I use a database that Dave Husman developed, you can download it from the CarCards yahoo Group. It can store pretty mnuch everything, plus when you get to that point, it will generate car cards and switch lists for operation. I put eveything in there, even unbuilt kits (and usually remember to go back and update it when the kit gets built). I even added options for resistor wheels so I know which of my cars are set up for block detection and which ones aren't. If I get something oddball for a project, I put that in the notes field so if it gets set aside for a long time I don't go and sell it off on ebay as something I have no use for...oh wait, i was going to kitbash that into a Model XYZ diesel switcher. Like the MDC Boxcab track cleaner I have sitting here. I have no use for the track cleaning part. But the track cleaner versions is the only oen that came with doors in the ends, as all but the very first AGEIR boxcab had. Thus is it the basis for one of the two such locos the Reading had.
It also has places to record what you paid for the item, the present value, and you can even take pictures and load them - something I intend to work on since a copy of this file sucured in an offsite backup can be used as proof for insurance purposes should a disaster happen.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Close enough, Terry.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage Terry, FWIW, it's best to put your response AFTER the
Terry,
FWIW, it's best to put your response AFTER the
[/quote]
Thanks Tom
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
FWIW, it's best to put your response AFTER the [/quote]. Otherwise, it gets nestled in with "gray box" responses and looks like someone else's response.
richhotrain Plan on looking today for boxes but more likely to catch Dust Bunnies Wouldn't a central file for RR purchases be nice I really should send in what ever warranty cards i receive C&O Fan If nothing else we've answered the question of which decoder was used in these now i can sell them since i have installed TCS KAM 4s in both in order to gain the keep alive atvantage Terry, you are right in what you say about the decoders, so we should just drop the issue about the identity of the locos and just move on. But, as they say, curiosity killed the cat. So, I persist. Let me ask you again if you have the original box and the Life-Like product number. Rich
Plan on looking today for boxes but more likely to catch Dust Bunnies
Wouldn't a central file for RR purchases be nice
I really should send in what ever warranty cards i receive
C&O Fan If nothing else we've answered the question of which decoder was used in these now i can sell them since i have installed TCS KAM 4s in both in order to gain the keep alive atvantage
If nothing else we've answered the question of which decoder was used in these
now i can sell them since i have installed TCS KAM 4s in both in order
to gain the keep alive atvantage
Terry, you are right in what you say about the decoders, so we should just drop the issue about the identity of the locos and just move on. But, as they say, curiosity killed the cat. So, I persist. Let me ask you again if you have the original box and the Life-Like product number.
Rich
I recently got a Mantua 0-6-0 Reading Shops switcher (which despite the end of steam was still used into the 60's - the model is close but not exact), the seller on ebay reported that it didn;t run very well on DC. When I got it, I could see inside the cab it had a DCC decoder installed. Also a few years ago I picked up my first (and only, so far) brass loco, an RS-3. It was reported as not running. When it arrived I checked it out and it turns out to have a decoder installed with CV29 set to not allow DC operation. AND it had the original motor replaced by a good can motor. It DOES need some work, whoever installed the can motor did a bodge job of rigging drive shafts, the one end works perfectly, it uses Athearn universals and shafts, but the short end had some NWSL or similar universals but a piece of square tubing the wrong side for the drive shaft - there was no fore-aft play and it would bind. I've temporarily replaced it with a piece of airplane fuel line tubing so it runs but it's still not ideal.
So sometimes when you get things on eBay you may get things the seller is not aware of - especially if they aren't mostly a train dealer. Hopefully you got a good deal, I paid less than $50 ($20 for one of them) for each of my four units, though none of them came with a 'free' decoder.
Alton Junction
richhotrain Sorry if i miss led you but No i don't admit to buying them used (all though when troubleshooting anything is possible) i still contend i bought them new and at seperate times as my decoder pro entries support with seperate entry dates of more than 2 months but odds of finding paper work and boxes from 2006 are slim But i will look if nothing more out of curiosity C&O Fan Yes It has Rich There is no way i bought them together at the same time So, you cannot recall where or when you bought the two locos and you kept no record of the purchases? Do you have the original boxes? Don't be offended when I make this observation, but you initially thought you bought then new. Then, later, you somewhat grudgingly conceded that you probably bought them used, but surely at separate times, and likely from different sellers. So, isn't there a chance that you bought them both used at the same time from the same seller, and have just forgotten the specifics? Rich
Sorry if i miss led you but No i don't admit to buying them used
(all though when troubleshooting anything is possible)
i still contend i bought them new and at seperate times as my decoder pro entries support with seperate entry dates of more than 2 months
but odds of finding paper work and boxes from 2006 are slim
But i will look if nothing more out of curiosity
C&O Fan Yes It has Rich There is no way i bought them together at the same time
Yes It has Rich There is no way i bought them together at the same time
Yes It has Rich
There is no way i bought them together at the same time
So, you cannot recall where or when you bought the two locos and you kept no record of the purchases? Do you have the original boxes?
Don't be offended when I make this observation, but you initially thought you bought then new. Then, later, you somewhat grudgingly conceded that you probably bought them used, but surely at separate times, and likely from different sellers. So, isn't there a chance that you bought them both used at the same time from the same seller, and have just forgotten the specifics?
Randy, that for the heads up on the gears. Even though this model has a nice slow crawl through the yard, I did notice that at max voltage it is out of control. It has the scale speed of a NHRA Top Fuel car so I can understand why the gears would crack, lol.
richhotrain This has become a mystery thread. I sure would like to know more about the origin of those two locos. Rich Yes It has Rich There is no way i bought them together at the same time (As i sit here counting the hours till my next credit card billing cycle so I can buy another 99$ decoder) I've had to live with a very limited RailRoad budget for years being on Social Security The odds of finding 2 identical locos with decoders same paint scheme and different road #s used from one source at seperate times is mind boggeling
This has become a mystery thread. I sure would like to know more about the origin of those two locos.
(As i sit here counting the hours till my next credit card billing cycle so I can buy another 99$ decoder)
I've had to live with a very limited RailRoad budget for years being on Social Security
The odds of finding 2 identical locos with decoders same paint scheme and different road #s
used from one source at seperate times is mind boggeling
To further elaborate - these locos were designed so that when the factory board was removed, there was NOTHING - no silly circuitry that you may or may not need, between the decoder plug and the pickups, motor, and lights. so the female 8 pin connector is on that tiny little board with all the wires. The bigger board with the diodes is the light board, it has the 8 pin male portion, same as you get on an 8 pin decoder.
The DH163L0 and DH165L0 (only real difference is the DH165L0 has a socket to add a piggyback sound decoder) are similar in size and shape to the original light board and include resistors for the lights - they used 3V bulbs in these locos so you need dropping resistors to hook up a decoder. The voltage used to be controlled by those diodes on the factory board that comes off. You CAN just plug in a simple IP decoder, but you need to replace the light bulbs to do so.
I just strip out the whole mess and solder the wires right to the leads from a TCS T1. and replace the bulbs with LEDs with a 1K resistor on each one.
C&O Fan If some one else went to the trouble to install a decoder why not just plug one into the old light board ? that had an 8 pin plug ?like a DH 123
If some one else went to the trouble to install a decoder why not just plug one into the old light board ? that had an 8 pin plug ?like a DH 123
That IS an 8-pin plug in decoder - the pins just happen to be right on the decoder board itself for that model. It was designed purposely for the Proto engines. That little plug board with the wires would have originally been plugged into the factory light board ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
They're from around 2000 or so. You'll want to buy some Atheaenr 60014 axle gears (verify the number - i think that's the right number) because the gears in those WILL crack. I have all 4 road numbers of the Reading version, and all have had the gears replaced.
I just bought one of these off ebay. It was a reading gp7 brand new in the box. I went to test it on dc track and it didnt move, just a loud motor hum. Turns out the grease hardened up and bound up the gear boxes. I cleaned the boxes up and relubed them and it ran great in dc. I then swapped out the light board thingy with a digitrax short harness 8 pin plug, maybe a 126 or 163 and this bad boy is quiet as a mouse and creeps through the yard without a hitch. I can't figure out when it was made though, the only paperwork I found said 1998 but I don't think it is that old""
C&O Fan Nope 5892 and 5895 both are GP7s
Nope 5892 and 5895 both are GP7s
Well i guess i bought both of them used then cause i didn't install them
I always note it in Decoder Pro and there are no install notes on either
just the ID
I just checked ~~~~Should have thought to check there first
Hard to remember yesterday let alone 2006
Several Strange things
1 They both have the same decoder
2 I never buy 2 locos at the same time Can't afford it on SS
3 What are the odds i'd find 2 Same paint scheme different road #s same decoder
and buy them at seperate times used ?
Yup - a picture is worth a thousand words ....
That decoder is a Digitrax DH165L0 and did not come from the factory with it.
https://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=2450025&cat=103&page=1
Ok here we go
Yep says Life like on the bottom (nothing about Warthers)
"> This is the decoder with the plug "> This is the decoder with out the plug "> This is the decoder laying in the weight (i'm replacing it with a TCS KAM 4) ">
This is the decoder with the plug
"> This is the decoder with out the plug "> This is the decoder laying in the weight (i'm replacing it with a TCS KAM 4) ">
This is the decoder with out the plug
"> This is the decoder laying in the weight (i'm replacing it with a TCS KAM 4) ">
This is the decoder laying in the weight (i'm replacing it with a TCS KAM 4)
">
rrinker Those factory boards are NOT decoders. They are just a bunch of diodes for the directional lighting. Expecially if they were in the ble boxes with the flap, with the shell and chassis seperate. Those P2K geep (and I have a bunch of them) were NEVER sold as DCC without sounds. And only newer ones were ever available as DCC with Sound, the alternative was no decoder at all. So if they were truly DCC, someone previously opened them and installed decoders. The factory boards are long and narrow and the plug in the loco with allt he wires attached to them, so to some they LOOK like they might be decoders, but they aren't. Here is one before being removed to install the decoder: http://www.readingeastpenn.com/images/decoders/p2kgp71.jpg --Randy
Those factory boards are NOT decoders. They are just a bunch of diodes for the directional lighting. Expecially if they were in the ble boxes with the flap, with the shell and chassis seperate. Those P2K geep (and I have a bunch of them) were NEVER sold as DCC without sounds. And only newer ones were ever available as DCC with Sound, the alternative was no decoder at all.
So if they were truly DCC, someone previously opened them and installed decoders. The factory boards are long and narrow and the plug in the loco with allt he wires attached to them, so to some they LOOK like they might be decoders, but they aren't.
Here is one before being removed to install the decoder:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com/images/decoders/p2kgp71.jpg
Yes Randy i know what a light board looks like
But these are the same length but are decoders >>>PROMISE<<<
Guess i'll have to take a picture
richhotrain Nope 5892 and 5895 both are GP7s C&O Fan richhotrain I just went through Walthers entire list. Cannot find any with non-sound decoders. What is the road name on yours? Do you have the product number on the box? Rich C&O But the economy Paint job (no yellow stripes) Just Cheasepeake and Ohio and road # Walthers shows three Geeps in that color scheme. GP7 - #5707 or #5711 GP30 - #3015 Is yours one of those? Rich
C&O Fan richhotrain I just went through Walthers entire list. Cannot find any with non-sound decoders. What is the road name on yours? Do you have the product number on the box? Rich C&O But the economy Paint job (no yellow stripes) Just Cheasepeake and Ohio and road #
richhotrain I just went through Walthers entire list. Cannot find any with non-sound decoders. What is the road name on yours? Do you have the product number on the box? Rich C&O But the economy Paint job (no yellow stripes) Just Cheasepeake and Ohio and road #
I just went through Walthers entire list. Cannot find any with non-sound decoders.
What is the road name on yours? Do you have the product number on the box?
C&O But the economy Paint job (no yellow stripes) Just Cheasepeake and Ohio and road #
Walthers shows three Geeps in that color scheme.
GP7 - #5707 or #5711
GP30 - #3015
Is yours one of those?
Randy is correct. The circuit board is just light board; NOT a decoder.
richhotrain Let us know what you find out. Till then, I stand by my contention that Life-Like did not factory install non-sound decoders in Geeps, or in any loco for that matter, as far as I can tell. Maybe ??? on the older models they had an DCC Ready 8 pin plug But this is a Factory Board decoder(nice lookin) with an 8 pin plug that lays ontop of the weight just like the sound model except it has a full length frame weight rather than the one with 2 speakers in the back half for the QSI sound decoder Rich
Let us know what you find out. Till then, I stand by my contention that Life-Like did not factory install non-sound decoders in Geeps, or in any loco for that matter, as far as I can tell.
Maybe ???
on the older models they had an DCC Ready 8 pin plug
But this is a Factory Board decoder(nice lookin) with an 8 pin plug that lays ontop of the weight just like the sound model except it has a full length frame weight rather than the one with 2 speakers in the back half for the QSI sound decoder
richhotrain You could always wire the decoder to the programming track to determine the manufacturer ID. Rich
You could always wire the decoder to the programming track to determine the manufacturer ID.
i'll look and see if i still have the decoder Pro file but my programming track is inside the engine house
So more work than i want to do
I'll post on the TCS/QSI/Soundtraxx /Digitrax Yahoo groups some one will know