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Model Railroading > "Model Railroading is Fun"....Date: 08/28/25 20:59 "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: funnelfan Well all this "fun" is really testing my patience! I've been attempting to do two fairly uncomplicated straight forwards tasks this evening, and neither is going very well.The first was installing a LokPilot 21-pin decoder into a new Athearn Genesis UP GP38-2 that I just wrapped up a bunch of detailing work on. The locomotive has headlights, number board lights and a rotary beacon. I thought it would be as simple as plugging in the decoder, soldering the wires from the lights to the Athearn mother board's different functions, and then some programming. After installing the decoder, I checked the voltage outputs on the motherboard and found that they were showing 12+ volts, so I installed 1k ohm resistors on the positive commons. I did note that all the lights in the cab shared the same common. After reassembling and programming, I find that all the lights are effected the actions of all the other lights. The number boards are flashing in sync with the beacon, and they dim with the headlights in the same direction. Now I'm wondering if I should remove the resistors from the positive side and put them on the negative side of the tiny LED's? Or if I'm going to have to tear the cab apart and run all the positives seperate from each other.
The other task I'm having trouble with is a first run Athearn SD45T-2 I detailed a looonnngggg time ago. It's always had a derailing issue in the front truck that I've never could solve. It's not a frequent derailer, but often enough to be frustrating. So I decided to do a truck swap with another old SD45T-2 that I haven't detailed. That should be a easy task, but I've run into a unexpected issue. The first run SD45T-2 has the classic SD40-2 truck design from the Athearn Blue Box era with the metal hanger above the truck and a wire with a clip attached to it. The other donor unit trucks are a slighter newer design that looks almost identical, except the inboard pickup plates have wires attached that run to the motherboard (no hanger). The frames look identical and the truck swap easy enough until I put the shell back on. All of a sudden the new lead truck in the older SD45T-2 won't turn as it's hitting the inside of the stairwells. That's when I realize the new trucks are sitting about 1/16" further outboard than the older trucks! WTF! Ted Curphey Ontario, OR  Date: 08/28/25 21:32 Re: "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: atx_railfan I know someone who has had success at swapping an old RTR SD45T-2 shell onto the chassis of a newer run. I think they sold just the chassis online somewhere.
Date: 08/28/25 21:47 Re: "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: SP4360 Ted, each led has to a it's own resistor. It doesn't matter which lead the resistor goes in. Some of my engies have resistors in the positive common lead and the negative F leads.
Date: 08/28/25 22:48 Re: "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: TCnR There's a disclaimer on the website that the new design is not backward compatible but they don't say which parts have been redesigned. Lots of discovery to be done, tread carefully.
I also invested in quite a few 45T-2's, very frustrating. Keep an eye on those motors too, seems like the magnets go flat causing high current and low speed, some of them don't even turn. Date: 08/29/25 03:53 Re: "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: funnelfan In swapping the trucks around on the SD45T-2, I did miss a little detail that caused the issue I was having. The newer style of truck had a pin added that fit in a small hole on the newer frame. The frame was otherwise identical. The newer truck does fit in the older frame, but that pin moves the truck forward about 1/16". I went ahead and swapped the trucks back, but did a full chassis swap at that point. So the SP 9333 is riding the newer chassis. Next I will need to run it on a big freight at the club and see how it does.
Ted Curphey Ontario, OR  Date: 08/29/25 06:01 Re: "Model Railroading is Fun".... Author: funnelfan I got the light situation resolved in UP GP38-2 #2047. I moved the resistors over to the negative side and away from the shared positive common. I've been working on postdating the Athearn Genesis model to a early 90's appearance and adding some missed details, like the plow grab irons, hoop style cut lever on the front, bathroom vent on the engineer's side of the nose, and white paint on the handrails and steps instead of the yellow that was on the model. Grey trucks instead of silver. I also blanked out the class lights. Surprisingly it kept this look into the early 2000's, albeit heavily weathered.
Ted Curphey Ontario, OR  |