Clearing the backlog - DCC Programming

I spent some time at the decoder station at the club space tonight and managed to clear seven locomotives into their correct numbering ready for DCC service.

Kato CSX SD70MAC back in one piece (mostly) and DCC fitted.

I also reassembled my basket-case Kato SD70MAC, rebuilding the cab and handrails.  I still need to fit the smaller grab-irons and some of the pilot details to the front end.

Roster shot of the eight locomotives I worked on this evening.

There were eight locomotives in tonights batch, and I got seven of them up and running and logged into the roster using the Sprog Decoder, and then each of them was run in on the test track for ten minutes or so.

One of the hornby decoders I had turned out to be fried, so the Kato Dash 9 in the foreground above will need to wait on the workbench a little longer.  That locomotive is in bad cosmetic shape, so it will need a considerable amount of work before it is presentable, the cab glass is fogged with cement and there is a lot of other spilled glue and missing details around the shell.

Back from the brink... basket case SD70 lives again.

I bought a job lot of three locomotives on ebay over a year ago, and one of them was this Athearn Genesis SD70m in CSX livery.  It was in bad shape when I got it, as you can see here in my original post.

I washed the heavy weathering off the shell and then put everything back together, I needed to order a few parts from Athearn, including a new set of drive wheels, and it wasn't long before I had the main parts back together and running. 

The engine wasn't DCC ready so I decided to fit the engine with a MRC sound decoder board and ordered a rectangular speaker housing to pace inside the long hood.  Then I realised the speaker wouldn't fit on top of the frame as there wasn't enough space.

The engine went back into a box until I could think about what to do with it, originally I had thought I would need to buy a smaller speaker, but then when I looked at the engine again recently I realised that the frame could be cut down to size without affecting the driveshaft clearance and there would be room to fit the speaker.

I had to cut about a centimeter off the top of the rear chassis weight, I dismantled the engine again and used a hacksaw to cut off the excess metal.  It's important to strip the engine, otherwise the metal filings from the cut will ruin the motor.

I then brushed off all the filings and reassembled the chassis, taking care to put everything back in the correct orientation.

With the chassis reassembled, I was able to tape the speaker enclosure in place and re-wire the connections before giving everything a test run to make sure it was fully functioning.

Predictably the lights were connected for 12v instead of 1.5v so they burned out instantly when I applied the power.  So much for my electrical skills!   I will need to invest in a new set of bulbs or a set of led lights for this locomotive.

I have a spare set of SD70 handrails ready to paint in CSX colours for the pilots, and I still need to number and weather the unit, but at least it's back together and running once again.  Not bad for an engine that's been in pieces for years.

Next I really should revisit the Kato SD70ACE that was part of the same ebay lot, it's also awaiting rebuild and would only take an hour or so to get back on the rails.