't need that much weight. , I'll stick to steel shot and 2-part epoxy next time. Or put gloves on and put some lead into it.

This little project is almost finished, the next conversion needs weight so a slightly different approach will be used. More to come shortly.

Cheers,

Nigel

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291226
Avatar
Full Member
I don't fish either - as far as I am concerned it falls into the same category as golf;

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
Item has a rating of 5 (Liked by Ed)
#291228
Avatar
Full Member
Hi All,

Mea culpa. It's a long time since inorganic chemistry. Density of metals (g/cm3):

Osmium, 22.6
Gold, 19.3
Tungsten, 19.3
Uranium, 19.1
Lead 11.3
Brass, 8.5
Steel, 7.86

Few of us can afford osmium or gold, and governments tend to be iffy about depleted uranium, Amazon doesn't stock it. So tungsten is the best of what's available.  It's a pity Tungsten is a pain to work with. Mass-wise brass is better than steel,  Tungsten in putty form is formulated to be around 90%-98% the density of lead. At least it's better than air. Now it might be worthwhile drilling some holes in the weight masquerading as a fuel tank and inserting some tungsten cylinders.

The pine car derby kit I bought has a nice selection of cylindrical tungsten weights, the boy scouts are meant to drill holes in the pine car and add tungsten cylinders to reach the desired weight. "Oi, I was in the scouts".  So I weighed and measured a fuel tank - 17g and around 2.89 cm3. That gives a density of 5.88 g/cm3. It's a ZAMAC alloy, with a density of around 6.6 g/cm3.  ZAMAC is MAZAC in the UK I think. If I replace 4 cm3 that's a net gain of almost 50 g. I'll try this on the next conversion.

Tungsten putty from Amazon is 2.5 oz/$15.00 US.

Cheers,

Nigel


 

Last edit: by BCDR


©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291229
Avatar
Full Member
hi All,

this will be the last post on this renovation. I wired up the decoder and tested the locomotive. It runs fine, the headlight comes on when going forward, and the rear of the engine compartment lights up when going in reverse. The prototypes normally had a small spotlight to the left of the door to light things up when coupling at night. If you look carefully there is a small square light fixture. I think a small hole and some PVA allowed to dry transparent will do the trick.

I have some small jobs to do - put the second horn back on the cab roof (oops!), add some decent couplers front and rear, put the pilot back on, and add some MU caples front and rear. I'm quite pleased with the resurrection - trash can chassis to a working locomotive. I still have the Southern Railway E7A body shell to do something with. And that's the subject of the next project. That will be followed by a DCC sound conversion of a (decent late model) Life Like E7A chassis and another CB&Q E7A body shell.

Photos below.-

Cheers,

Nigel

Wired chassis, headlight on (forward).

Chassis wired up, front light on.JPG Wired chassis, rear light on (reverse).

Back light on (reverse).JPG Body shell on, headlights on.

Headlight on forward.JPG Body shell on, rear light on.

Rear light on reverse.JPG

©Nigel C. Phillips
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291238
Ed
Avatar
Site staff
Ed is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’
Looks good Nigel 👍

I probably being daft, but what are "
MU caples" ?


Ed
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291243
Avatar
Full Member

Ed said

Looks good Nigel 👍

I probably being daft, but what are "
MU caples" ?


Ed


Me too ????

'Petermac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#291290
Avatar
Site staff
Barchester is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’

what I've  done Nigel, is pre cut some old roofing lead into weights  and then coated them in nail varnish ?  I just did a few different  sizes so I can use what fits best. It meant I only had to put the gloves on once, cut and seal them and then clean down the workshop  bench once. I keep a few in a tub and can put them in where needed without having to ' cover up' again.
It also means if I'm opening up locos, carriages or wagons where I've fitted them I don't  have to worry. I can tell the one's  I've  done as they have a nice gloss finish  👍

Wasnie me, a big boy did it and ran away

"Why did you volunteer ? I didn't Sir, the other three stepped backwards"
Online now: No Back to the top
1 guest and 0 members have just viewed this.