I'll admit from the beginning that this is ultimately a question of personal choice, but I'd like to know if anyone else has had (or does have) this problem, and if so what they have done. I model the Texas & Pacific east to west across the state in the period before 1960. There were 10 Class 1 railroads that either used T&P trackage, or interchanged at one or more points in the almost 800 miles of right-of-way.
When I began to build a locomotive roster, I was, and still am, heavy with great mostly custom painted T&P passenger and freight power. My problem is that now I have a fairly large number of diesel locos from some of the 'occasionally seen' carriers. All are older (90s or earlier) and not DCC ready. In operation they will make rare and random appearences and since my DCC system does not support DC operation, I've got to decide whether to spend money to convert them when they will sit idle most of the time, or to sell them. Some are pretty rare such as an Atlas RS-3 in the Red/Black Route of the Rockets paint or a very early LifeLike P2K (Gold/Brown box) Missouri Pacific FA2 ABA set. There are at least a dozen others.
My head says sell them, but I just want to hear how you guys would dig yourselves out of a similar delima.
Thanks.
Conversion to DCC isn't that hard - despite a lot of bugaboos you hear from folks. Isolate the motor, and solder a few wires and you're done.
what I'd recommend you consider is giving it a whirl before you sell them off. One idea that has worked out for me is to pick up an identical chassis (but with a less desirable shell) and do the conversion on that before you cut into prize possessions.
I've only gutted and converted a couple of models that required the "full" treatment, but now they seem to be some of the best runners I have.
check out litchfield station, and TCS's web site, they have some really helpful how to's.
cheers.
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
You should at least try to convert these units to DCC. I have done two units that were already DCC ready that I wanted to get rid of the PC board because it took up too much space.
Will
Converting locomotives to DCC is challenging on some models and with sound, it can be even more challenging (due to finding space for a speaker and enclosure). However, there is now a good selection of decoders to help you and make the job much easier. I'd suggest trying a few. I've got a number of older locomotives that I am upgrading. Except for a couple of the Athearn bluebox units, I plan to upgrade them all but not all will get sound.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
Atlas RS-3's are quite easy to convert, the hardest part is cutting down the light pipes if you want to install lights at both ends instead of having a single non-directional light in the middle. And even early P2K locos are not really difficult to convert, since they use wires to feed power to the motor and for truck pickups (sometimes one side is grounded to the frame, but that's not a big deal either, if there is a diode light board in it, it already has a wire attached to the frame, so there's the connection for the other rail pickup).
What gets complciated are older locos, brass especially, where the motor itself is grounded to the frame. The motor, or at the very least, the brushes, MUST be isolated from the track power to be able to install a decoder. Sometimes this is as simple as remounting the motor with a piece of tape as an insualtor and a nylon screw instead of metal. Sometimes it can require slight surgery on the motor to isolate the brushes from the case - many such motors have one brush wired right to the motor case, which is screwed to the loco frame. Insulate and isolate that brush and you're good to go. Always check with a meter to be sure, othewrwise you'll fry the decoder).
Prevent decoder loss, get a DCC system that has a dedicated program track connection, and test new installs on the program track FIRST. If you can't program the loco, or read the settings, DO NOT put it on the full power main track until you fix the problem. This will prevent most decoder losses from incorrect wiring, the program track generally does not have enough current to damage the decoder. Only once it is working on the program track should you put it on the main for a test run.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The big question is, do they run well on DC? If so, they are worth converting. For the price of a cheap decoder, you can have a good DCC engine. If there is room in the shell, as you will often find with older FA and FB units, then there's even room for sound. In that case, ask yourself if the engine is a quiet runner, in addition to being a good runner. No sense putting sound in an old Athearn meat grinder - you'll never hear it.
I'd give conversion a shot. Like anything else in this hobby, the more conversions you do, the more proficient you get at them, but they really aren't that hard to begin with.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I may be the wrong person to answer, but it seems I am cursed when it come to DCC conversions. I have done 7 and ever one is now on the RIP track. None has ever ate a decoder from the start. All seemed to have been good runners on DC. Most made it 40 hours or so, but still let the smoke out of the decoder.
When I take a crack at it again, I will make the chassis cold like RTR DCC engines come new. If the wheels hits the frame and the power is on, there is a short. Sitting a engine on the bench with power will eat away at the decoder. Might all so check out this site.
http://www.alliancelink.com/alp/
They make low power draw motors. When I take a crack at my PK 2 BL-2's again they will have new motors this time. Last one ran 20 hours then cooked it's decoder. Motor stalled at 1.35 Amp's, I should have been fine.
If you might want to get rid of the LifeLike P2K (Gold/Brown box) Missouri Pacific FA2 ABA set PM me. Do they have the fan that runs of a rubber band?
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Hi!
Over the last ten years, I collected a large number of ATSF locos for my HO circa 1950s layout. I was using DC at the time, but began building a new layout with DCC last January. I expect to have it all up and running (ex scenery/structures) in a few months.
At the time I decided to venture into DCC, I realized that many of the locos I had would just never be used - for their was just too many for an 11x15 two level layout. Also, some of the locos were rare in the real world (on the prototype) and some were significantly more difficult to convert to DCC than others. Sooooo, I began to thin out, selling the excess on Ebay last winter. The good news was that the revenue went a long way towards the purchase of various DCC components.
I still have more than I will ever use, and will probably thin out further this winter.
Yes, it is not an easy decision, but once I did it I found that the ones I kept had more significance to me.
Hey, ENJOY!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I'd say that if the reason you're thinking of selling the engines is because they don't run well, or you don't like them anymore, then OK you probably should sell them. However, if you want to sell them because you think it's going to be too hard to install decoders, don't sell them. Problems like the engine not being isolated isn't that hard to address, often it just means removing the motor and adding a piece of tape...and I suspect some of the engines you have like the Atlas one probably aren't going to require doing that anyway. Hardwire installations are called "hard"wire because you are soldering the wire connections to the decoder, rather than just plugging something in, not because it's "hard" to do !!
A good lightboard replacement decoder in the Atlas RS-3 will work fine and be very simple and intuitive. First connect the corners - there's four connections on the front and four on the back. Connect the ones on the corners of the decoder to the wires coming up from the track. The inside two connections front and back go to the front and rear headlight. Then the two connections on the side go to the motor. That's it.
I am kind of supprised that no one suggested this one. Buy new locos that are dcc ready or have a dcc chip and switch the shells then sell the non dcc engine with the swapped shell. You keep your rare engine but have updated it to dcc and probably better motor and running capabilities.
My 2 cents.
MIke
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
Converting the locos you mention to DCC is not difficult, converting to DCC with sound is harder. I have put Tsunamis in an Atlas RS3 and an old P2K FA2, both require surgery to the weights. In my case it was definitely worth the effort.
There have been a number of different approaches suggested, all of them excellent ideas, and you mentioned having better than a dozen locos that you need to decide how to handle.
My suggestion is to individually consider each of those approaches for each of the locos. That's what I've done, and it's served me well.
There were a few I ended up selling. There were a few that I've already converted, or will convert at some point. There was one (a very early P2K GP9) that I converted to factory QSI sound with a GP7 chassis swap. And there is one I'm keeping for sentimental reasons that I have absolutely no plans to convert.
Assess each loco individually, consider all the possible options for that loco, and go from there.
HTH, Steve
A big THANKS to all who replyed. Every response was helpful and gave me an opportunity to examine a slightly different way to view the situation. Steve's post that recommends a case by case decision is most likely the way to go.
In the final analysis, I'll need to decide if I want to go to the time and expense of converting some of these only to end up relegating them to sidings or off system most of the time. One of the issues is that about half of those in limbo are very early P2K E-8s wherein the conversion, especially to sound, is not without complexities. Time to do those is time no longer available for other projects. That coupled with the fact that every passenger engine needs railroad specific cars (for the most part) to go with it and I've ended up with quite an empire.
Enough of that. I'll sort it out a piece at a time and see what happens.
Thanks again.
I whittled down a roster of 150 DC locomotives down to about 25 that were worth converting, By converting I don't mean plugging in a decoder into an NMRA plug. I converted some Proto 2000 diesels and a few Athearns but all the Athearns that were converted all had Helix Humper motors in them as well as NWSL wheel sets. So they all ran excellent before the conversion. You have to fist make an assessment of how well do they run and then do a search on the internet as to how difficult it is. I believe TCS and a few other places actually have pictures and the degree of difficulty for each conversion
mreagantAll are older (90s or earlier) and not DCC ready.
a very early LifeLike P2K (Gold/Brown box) Missouri Pacific FA2 ABA set.
I have converted about 25 locos both diesel and steam, and have never had an issue! I solder in my decoders and always insulate the wires from touching any metal. Get rid of the old headlight brackets and I use LED's. I cut off any of those flat metal sliding contacts sticking up from the trucks and solder directly to the truck plates. Make double sure to remove any sharp point on the lower Athern motor brush retainer and tape it too. Use celephane tape to keep wires bundled on top of everything.